Munich Re/HSB Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of reinsurance firm Munich Re, has led a $29m series A round for US-based business-to-business insurance provider Next Insurance.
Insurance groups Markel and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company also contributed to the round, as did undisclosed existing investors.
Founded in 2016, Next provides tailored insurance policies for small to medium-sized businesses through an online platform.
The company will use the funding to expand into new business areas beyond the photographers and personal trainers it currently serves while adding features such as the Facebook chatbot it launched recently.
Guy Goldstein, Next’s CEO, said: “Next’s platform is able to overcome significant challenges by simplifying and expediting the insurance sign up and engagement process for the small business owner and channelling advanced data analytics to create policies that are tailored to the unique needs of different classes of business.
“Partnering with investors of this calibre will enable us to expand our activities faster and bring valuable products to a wider range of these types of business owners.”
Next had previously raised $13m in a March 2016 seed round led by Zeev Ventures that included fellow venture capital firms Ribbit Capital and TLV Partners.