US-based online insurance provider Lemonade raised $300m in a series D round, including a host of corporate investors. The round was led by telecoms group SoftBank and other corporate participants included insurance provider Allianz and GV, the corporate venturing subsidiary of diversified internet conglomerate Alphabet. Equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd also participated in it as did venture capital firms General Catalyst and Thrive Capital. In past rounds the company was also backed by insurance firm XL Catlin’s investment arm, XL Innovate. The valuation of this round reportedly stood at over $2bn. Lemonade plans to use the funding to accelerate US marketing effort and also enter Europe as it seeks expansion for its product offering.
Founded in 2015, Lemonade provides property and casualty insurance packages to homeowners via a platform based on artificial intelligence (AI) and behavioural economics with no brokers. Lemonade charges a fixed percentage fee and pledges part of any unclaimed premiums to non-profit organisations.
This is a deal from the broader insurtech space, which has seen much attention from corporate investors, as the GCV Analytics graph shows. Corporate-backed rounds in emerging enterprises from that realm increased significantly from 17 rounds, worth an estimated total of $281m in 2014 to 78 deals in 2018, worth $4.34bn. During the first quarter of 2019, this upward trend appears to be sustained – with 29 round registered, worth an estimated $2.21bn.
