Spotlight on top insurtech funding, August 2021

August 31, 2021 7:15 AM

There were about 12 funding rounds in the insurtech sector between Aug. 1 and Aug. 31, 2021, according to a review by Digital Insurance. What follows is a selection of the funding rounds. A portion of the data was sourced from Crunchbase. For our previous edition, which covered the month of July, click here. These updates will continue monthly.

DealerPolicy

$110 million, Series C, Aug. 26

Type of company: Insurtech marketplace for the auto industry.
Round leader: Growth Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Goldman Sachs).
Other participants: 3L Capital and Hudson Structured Capital Management Ltd. (doing its re/insurance business as HSCM Bermuda).

"DealerPolicy has successfully pioneered the assimilation of personal insurance into the automotive retail process, in a unified and compliant manner," said Paul Pate, a vice president in the Growth Equity business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management, in a statement. "We're thrilled to support the DealerPolicy team as they continue to transform the purchase of cars and insurance."

Jerry

$75 million, Series C, Aug. 10

Type of company: Car ownership platform and insurance broker.
Round leader: Goodwater Capital.
Other participants: Bow Capital, Kamerra, Highland Capital Partners and Park West Asset Management.

"Unlike lead-generation-based car insurance comparison sites, Jerry's recurring revenue model positions the company for predictable revenue and scalable growth that's not based on an ever-increasing marketing spend," said Chi-Hua Chien, partner at Goodwater Capital, in a press release. "The company's super app approach to saving customers time and money on all car expenses also extends the potential customer base across auto-related categories. Our re-investment in Jerry reflects our confidence in the company's business model, growth rate, addressable market, and AI- and ML-based technology that continues to increase gross margins."

High Definition Vehicle Insurance Group

$32.5 million, Series B, Aug. 18

Type of company: Commercial auto insurtech.
Round leader: Weatherford Capital.
Other participants: Daimler Trucks North America, McVestCo, Munich Re Ventures, 8VC, Autotech Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures LLC.

"The rising cost of insurance is a significant pain point for our fleet customers today, and providing better insurance solutions that are truly integrated with vehicle ownership life cycles and usage is an important initiative for Daimler Trucks North America and Daimler Truck Financial Services," said Richard Howard, president and CEO of Daimler Truck Financial Services North America & Asia, in a statement. "HDVI's unique approach to insurance demonstrates their commitment to bringing fleets the technology, data and services they need to improve their business operations and impact their bottom lines. We look forward to working with HDVI to bring innovative connected insurance solutions and more to Daimler Trucks customers and the broader transportation industry."

Sayata

$17 million, Series A, Aug. 25

Type of company: Insurance broker and carrier marketplace.
Round leader: Team8 Capital and Vertex Ventures.
Other participants: Elron, Kamet and OurCrowd.

"Naturally we were excited about Sayata's growth in such a short time,” said Aviad Ariel, general partner at Vertex Ventures, in a statement. “But more so, we were impressed with their diverse team of seasoned insurance and technology minds. Sayata leverages its combined talent to discover creative solutions to solve long-standing industry problems. This is a major factor contributing to their current success and will only continue to fuel their growth into new frontiers as they continue to develop meaningful solutions for brokers and insurers alike."

TrustLayer

$15.1 million, Series A, Aug. 18

Type of company: Risk management platform.
Round leader: Craft Ventures.
Other participants: Abstract Ventures, Box Group, Propel Venture Partners, NFP Ventures, Sure Ventures and PruVen Capital.

“Insurance helps mitigate risk. For businesses, insurance plays a critical role in the durability of its operations. The problem is no one is exactly sure who's covered and by how much -- we're still swapping poorly scanned PDFs and faxes to prove outdated coverage," said Brian Murray, partner and COO at Craft Ventures, in a press release. “TrustLayer fixes this. Their technology automates the collection and verification of insurance, helping companies and their partners accurately assess risk and avoid business interruption.”

Humn.ai

$13.8 million (£10.1M), Series A, Aug. 10

Type of company: Commercial auto insurtech.
Round leader: Shell Ventures.
Other participants: Marbruck Investments.

