Zelis Acquires Rivet in Strategic Move to Dominate Healthcare Payment Analytics

Healthcare technology platform Zelis has acquired revenue cycle analytics specialist Rivet, marking the latest step in an aggressive acquisition strategy designed to capture a larger share of the rapidly expanding payment integrity market. The deal, announced January 12, 2026, converts a successful partnership into full ownership and positions Zelis to capitalize on a market projected to grow at 13.14% annually through 2035.

The transaction represents more than a simple tuck-in acquisition. It's the culmination of a carefully orchestrated platform-building strategy that has seen Zelis execute three strategic deals since 2022, each targeting a specific gap in the healthcare payments value chain. With Rivet's AI-powered analytics now under its umbrella, Zelis controls technology spanning payment infrastructure, consumer engagement, and revenue cycle optimization—a rare trifecta in the fragmented healthcare technology landscape.

Zelis and Rivet weren't strangers before this deal. The companies had forged a partnership that allowed Zelis to integrate Rivet's claims insights into its provider revenue cycle management offerings. But partnerships have limitations—shared economics, integration constraints, and the ever-present risk that a partner gets acquired by a competitor.

By bringing Rivet fully in-house, Zelis eliminates those friction points while gaining complete control over a technology that addresses one of healthcare's most persistent pain points: the administrative burden of claims management and payment reconciliation.

"By welcoming Rivet fully into the Zelis family, we are deepening our investment in the healthcare community and advancing our mission to modernize the healthcare financial experience for all," said Yusuf Qasim, President of Payments at Zelis, in the announcement. The statement reflects a broader ambition—Zelis isn't just buying technology; it's assembling the building blocks of a comprehensive platform that serves both sides of the healthcare payment equation.

Founded in 2018, Rivet built its reputation on solving a problem that costs healthcare providers billions annually: understanding why claims get denied or underpaid, and what to do about it. The company's platform uses artificial intelligence to analyze claim payment patterns, identify denials trends, and surface actionable insights through intuitive dashboards.

For providers drowning in administrative complexity, Rivet's tools offer a lifeline. The platform's three core products—Estimates, Underpayments, and Denials—help healthcare providers collect what they are owed from payers and bring greater price transparency to patients. In an era where surprise medical bills have become a political flashpoint and regulatory scrutiny has intensified, these capabilities are increasingly essential.

The AI component is particularly significant. Traditional revenue cycle management relies heavily on manual review and rules-based systems that struggle to keep pace with the complexity of modern healthcare contracts. Rivet's machine learning models can identify patterns across thousands of claims, flagging anomalies and suggesting corrective actions far faster than human analysts.

For payers, the benefits are equally compelling. By reducing the volume of transactional inquiries from providers, Rivet's analytics create space for more strategic conversations about reducing rework and improving first-time claim success rates—a win-win that reduces administrative costs on both sides.

The Rivet acquisition didn't happen in isolation. It's the third major deal Zelis has executed in four years, each carefully selected to address a different layer of the healthcare payments stack:

November 2022: Payspan – Zelis acquired Payspan to strengthen its payment infrastructure, adding electronic funds transfer (EFT) and electronic remittance advice (ERA) capabilities. This foundational layer handles the actual movement of money and payment information between payers and providers—unglamorous but essential plumbing for the healthcare financial system.

June 2025: Medxoom – The acquisition of Medxoom's assets from Allied Benefit Systems brought a mobile-first member experience platform into the Zelis ecosystem. This deal addressed the consumer-facing side of healthcare payments, helping health plans and third-party administrators deliver price transparency tools that comply with evolving regulations while improving member engagement.

January 2026: Rivet – The latest acquisition completes the platform with AI-driven analytics that optimize the entire payment lifecycle, from initial claim submission through denial management and underpayment recovery.

The pattern is clear: Zelis is building a vertically integrated platform that touches every stage of the healthcare payment journey. Payspan established the infrastructure foundation, Medxoom added the consumer transparency layer, and Rivet provides the intelligence layer that ties it all together.

This approach mirrors successful platform strategies in other industries—think of how Salesforce assembled its customer relationship management empire through dozens of acquisitions, or how Workday built its human capital management suite. The goal is to create switching costs and network effects that make it increasingly difficult for customers to leave once they're embedded in the ecosystem.

Zelis's acquisition spree isn't happening in a vacuum. The company is positioning itself to capitalize on powerful secular trends reshaping healthcare payments.

The payment integrity market is experiencing explosive growth, projected to expand from $17.11 billion in 2026 to $51.97 billion by 2035—a near tripling in less than a decade. North America leads with a 41.5% market share, driven by advanced healthcare systems, strong regulatory frameworks, and widespread adoption of AI-based payment validation tools.

Several factors are fueling this expansion:

Regulatory Pressure: The No Surprises Act and price transparency mandates have forced healthcare organizations to invest in new systems and processes. Compliance isn't optional, creating a captive market for solutions that can help navigate the regulatory maze.

Margin Compression: Both payers and providers face intense financial pressure. For providers, operating margins have been squeezed by rising labor costs, supply chain disruptions, and reimbursement challenges. For payers, medical loss ratios leave little room for administrative inefficiency. Payment integrity solutions that reduce waste and improve accuracy directly impact the bottom line.

Administrative Burden: The U.S. healthcare system is notorious for administrative complexity, with estimates suggesting that administrative costs consume 15-25% of total healthcare spending. Any technology that can reduce this burden has a ready market.

Technology Maturation: Advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning have made it possible to automate tasks that previously required extensive human intervention. Rivet's AI-driven analytics exemplify this trend, using algorithms to identify patterns and anomalies that would be nearly impossible to detect manually.

