US-based online insurance platform Next Insurance collected $250m in series D financing yesterday led by CapitalG, the growth equity arm of internet technology group Alphabet, and with participation from reinsurance provider Munich Re.
Venture capital firm FinTLV also took part in the round. Sumiran Das, partner at CapitalG, will join Next Insurance’s board of directors in conjunction with the round.
Founded in 2016, Next Insurance specialises in policies for small businesses and the self-employed, running an artificial intelligence-powered online portal that enables customers to purchase coverage within 10 minutes.
The company offers policies across areas such as general and professional liability, business insurance, commercial auto insurance and worker’s compensation insurance. It has grown to more than 100,000 customers throughout all 50 US states.
Next plans on hiring an additional 200 members of staff over the next 12 to 18 months across its offices in Palo Alto, Austin and Israel. The money will also allow it to improve its offering and add additional products to target industries such as accounting and construction.
Das said: “Next Insurance is modernising insurance for small business owners – making it fast and simple to get broad, customised coverage. We believe that there is an opportunity to use technology to transform the small business insurance experience in the US and build a national insurance leader.
“Next Insurance has the right team and capabilities to capitalize on this vision and is well on its way to doing so. We are proud to partner with Guy Goldstein and the Next team to help them accelerate their vision.”
The company has secured $631m in equity financing to date. Munich Re previously invested $250m in series C funding in October 2019, having originally partnered the company in 2016 and contributed to a $35m series A round in 2017.
Insurance providers Nationwide and Markel also took part in the series A round, as did American Express Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of payment services firm American Express.
Munich Re, Nationwide and American Express Ventures all returned in mid-2018 for an $83m series B round that was led by Redpoint Ventures and also backed by Ribbit Capital, TLV Partners, SGVC and Zeev Ventures.
