US-based digital insurance provider Kin Insurance raised $35m yesterday in a series B round featuring Avanta Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of insurer CSAA Insurance.
Venture capital firm Commerce Ventures led the round, which also attracted Hudson Structured Capital Management (HSCM), Flourish Ventures, QED, Alpha Edison, Allegis NL Capital, August Capital and University of Chicago (UChicago)’s Startup Investment Program.
Founded in 2016, Kin sells home insurance policies directly to consumers, relying on data analytics to recommend appropriate coverage. It has set up its business as a reciprocal exchange, meaning it shares underwriting profits with customers.
The company was co-founded by Sean Harper, who graduated with an MBA from UChicago’s Booth School of Business in 2009, making it eligible for the Startup Investment Program.
Kin has run a pilot version of its business in the US state of Florida and will use the series B funding to expand across the country, beginning with the states most exposed to severe weather.
The round comes after $47m in funding from Avanta Ventures, HSCM, UChicago Startup Investment Program and undisclosed additional investors in August 2019.
The company had previously received $13m from investors that likely included August Capital and Commerce Ventures in early 2018. The latter investor had joined Omidyar Network, 500 Startups, Chicago Ventures, Portag3 Ventures and assorted individuals in a $4m seed round in 2017.
The original version of this story appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.
