By William Park
New quarterly high in insurtech investments
Global investment in the insurtech sector reached $2.55bn during Q1 of 2021 – a new quarterly high.
Data from Willis Towers Watson (WTW) shows that eight so-called ‘mega-rounds’ contributed more than $1.13 billion of the funding. Total funding during Q1 rose 180% on the same quarter in 2020 and 22% relative to Q4 2020.
According to WTW, investment was driven primarily by property and casualty (P&C) focused companies, which represented 69% of deal share. The largest funding rounds included Next Insurance, Coalition, Zego, Sidecar Health, Pie Insurance, Clarify Health, Corvus Insurance Agency, and TypTap.
But at the same time, there was a 13 percentage-point increase in early-stage deals compared to Q4 2020, with 60% of investments in Q1 2021 representing Series A or B fundraisings.
Regi Vengalil joins Metromile as CFO
The former CFO at Expedia Group’s corporate travel business unit, Egencia, will join pay-per-mile auto insurer Metromile as CFO in May.
Vengalil has been tasked with expanding the digital insurance platform’s mass appeal. He was with Egencia for six years.
People are driving less – and that’s an opportunity
Data from a GlobalData survey shows that 69% of respondents drive less annually due to the pandemic, report Insurance Times.
Insurtechs such as Lemonade, which is designed to be both digital and centre around value, are well suited to capitalise on this opportunity as consumers seek flexible, digital motor insurance policies.
“Recent years have seen companies such as Root and Metromile receive vast amounts of funding in this area, making them both insurtech unicorns,” says Ben Carey-Evans, insurance analyst at GlobalData.
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William Park is a head of research and insights at Insurtech Insights.
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