By Bill Rearden
Entrepreneurs and startups have been innovating and applying new technologies to disrupt industries with better value offerings. The insurance industry is no exception. Insurance startups that use new technologies, commonly referred to as InsureTech, are challenging the value chain with improvements to product distribution channels, more precise risk pricing models, better customer service, faster claim validation and payment processing. Although InsureTech is still at the early stages, many of these ventures have caught the attention of Wall Street, market analysts, and venture capitalists. Below are highlights of notable activity in the InsureTech field that took place in the last quarter of 2016.
Funding Highlights
- Lemonade, a New York-based peer-to-peer (P2P) insurance company powered by artificial intelligence and behavioral economics, raised $34M in Series B funding.
- One, Inc., a California-based provider of a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) operating system for insurance companies, raised $20M in Series B funding led by AXA Strategic Ventures.
- Hippo, a California-based InsurTech startup that focuses on smart home insurance, raised $14M in Series A funding led by Horizons Ventures.
- Zipari, a New York-based insurance software startup, raised $7M in Series A funding led by Vertical Venture Partners.
- Stonestep, a Switzerland-based company offering MicroInsurance as a Service, secured $4M in Series A funding led by XL Innovate.
- Clearsurance, a Massachusetts-based CrowdSourced insurance industry review and rating platform, was launched with $2M Seed funding.
- Digital Fineprint, a United Kingdom-based InsurTech startup that uses social media to help insurers reach more consumers, raised $400k from Eos Venture Partners and Angel Investors.
Acquisition Highlights
- Guidewire Software, a provider of software products to Property and Casualty (P&C) insurers, agreed to acquire insurance software firm ISCS for $160M in cash.
- Insurity, a provider of core insurance processing, data integration and analytics solutions, acquired Systema Software.
Other Highlights
- Oscar, a health insurance startup, opened a brick and mortar space in Brooklyn.
- Hannover Re US formed a strategic partnership with Sureify Labs, an insurance software solution provider.
Information Courtesy of Tracxn and shared by Bill Rearden, co-founder and strategy consultant at Ironbound Consulting Group in New York City. Bill can be contacted at bill@ironbcg.com.