nib Thrive, the health insurer’s dedicated National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) subsidiary, has announced it has fully acquired NDIS marketplace platform Kynd, an app-based solution enabling NDIS participants to compare and book a range of disability support services.

At the ‘seller’ end, the platform, accessible via smartphone app or web browser, also enables disability service providers – including in-home and in-community support, therapy assistance, personal care or meal preparation providers – to offer their services to NDIS scheme participants.

nib Thrive chief executive Martin Adlington noted that the platform “brings together buyers and sellers with a high level of transparency around people, services, pricing and payment.”

Kynd founder and chief executive, Michael Metcalfe, who will remain with the business for at least two years post-nib acquisition, noted that the platform has extensive personalisation capability, with NDIS participants able to match with service providers based on their preferences.

“We want to improve and innovate the NDIS experience and have built a platform with detailed profiles, smart matching, ranking systems and more.”

He added that the platform “also brings a 24-hour-a-day booking ability, pricing transparency and hassle-free payment.”

Adlington said the health insurer is actively seeking to expand its presence in the disability sector “to enable, advocate, and facilitate services for participants”.

“We hope good technology is part of the solution to some of the problems that currently exist connecting buyers and sellers of disability services. We expect with nib’s scale and reach to be able to grow a technology service, like Kynd, rapidly.”

The Kynd platform neatly aligns with the objective’s of nib’s Thrive arm, launched last year, which serves “an agency” or intermediary role between healthcare buyers, in this case NDIS participants, and sellers, the providers of disability support services.

Last year, nib raised $158.1 million to kick start its NDIS program through a series of plan management acquisitions. This included the purchase of Victoria’s Peak Plan Management and Queensland-based Connect Plan Management.

Earlier this year, it also acquired Port Macquarie-based NDIS plan manager, All Disability, which brought in around 3,000 participants.

Around 27,000 people have so far registered via nib’s NDIS plan management businesses, with the health insurer expecting this number to hit 50,000 participants by FY2025.

nib’s acquisition of Kynd was completed on 3 July 2023.