A look back at some of the most notable partnerships, hires and financing rounds in insurance tech.
From the rise of insurers starting strategic venture arms to a record amount of early-stage deal activity to new partnerships in smart home, distribution, and elsewhere, it’s been a busy year in the world of insurance tech.
So we compiled a list of notable insurance tech partnerships, deals, and startup hires we tracked through the first quarter of 2017 (ending March 31, 2017), which you’ll find below.
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Financing Deals
Decisely and Namely were the only financings in Q1 2017 that were among the 10 largest deals since the start of 2016.
| Startup | Description | Select Round Investors | Amount | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oscar Health | Tech-enabled health insurance carrier | Fidelity Investments, Founders Fund, General Catalyst Partners, Goldman Sachs, Google Capital, Horizons Ventures, Wellington Management, Khosla Ventures | $400M | Feb-16 |
| Clover Health | Data-driven health insurance startup | Greenoaks Capital Management, First Round Capital, Wildcat Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Soical Capital, AME Cloud Ventures | $160M | May-16 |
| Metromile | Per-mile car insurance | NEA, Index Ventures, Intact, Mitsui & Co., SV Angel, First Round Capital David Friedberg | $103.1M | Feb-16 |
| Bright Health | Data-driven health insurance startup | New Enterprise Associates, Flare Capital Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners | $80M | Apr-16 |
| Decisely | Small business HR and bneefits platform | Two Sigma Private Investments, EPIC Insurance Brokers | $60M | Mar-17 |
| Namely | HR and benefits platform | Altimeter Capital, Four Rivers Group, Greenspring Associates | $50M | Jan-17 |
| Metromile | Per mile car insurance | China Pacific Insurance | $50M | Sept-16 |
| Cyence | Economic cyber risk modeling | NEA, IVP, Dowling Capital Partners | $40M | Sept-16 |
| Lemonade | Online insurance carrier offering homeowners and renters insurance | General Catalyst, Thrive Capital, GV, Sequoia Capital Israel, XL Innovate, Aleph | $34M | Dec-16 |
| Justworks | Payroll, benefits, and compliance services | Bain Capital Ventures, Index Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Thrive Capital | $33M | Mar-16 |
Partnerships
| Startup | Partner Insurer | Description | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modiface | Dai-chi Life | The Japanese life insurer plans to use ModiFace’s facial tracking technology to create a “health promotion” app. | Mar-17 |
| Roost | Desjardins | Desjardins will launch a new water damage prevention program with the smart water leak and freeze detector startup | Mar-17 |
| Openbay | State Farm | Online auto maintenance marketplace Openbay previously partnered with Allstate. | Mar-17 |
| Human Longevity | MassMutual | The agreement enables MassMutual policyholders and employees to have their whole genome read for $1400. | Mar-17 |
| Hibob | Aviva | The deal will integrate Hibob’s HR cloud platform for small business owners with Aviva’s system | Mar-17 |
| Lyft | CSAA | Lyft is rolling out a new program that will offer car owners going through the claims process to access to up to $200 in Lyft credit. | Feb-17 |
| TrueMotion | American Family | Bought By Many partnered with Munich Re to expand its own niche insurance products | Feb-17 |
| Bought By Many | Munich Re | Bought By Many partnered with Munich Re to expand its own niche insurance products | Feb-17 |
| Automatic | American Family | The partnership will provide Automatic’s OBD-II adapters and mobile apps to new American Family Insurance policyholders who enroll in the company’s KnowYourDrive program. | Feb-17 |
| Drone Racing League | Allianz | Allianz will the title sponsor of DRL, which will rebrand its elite race circuit as the Allianz World Championship series. | Feb-17 |
| Qualia Labs | Stewart | The title settlement software startup integrated with title insurance provider Stewart to allow title agents to obtain Stewart rate information directly within Qualia. | Feb-17 |
| Sure | Nationwide | The partnership puts Nationwide’s renters insurance on Sure’s on-demand insurance app initially in California and Washington | Jan-17 |
| Next Insurance | Markel | The partnership pairs Markel and Next Insurance for tailored coverage of personal trainer businesses. | Jan-17 |
| Fabric | Vantis, RGA | Life insurance startup Fabric partnered with Vantis Life and RGAx | Jan-17 |
| Next Insurance | Munich Re | The online small commercial insurance startup becomes the seventh disclosed partner of Munich Re Digital Partners to launch a product targeting commercial photographers. | Dec-16 |