There's an interesting subplot to this deal: Catalyst Investors, the New York-based private equity firm, has been a key player in Rivet's journey. Catalyst led Rivet's $20.5 million Series B funding round in June 2022, betting on the company's revenue cycle analytics platform at a time when the market opportunity was becoming increasingly clear.

Now, less than four years later, Catalyst is seeing that investment pay off through the Zelis acquisition. While financial terms weren't disclosed, the timing suggests a successful exit for Catalyst and its co-investors, which included Ankona Capital, Menlo Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners, and Lux Capital.

Catalyst's involvement highlights the private equity industry's growing appetite for healthcare technology assets, particularly those with recurring revenue models and clear paths to profitability. The firm's portfolio focus on B2B software companies made Rivet a natural fit, and the exit to Zelis validates the investment thesis.

For Catalyst, the deal also demonstrates the value of backing companies in markets with strong tailwinds. The payment integrity sector's robust growth projections made Rivet an attractive target for strategic acquirers like Zelis, creating multiple exit pathways and competitive tension that likely benefited the selling shareholders.

While the strategic logic of the acquisition is sound, execution will determine whether Zelis realizes the full value of its Rivet investment. Healthcare technology integrations are notoriously complex, involving not just technical systems but also regulatory compliance, customer relationships, and organizational culture.

Zelis has some advantages. The existing partnership between the companies means they've already worked through some integration challenges and established technical connections. This "try before you buy" approach reduces risk and should accelerate the post-acquisition integration timeline.

The cultural fit also appears strong. Ted Ferrin, Rivet's CEO, emphasized in the announcement that "joining Zelis amplifies our mission to simplify healthcare payments and connects us with a culture of innovation that inspires us." Such statements are standard in acquisition announcements, but the fact that the companies successfully partnered before the deal suggests genuine alignment.

Still, challenges remain. Zelis will need to retain Rivet's key talent, particularly the engineers and data scientists who built the AI models that make the platform valuable. In a competitive labor market for technical talent, retention packages and career development opportunities will be critical.

There's also the question of customer overlap and potential conflicts. If Zelis and Rivet serve some of the same customers through different products, the combined company will need to rationalize its offerings and pricing without alienating existing relationships.

Zelis isn't the only company pursuing a platform strategy in healthcare payments. The sector has seen significant M&A activity as companies race to assemble comprehensive offerings:

This competitive intensity creates both opportunities and risks for Zelis. On one hand, the market is large enough to support multiple winners, and Zelis's focus on serving both payers and providers gives it a differentiated positioning. On the other hand, deep-pocketed competitors with established customer relationships won't cede market share easily.

The key differentiator may be execution. Can Zelis integrate its acquisitions quickly enough to deliver a seamless platform experience? Can it leverage its combined data assets to create AI models that are demonstrably better than competitors? Can it maintain innovation velocity while managing the complexity of a growing organization?

With three acquisitions in four years and revenue reaching $306.8 million in 2025, Zelis has established itself as a consolidator in the healthcare payments space. The question now is whether the acquisition spree continues or whether the company shifts focus to organic growth and integration.

Several factors suggest more deals may be coming:

Market Fragmentation: The healthcare technology landscape remains highly fragmented, with hundreds of point solutions addressing specific problems. Zelis could continue to fill gaps in its platform through targeted acquisitions.

Capital Availability: While Zelis's ownership structure isn't fully public, the company's growth trajectory and market position should give it access to capital for additional deals, whether through debt, equity, or a combination.

Customer Demand: As Zelis's platform becomes more comprehensive, customers may push for additional capabilities, creating a roadmap for future M&A.

At the same time, there are reasons to expect a period of consolidation and integration. Three acquisitions in four years is an aggressive pace, and the company will need to demonstrate that it can extract synergies and deliver on the platform vision before pursuing additional major deals.

The Rivet acquisition also positions Zelis for potential strategic options of its own. With a comprehensive platform spanning payment infrastructure, consumer engagement, and AI-driven analytics, the company becomes an attractive target for larger healthcare technology players or financial sponsors looking for exposure to the high-growth payment integrity market.

The Zelis-Rivet deal offers several lessons for the broader healthcare technology M&A market:

Partnerships as Acquisition Precursors: The successful partnership between Zelis and Rivet before the acquisition reduced risk and accelerated integration. Expect to see more companies using partnerships as extended due diligence before committing to full acquisitions.

Platform Strategies Require Patience: Zelis's methodical approach—three carefully selected acquisitions over four years—stands in contrast to the rapid-fire roll-up strategies that have sometimes failed in healthcare. Building a true platform takes time and discipline.

AI as a Value Driver: Rivet's AI-powered analytics were central to its value proposition and likely commanded a premium valuation. As artificial intelligence becomes more embedded in healthcare workflows, expect AI capabilities to be a key driver of M&A valuations.

Vertical Integration Returns: After years of focusing on horizontal integration (combining similar companies for scale), healthcare technology M&A is increasingly vertical, with companies assembling end-to-end capabilities across the value chain.

The Zelis-Rivet transaction may not be the largest healthcare technology deal of 2026, but it's emblematic of the strategic thinking shaping the sector. As healthcare payments grow more complex and the market for payment integrity solutions expands, expect continued consolidation around companies that can deliver comprehensive platforms rather than point solutions.

For now, Zelis has made its move, adding AI-powered revenue cycle analytics to a growing arsenal of capabilities. The real test begins now: Can the company integrate Rivet successfully, deliver on the platform promise, and capture a meaningful share of a market projected to exceed $50 billion within a decade? The answer will determine whether this acquisition is remembered as a shrewd strategic move or an expensive distraction.