Many of us don't want to compare insurance companies and haven't switched.
It's a lot, I would wager.
Insurify, a startup that aims to make it easier to obtain better rates on life, auto, and home insurance, today announced that it had closed $100 million in a Series B round of funding led by Motive Partners.
Viola FinTech and MassMutual Ventures were backers. Nationwide, Hearst Ventures, Moneta VC and Nationwide Ventures also contributed money. Fort Ross Ventures and Viola Growth are new investors. Insurify, a Cambridge, Massachusetts company, has raised $128 million since its 2013 founding. The company refused to reveal the value at which the money was raised.
Insurify has experienced impressive growth since our last coverage. It has seen its new and ongoing revenue grow by 6x since closing its Series A funding in 2019. According to Snejina Zigara, Insurify's CEO and co-founder, the company has seen a 151% compound annual growth rate over the past three years. She also stated that the company has seen a steady 2.5x increase in revenue year-over-year.
Insurify is a machine-learning-based virtual agent for insurance that connects with over 100 carriers to personalize and digitize the insurance shopping experience. Although there are many insurtech companies, none of them currently offer home, auto, and life insurance. Jerry, for example, has raised capital twice this past year and is primarily focused on auto insurance. However, it also offers a home product. The Zebra, which was a unicorn in 2015, began as an online marketplace for those looking for auto insurance. Its real-time quote comparison tool made it easy to find the best price. It has evolved to offer homeowners insurance over time with the aim of eventually expanding into renters and life insurance. It is primarily focused on auto.
Zacharia stated that Insurify's Series A funding has allowed it to expand its home insurance marketplace and deepen its carrier integrations in order to offer users an instant purchasing experience. It also launched its first two embedded insurance products through partnerships made with Nationwide and Toyota Insurance Management Solutions. Nationwide was also part of the Series B funding round.
Insurify reorganized its engineering team in Sofia, Bulgaria, last year after SkyScanner was forced to lay off employees.
Zacharia, a former Gartner executive was inspired to create the company after being involved in a minor accident while completing her MBA at MIT. After her accident, Zacharia experienced a rise in her insurance premium. She was also frustrated by the complicated and confusing experience of shopping for car insurance. Tod Kiryazov, Chief Product Officer at KAYAK President Giorgos Ziaria, joined her to create Insurify. They describe it as a virtual agent that provides real-time quotes and offers instantaneous quotes.
TechCrunch's Zacharia said that we created the most trusted virtual agent in the insurance industry. It allows customers to search, compare, and purchase fully digitally from their mobile phones or desktops. This gives them a smart, personal experience based on their preferences. Artificial intelligence is used to provide recommendations for both carrier selection and coverage.
Insurify, which is a fully licensed agent, also handles the servicing and fulfillment of policies. The company works mostly as an insurance agent and gets paid new or renewed commissions. Although it is not a SaaS company, the embedded insurance products have SaaS-like monetization.
Zacharia stated that our goal is to create a digital experience for end consumers that allows them service and manage all their policies from one location. The platform's data recommendations can help to remove much of the friction in the shopping experience.
Insurify intends to use the new capital to expand its operations and to accelerate its growth plans. Insurify also wants to increase its 125-person workforce.
Kiryazov stated that we want to integrate API integrations into our API for customers to receive real-time quotes with more personalization and a more personalized experience. We want to expand product functionality and identify more embedded insurance options.
The company is also looking to expand into other verticals, such as pet insurance.
Insurify plans to use the money to increase brand awareness through television advertising.
Zacharia stated that almost half of our revenue is self-directed traffic. We want to explore organic growth.
James Jim ONeill, founder of Motive Partners, and Andy Rear, industry partner, point out that almost all the growth in U.S. auto insurers can be attributed to online purchases.
Customers prefer to have a choice. They want a simple menu of products from different insurers. The easy online purchase process is straightforward. Insurify has a huge opportunity in the U.S. car market. Even a slow transition online can be a big deal.
The pair were impressed by the startup's business model, which they said was a win-win situation for customers, insurers, and white-label partners.
Harel Beiton, founder and general Partner at Viola Growth believes that COVID-19's quantum leap in ecommerce will transform almost all aspects of the buying process, even insurance.
She stated that it is now time to offer the same frictionless buying experience customers expect in the insurance industry. We were astonished to see Insurify grow, acquire customers, and build a trusting brand after our fintech fund investment.
