Start-up funding

There were nine rounds of more than $20 million this month.

The Palo Alto, California-based company is now valued at $900 million, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Australian insurance startup Cover Genius Pty Ltd. boosted its valuation to A$1 billion ($729 million), after raising A$100 million from investors including G Squared and Japanese insurer Sompo Holdings Inc.

Thiel invested more than $20 million in HySpecIQ LLC, the startup said. The cash will enable the Herndon, Virginia-based company to build and launch two satellites with cameras featuring advanced sensors to peer through solid objects in early 2023.

Truepic Inc., which helps companies like banks and insurers fight fraud by verifying images, raised $26 million in a funding round led by Microsoft Corp.’s M12 venture capital arm.

Its the biggest investment the vehicle has made to date in South African startups.

There were about 36 funding rounds in the insurtech sector in July, according to a review by Digital Insurance and with data from Crunchbase.

Amount raised in this time period was more than all of 2018.

A selection of 36 rounds recorded in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

A major stock investment in Acrisure weighed the numbers, however.