Innovating InsurTech

July 27, 2021

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Call me millennial, but I looooove that I can purchase my car insurance online by filling out a simple, at times sleek, form and get a quote I can trust. The same goes for pet insurance, rental, and travel. As a freelancer, I have utilized a broker when purchasing health insurance on the ACA marketplace, but that interaction says more about the state of government websites than my desire for human connection.

As recently reported by TechCrunch, insurtech companies that have recently gone public have generated irregular returns. Lemonade has seen near 200% stock price appreciation compared to Metromile’s 64% decrease in value. According to the article, this situation may be due to the shorter timeframe that Metromile has traded publicly, or an aggressive price set when it hit the market via SPAC, but nonetheless, companies in the pipeline or considering going public are paying attention.

Let’s look at some of the innovators in boring, old insurance:

Business Insurance

Next Insurance, out of Palo Alto, has been adding roughly 150 new employees each year over the last few years, as funding has come relatively easily for the company's 48-hours-or-less processing of small business insurance and subsequent claims. The company has been playing down the likelihood of going public since April after raising a $250MM equity round. The firm is valued at $4BN.

Supply Chain Logistics

At the other end of the spectrum is fledgling insurer PAXAFE, out of Milwaukee, WI. The company aims to predict adverse events in the supply chain in order to de-risk B2B shipments and enable intelligent cargo insurance. While the firm was pre-launch when the pandemic hit, its value proposition couldn’t be more obvious given the consequences of the last year. It last raised a $3.2MM seed round in April.

Car & Home

The Zebra addresses the all-too-real pain point of choosing the right home & auto policy with a very simple comparison tool. The startup features a prominent 4.8-star rating on a sparse homepage.

The Rest

PolicyGenius wants to make shopping for life, long-term disability, home, renters & pet insurance all very easy-breezy. The company features its phone number very prominently on its website, signaling that customer service is 💯. The startup last raised $30MM in January 2020 to expand its marketplace’s offerings.
Softbank just placed a $100MM investment in Ethos, a private company using data science to simplify the insurance buying experience. The company is now valued at $2.7BN.