Oscar Health Inc on Tuesday raised the price range for its initial public offering, potentially fetching an almost $8 billion valuation for the health insurance startup backed by Google parent Alphabet Inc .

The company, which plans to sell 31 million shares in its IPO, raised the price range to between $36 and $38 apiece from an earlier target of $32 to $34.

At the upper end of the new range, Oscar plans to raise as much as $1.18 billion in its stock market launch on Wednesday.

The New York-based company, which has about 529,000 users, allows patients to schedule physician visits, check lab results, make emergency virtual appointments and refill prescriptions through its mobile app or online platform.

The IPO comes at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has supercharged the telemedicine market, with more companies looking to expand their scale and offerings as healthcare moves to the virtual realm.

Goldman Sachs & Co LLC, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo Securities and Allen & Co LLC are among lead underwriters for the offering.

(Reporting by Sohini Podder in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath) ((sohini.podder@thomsonreuters.com;))