SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Embroker today announced a $12.2 million funding round, establishing the company as the early leader in the rapidly growing property and casualty insurance technology space. The Series A funding was led by Canaan Partners with participation from Nyca Partners and XL Innovate, as well as a new debt facility from Silicon Valley Bank.
This is the second venture capital round for Embroker, a cloud-based risk and insurance management platform that uses its own software, data and predictive analytics to help businesses buy all types of commercial insurance. Prior investors Bee Partners, FinTech Collective, Vertical Venture Partners and 500 Startups also participated in the round.
Following a $2.2M series seed round raised in July 2015, the additional funding gives Embroker momentum to transform one of the oldest and largest industries — insurance.
“This industry has needed more transparency since its inception — now it’s possible to use technology to achieve that end,” said Matt Miller, Embroker’s founder and CEO. “Getting the right insurance coverage at the right price is key to the health and success of every business but, until now, all but the largest corporations have relied on traditional insurance brokers and outdated, manual processes to make those critical business decisions. By bringing clarity and simplicity to what’s traditionally been an opaque and painful process, we’re enabling business owners to embrace insurance and risk management as tools for growth rather than obstacles.”
David Silverglide, CEO of Good Food Guys, which owns the growing restaurant chains Mixt Greens and Split Bread, and one of Embroker’s early customers, said, “Buying and managing insurance through Embroker is a revelation compared to what we were doing before. The system’s totally transparent and easy to use. We can benchmark our coverage against other companies, see exactly how we’re doing on everything from policies to claims, and my service team is always there when I have questions.”
Small and medium-sized businesses typically have four to six separate insurance policies and spend up to a million dollars a year in premiums. Because the industry relies mainly on manual processes and sells complex products, few SMBs review their insurance every year – a massive source of inefficiency and poor outcomes. Embroker improves upon this with its modern platform – removing the hurdle to optimize coverage and automate processes. For free, Embroker users can upload their policies to better understand their coverage and benchmark it with their peers. From there, Embroker uses data and predictive analytics to recommend coverage and optimize pricing, saving business owners time and money.
In addition to its technology platform, Embroker has assembled a team of licensed professionals and partnered with more than ten of the leading commercial insurance carriers, including The Hartford and Travelers.
“We’re proud to lead Embroker’s Series A,” said Brendan Dickinson, principal at Canaan Partners. “Embroker’s offering is one of the first to disrupt the $300 billion business insurance market, meeting the increasing demand for transparency in commercial insurance options. With its unique product offering, growing customer base and strategic long-term vision, Embroker is positioned to lead the charge in transforming the insurance market.”
Hans Morris of Nyca Partners, and the former president of Visa, said, “Our research and experience shows how little most businesses understand about their risks and insurance needs, and yet almost every business spends meaningful amounts on insurance. We believe that Embroker’s vision of bringing clarity, transparency, and simplicity to insurance decisions will make it the core tool used by businesses of all sizes to buy insurance.”
Embroker also announced the addition of Tom DeMichael as VP of customer experience, bringing 23 years of experience in commercial insurance operations management, most recently with Willis Towers Watson. Prior to Willis, Tom served at The Horton Group as the director of Property & Casualty Operations.
About Embroker
Embroker was founded in 2015 with the primary mission of delivering a technology-driven brokerage experience for small and midsize business owners. The company has partnered with more than 10 leading commercial carriers and is licensed in all 50 states. Headquartered in San Francisco, Embroker has a team of 24 employees and boasts an impressive leadership team with over 60 years of combined insurance industry experience as well as key roles at companies like Bain Capital, Google, Bank of America, and Charles Schwab. Embroker has been named one of 24 companies shaping InsuranceTech globally by Let’s Talk Payments and one of the innovators shaping the future of finance by Goldman Sachs.