| Nuzzle | Embrace Pet Insurance | The startup’s GPS-enabled smart collar and app also distributes pet insurance in partnership with Embrace Pet Insurance. Nuzzle has raised $3.8M in seed funding. | Nov-16 |
| Wrisk | Munich Re | Wrisk plans to offer motor, travel and home cover via smartphone app. Wrisk is the sixth disclosed partnership from Munich Re Digital Partners. | Nov-16 |
| Blink Innovations | Munich Re | Blink plans to offer what it calls “real-time resolution flight interruption insurance.” Blink is the fifth disclosed partnership from Munich Re Digital Partners. | Nov-16 |
| SoFi | Protective Life | SoFi partnered with Protective Life to provide up to $1M in term-life insurance to its clients in a fully online application. | Nov-16 |
| N26 | Allianz | The card comes with travel, flight and mobile phone theft coverage from Allianz. | Oct-16 |
| Ladder | Hannover Re | The term life insurance startup, which raised $14M last week, is the first announced startup collaboration from Hannover Re’s Partnership Solutions team, announced in September. | Oct-16 |
| Bitsight | AXIS Capital | The partnership will provide Bitsight’s security raitings to a specific group of Axis policyholders starting in November. | Oct-16 |
| So-sure | Munich Re | So-sure is developing a peer-to-peer insurance for mobile phone coverage. | Oct-16 |
| League | RBC Insurance | The health benefit startup’s expanded offerings include a “peace of mind” plan and group life and health insurance products with partner RBC Insurance. | Oct-16 |
| Simplesurance | Munich Re | The partnership will provide jointly offered policies with Simplesurance will take on sales and the claims handling and Great Lakes, a subsidiary of Munich Re, covering insurance risks. | Sep-16 |
| Trov | Munich Re | The on-demand personal item insurance app is the second underwriting partnership from Munich Re Digital Partners. | Sep-16 |
| Indico Data Solutions | John Hancock | The partnership with the text and image analysis startup is meant to accelerate Hancock’s use of machine learning in investment decisions. | Aug-16 |
| Cocoon | Zurich | The partnership will allow UK customers to purchase a Cocoon smart home device at a discounted premium and receive a home insurance discount from Zurich. | Aug-16 |
| Ant Financial | AXA | Munich Re will provide the capacity for Slice Labs’ on-demand insurance products for the sharing economy | Jul-16 |
| Gravie | Securian | Securian Financial made a $1M investment and will begin selling life insurance through Gravie’s online marketplace | Jul-16 |
| Slice Labs | Munich Re | Munich Re will provide the capacity for Slice Labs’ on-demand insurance products for the sharing economy | Jul-16 |
| Trov | Suncorp, AXA | Trov partnered exclusively with Suncorp in Australia and AXA for its upcoming UK launch | Apr-16 |
| Grab | AXA | The partnership launches a usage-based insurance private hire car drivers on Grab. | May-16 |
| Canary | Liberty Mutual | The partnership allows Canary owners to save on their home insurance. | Jul-16 |
| Openbay | Allstate | Allstate teamed up with Openbay, an online marketplace for non-collision auto-repair and maintenance services, to allow consumers to receive multiple price quotes and schedule auto repairs | Jun-16 |
| August Home | Liberty Mutual | The partnership allows August Smart Lock owners to save on their home insurance. | May-16 |
| PrecisionHawk | Munich Re | Munich Re partnered with PrecisionHawk to enhance insurance assessments by providing faster response times and increased reporting accuracy in the aftermath of a natural disaster. | May-16 |
| Airware | State Farm | Airware is working to select and customize drones and pilots that State Farm uses and plans to begin operations in the US in the next few months. | Mar-16 |
| Student Loan Genius | Prudential | Prudential partners with Student Loan Genius to offer startup’s 401k contribution feature. | Mar-16 |
| Ola | Bajaj Allianz | The partnership will provide online motor insurance solutions to Ola drivers. | Mar-16 |
| Roostify | Genworth | Genworth is the first mortgage insurance provider to partner with Roostify’s cloud mortgage software service. | Mar-16 |
| Carma | Assurant | The partnership provides insurance coverage for Carma’s carpooling and car-sharing programs in the San Francisco Bay Area. | Mar-16 |
| Understory | Amica Mutual Insurance | The partnership between the insurer and the weather sensor data startup aims to improve claims handling. | Mar-16 |
Startup Hires
| Startup | Hire | Description | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zest Health | Jeff Semenchuk (CEO) | Former Hyatt Hotels CIO Jeff Semenchuk replaces Ann Mond Johnson. | Mar-17 |
| Zubie | Gary Tucker (CEO) | The connected car platform named former DealerRater CEO Gary Tucker as CEO. | Feb-17 |