”Partnering with Shell Ventures brings not only fresh capital but also an investor with a thriving global connected fleet business and expertise to share. We are looking forward to working with Shell and bringing our class-leading motor fleet insurance product with explainable pricing to an even wider audience” said Mark Musson, CEO and founder of Humn, in a press release.

DigiSure

$13.1 million, Aug. 19

Type of company: Insurtech focused on mobility insurance.
Round leader: Morado Ventures.
Other participants: Xplorer Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Clocktower Technology Ventures, True North Cos and ex-Upwork CEO Fabio Rosati.

“DigiSure is converging and simplifying insurance with trust and safety as its number one priority," said Ash Patel, managing director at Morado Ventures, in a statement. "The company’s seasoned team possesses deep operational expertise in marketplaces, insurance and data analytics, and we’re thrilled to support them as they build a category-defining business in the $4 trillion insurance industry.”

Breeze

$10 million, Series A, Aug. 10

Type of company: Online insurtech broker.
Round leader: Link Ventures.
Other participants: Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, M25, Fiat Ventures and Invest Nebraska.

"Breeze caught our attention given its tremendous web traffic growth,” said Lisa Dolan, managing director at Link Ventures, in a press release. “We were also very impressed by Colin and Cody's deep carrier relationships and their customer-obsessed mentality. We are thrilled to be part of fueling Breeze to become the category leader in disability insurance. The market remains largely untapped, but Breeze can change that quickly with its technology and online platform.”

Balance Re

$10 million, Series A, Aug. 19

Type of company: Life reinsurance startup.
Round leader: Anthemis Group.
Other participants: Global Brain, Roland Berger Industries GmbH and Talabot Finance.

"Balance Re’s team and their technology reflect the complex interactions between actuarial, financial, accounting and regulatory matters,” said Matthew Jones, managing director at Anthemis, in a statement. “Balance Re’s coverage is designed to help clients reach their strategic goals whilst also keeping the interests of their policyholders in mind – we’re excited to see them drive much needed change in the life reinsurance sector."

Champ Titles

$8.5 million, Series A, Aug. 11

Type of company: Digital vehicle titling company.
Round leader: EOS Venture Partners and W. R. Berkley Corporation.
Other participants: XBTO Group, Westerly Ventures, State Auto Insurance, Sadie Ventures, Guidewire Software, Ally Ventures and A100x.

“Transferring title after a total loss is a slow process that involves many parties,” said Mike Nannizzi, a director at W. R. Berkley Corporation with responsibility for fintech investments, in a statement. “Digitization allows the whole chain of participants in a title transfer to cooperate in a secure and efficient manner, and drive better outcomes for everyone involved. Having earned the support of such a strong group of strategic partners - many of which participate in that same chain - we believe Champ’s team and technology are best positioned to execute on this very significant opportunity.”

Vesttoo

$6 million, Series A, Aug. 9

Type of company: Alternative reinsurance and investment platform.
Round leader: Hanaco Ventures.

"Vesttoo is disrupting the reinsurance industry. The company is building a digital marketplace and has already proven its ability to sign multi-year contracts with leading U..S. and E.U. insurance and reinsurance providers,” said Pasha Romanovski, co-founding partner of Hanaco Ventures, in a statement. “Hanaco Ventures chose to invest in Vesttoo because of the unique solution and the company's impressive founding team who will have a big impact in this untapped sector.”

Koop Technologies

$2.5 million, Aug. 23

Type of company: Insurtech specializing in autonomous vehicles and robotic risk.
Round leader: Ubiquity Ventures.
Other participants: Bee Partners, Sure Ventures, WestWave Capital, and angel investors.

"As a VC investor, I see Koop as the critical bridge between the insurance industry and the autonomous cars/drones/robotics industries. It is rare to see such a well-timed company with such a well-suited team. Koop is a critical enabler of mass adoption of autonomy and robotics," said Sunil Nagaraj, founding partner at Ubiquity Ventures.