Startup

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.

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.

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.

Mexican startup Super, which offers coverage for earthquake property damages, plans to expand into hurricane insurance and possibly raise a fresh funding round next year, according to chief executive officer and founder Sebastian Villarreal.

In other news: Hippo launches Builders Program; handdii wins the 2021 ACORD Insurtech Innovation Challenge New York; Blockchain-backed title insurance launches in five states.

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.

Arturo, a spin-out of American Family Insurance, was founded in 2018 and is a real estate data and analytics startup.

Operating under the radar in Rhode Island since 2017, the company has launched in Arizona with an eye toward more.