| Zenefits | Jay Fulcher (CEO) | Jay Fulcher, the former CEO of Ooyala and Agile Software, is taking over for David Sacks. | Feb-17 |
| Attune | James Hobson (CEO) | James Hobson joins the AIG/Two Sigma/Hamilton joint venture targeting the small commercial segment from OnDeck Capital, where he was COO | Feb-17 |
| Cyence | John Merchant (Head of BD) | John Merchant joins the cyber risk modeling startup after overseeing the launch of the U.S. cyber underwriting division at Validus Specialty Underwriters. | Nov-16 |
| InforcePro | Paul Winandy (CEO) | Paul Winandy joins the life insurance software firm from EMR company WebPT. | Nov-16 |
| Collective Health | Roy Gilbert (COO) | Roy Gilbert joins the enterprise health insurance software startup from Google where he led global user operations. | Nov-16 |
| Lemonade | William Latza (Chief Compliance Officer) | William D. Latza previously spent 25 years as a partner in insurance law at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP. | Oct-16 |
| Cyence | Jennifer Livingstone (VP of Business Development) | Jennifer Livingstone joins the cyberinsurance startup after serving as Senior VP of Broker Engagement at AIG. | Sep-16 |
| Insureon | Jeff Somers (Head of Retail) | Jeff Somers joins the small business agency after serving as chief product officer of Ticketmaster. | Sep-16 |
| The Zebra | Steve Beard (VP of Sales) | Steve Beard joins the car insurance comparison startup after directing carrier relations at Answer Financial. | Sep-16 |
| Oscar | Shaden Marzouk (Chief Medical Officer) | Dr. Shaden Marzouk was most recently senior VP of clinical operations at Cardinal Health. | Sep-16 |
| RiskMatch | Michael Golden (Chief Market Engagement Officer) | Michael Golden joins the startup from Willis Towers Watson. | Sep-16 |
| Clover Health | Les Granow (CFO), Brady Priest (General Counsel) | The health insurance company named former Arcadian Health Plans CFO Les Granow to the same position. Clover also named former UnitedHealth Ventures investor Brady Priest as general counsel. | Jul-16 |
| Next Insurance | Lacey Pevey (VP Insurance) | Pevey was previously Chief Underwriting Officer for the Financial Institutions Division at AIG | May-16 |
| Jetty | Braden Davis (Head of Insurance) | Davis joins from QBE, where he was head of business transformation, standard P&C | Apr-16 |
| CompareAsia Group | Sam Allen (CEO) | Allen joins from KKR, where he was a director in portfolio operations | Apr-16 |
| Driveway Software | Mike Slattery (EVP Strategy and Operations) | Slattery was previously senior VP of Innovation at AAA Club Partners and developed UBI products at The Hartford and Safeco | May-16 |
| Embroker | Tom DeMichael (VP of Customer Experience) | DeMichael joins from WillisTowerWatson and previously The Horton Group, where he was Director of P&C Operations | May-16 |
| Slice Labs | Dawid Gladzin (Director of Operations) | Gladzin was formerly on Google’s insurance team | Jun-16 |
| CoverWallet | Aman Khaira (VP of Product) | Khaira joins from American Express, where he was director of product strategy and development | May-16 |
| Driveway Software | Mike Simmons (CEO) | Simmons joins the mobile telematics startup from Automatic Labs, where he was head of business development | Mar-16 |
| Metromile | Raquel Rozas (Head of Brand) | Rozas joins the per-mile car insurance startup from Procter & Gamble, where she was an executive in the fabric care division | Mar-16 |
| BankBazaar | Murari Sridharan (CTO), Aman Narain (CEO, Intl markets) | Narain is a former Standard Chartered executive; Sridharan joins the online financial comparison startup from Microsoft | Mar-16, Feb-16 |
| Melody Health Insurance | Tom Zumbtobel (President, western markets), Tracy Faigin (CMO) | Melody plans on launching in Las Vegas and Cheyenne, Wyoming for 2017 open enrollment | Mar-16 |
| Lemonade | Ty Sagalow (Chief Insurance Officer), Robert Giurlando (Chief Underwriting Officer) , James Hageman (Chief Claims Officer), Ron Topping (CFO), Dan Ariely (Chief Behavioral Officer), Andrew Simkov (Head of Brand) | The online P2P P&C carrier added senior insurance execs from ACE and AIG and a senior marketing hire from Evernote | Jan-16, Mar-16 |
| Zenefits | David Sacks (CEO) | Sacks was previously COO after CEO Parker Conrad resigned amid compliance failures | Feb-16 |
| TrueMotion | Vance Loiselle (CEO) | Loiselle was previously CEO of Sumo Logic | Jan-16 |
| Oscar | Kevin Campbell (COO), Brian West (CFO), Joel Klein (Chief Strategy Officer), Alan Warren (CTO) | Senior hires join from Bridgewater, NYC Schools, & Google | Jan-16, Mar-16 |
| Insureon | Brandon Hickey (President), Mark Thompson (SVP, Product) | Senior hires join from The Hartford and PwC | Jan-16 |
Feature image credit: Phil Whitehouse
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