Economy

Taken together, the deals represent a trifecta of aggressive and innovative initiatives with the potential to upend the car-rental business and hasten the transition to greener transportation. The car order on Monday, the largest-ever for EVs at $4.2 billion, was such as watershed moment that it propelled Tesla Inc.’s valuation past $1 trillion.

Keynova Group, a financial services intelligence firm specializing in benchmark insights, released its 2021 Small Commercial Insurance Scorecard report, which evaluates the small commercial insurance digital capabilities of the 10 largest U.S. carriers.

Tesla jumped as much as 6.7% to a record high of $970.84 in New York, before paring gains to 4.4%, with the company’s market valuation around $955 billion.

Marshmallow, a car insurance app which recently became the U.K.’s second black-founded firm to reach a billion-dollar valuation, won’t be working from its current Old Street digs for much longer. It’s moving to a nearby office with triple the space after headcount grew more than threefold during the pandemic and as it plows ahead with expansion plans into Europe.

The partnership provides Lyft drivers with the opportunity to select an auto insurance policy that is built for rideshare drivers. Policyholders are also eligible to get money back with each ride using the Lyft platform.

The agency launched a probe of Tesla’s Autopilot program in August after almost a dozen collisions at crash scenes involving first-responder vehicles.

Microsoft 365 customers are eligible for discounts on At-Bay cyber insurance if certain security controls are implemented like multifactor authentication and Microsoft Defender.

In other news: Allstate closes $400M sale of New York life, annuity business; USAA partners with Blink by Chubb; Zurich North America implements Chisel AI.

Honda’s vision of how people will work, travel and spend leisure time in the future will help expand its business beyond cars, lawn mowers and motorcycles. The efforts are a key component of Honda’s “2030 Vision” to broaden the definition of mobility and to improve peoples’ daily lives.

Recent EY research confirms how the pandemic fundamentally changed consumer needs, how they plan to increase their financial security, and what insurers can do to seize the opportunity.