Companies in the insurtech space have been making headlines as of late for a variety of reasons. Last week alone, we covered Root’sIPO plans and The Zebra’sprofitability milestone.
Today, we profile an earlier-stage player in the space: Columbus, Ohio-based Branch, which offers bundled auto and homeowners’ insurance. I interviewed CEO and co-founder Steve Lekas, who began his career at Allstate, before moving on to build Esurance’s first online home insurance business.
In this piece, Lekas gives us the scoop on Branch’s growth plans, why the company never considered a marketplace offering and how it aims to reimagine the insurance distribution model.
Meanwhile, John Egan reports on how fintech startup StreamLoan has forged a partnership with insurance giant Progressive enabling home buyers and homeowners who use its digital mortgage platform to obtain quotes for homeowners’ insurance. StreamLoan CEO Stephen Bulfer tells FinLedger that his company is “just getting started in the insurance space.”
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In the pandemic, people have flocked to instant payment apps like Cash App, PayPal’s Venmo and Zelle as they have wanted to avoid retail bank branches and online commerce has become more ingrained. Payment apps have long had fraud rates that are three to four times higher than traditional payment methods such as credit and debit cards. And now it appears the fraud has surged in recent months as more people use the apps. The New York Times.
Clair, a startup working to disrupt the payday lending industry and help hourly and gig workers get paid instantly, has raised $4.5 million in seed funding. Upfront Ventures led the round, which included participation from Founder Collective and Walkabout Ventures as well as former Venmo COO Michael Vaughan and Seamless founder Paul Appelbaum. New York-based Clair describes itself as a "social-impact" startup working to help America's 82 million hourly workers and 57 million gig workers to get paid instantly. Finextra.
PROPTECH
Mexico-based hospitality startup Casai has landed $48 million for its Series A round, the company announced Wednesday. The financing includes $23 million in equity funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, and up to $25 million in debt financing from TriplePoint Capital. Casai, which draws its name from “Casa Intelligente,” or “smart home,” was born out of co-founder and CEO Nico Barawid’s frustration of having to choose between a hotel and an Airbnb rental that often wasn’t up to standard. More from Crunchbase News.
This year has been an inflection point for the commercial real estate industry, intensifying the need for technology solutions, according to Ernst & Young analysts. But while there have been major steps in the embrace of technology solutions, there is a major disconnect between interest and adoption. Those who adapt and reap the benefits of a fully realized technology platform are likely to fare better, they said. More here.
INSURTECH
Pie Insurance, an insurtech specializing in workers’ comp insurance for small businesses, on Wednesday announced it has exceeded $100 million in cumulative written premium and surpassed $100 million in annualized run rate premium. In May, Pie raised $127 million and formed its affiliated entity, Pie Carrier Holdings. The company’s mission is to transform small business insurance by automating the entire quote to claim experience—starting with workers’ comp insurance. More from Pie here.
Insurance carrier Metromile today announced the launch of Ride Along, a free new way for drivers to understand if their driving can result in a lower car insurance rate before they sign up. Drivers can begin a Ride Along after downloading the Metromile app and entering some basic information. Then, the Ride Along begins with “no obligation to purchase from Metromile.” Drivers should have their smartphone in the vehicle when they drive. After about two weeks, they can see how much they drove and their expected monthly bill.
BANKTECH
Save and Galileoannounced today a partnership agreement to use Galileo's customizable API-based payments processing platform to process transactions and funding of Save customers' Debit Invest debit cards and Save Market Savings accounts. Save, a fintech startup that aims to provide higher yields on savings and checking accounts, and Galileo expect to process more than $7 billion of customer transactions in the first three years.
N26 GmbH is considering a fresh fundraising round next year, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg, as the German mobile bank eyes a valuation above $3.5 billion. The Berlin-based startup has been in contact with potential advisers for the fundraising, though discussions are at an early stage and no final decisions have been made. The funding round could be the company’s final one before it considers an initial public offering as early as 2022.
WEALTHTECH
Wealthsimple, a company that is powering many of Canada's digital investing and stock trading platforms, announced today it has raised CAD $114 million on a valuation of CAD $1.4 billion. TCV led the round, which included participation from Greylock, Meritech, Two Sigma Ventures and existing investor Allianz X. BetaKit.
Personal money management platform M1 Finance has raised $45 million in a Series C funding round led by Left Lane Capital, bringing its total funding to just under $100 million. Last month, the company reached the milestone of having $2 billion in assets under management. The latest financing follows a $33 million Series B raise in June and a milestone of $1 billion in assets under management in February. More from M1 here.
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