Think back to Minority Report, where all those autonomous cars zip through the city. You may have thought, "Yeah, but what about insurance?".Zego, a UK-based startup that is creating the connected, on-demand insurance world for tomorrow's vehicles, has raised $201.7 Million. Flock is another.Flock began as an academic project that looked at drones. Then, Flock became a provider of drone insurance and commercial vehicle insurance. It hooks into the car's telematics so that insurance coverage is only activated when the vehicle is actually moving.Flock now has $17 million in Series A funding from Social Capital. This investment vehicle is run by Chamath Palaihapitiya who is best known for his role as Chairman of Virgin Galactic and a SPAC investor. Anthemis, Dig Ventures and other existing investors in Flock participated. Flocks now has $22 million in total funding. Justin Saslaw, Social Capitals Fintech Partner, joins Flocks Board of Directors along with Ross Mason, Founder of Dig Ventures & MuleSoft.Flock CEO Ed Leon Klinger stated that transportation is changing faster than ever before, but traditional insurance cannot keep up. Traditional insurers are not equipped to handle the challenges posed by electric cars, ridesharing and autonomous vehicles.He said: Modern fleets require an insurance company that is as modern as they are, and moves at the same speed. The $160Bn market for commercial motor insurance needs to be disrupted. We have a lot of opportunity.Chamath Palihapitiya (CEO of Social Capital) stated that Flock bridges the gap between today's insurance industry, and tomorrow's transportation realities. Flock uses real-time data in order to understand vehicle risk and meet the needs of a hyper-connected, rapidly changing world. Flock can help create and empower a truly autonomous world. It could even save lives. We are excited to be part of this journey.Klinger spoke to me on a phone call and explained how his company reached a sweet spot. He hooks into Telematics APIs and does special integrations. They are often not as sophisticated as the others. You can either use our platform to integrate or you can use their approach. We are flexible. Flock's core value proposition is flexibility. We don't force our integration approach.
