The company just concluded a successful Series A round of funding
In its latest insurance study, global consulting firm Conning contends that the small business insurance market in the U.S. is ripe for consolidation, with market forces increasingly focused on digital marketing and distribution capabilities.
In further proof of that trend, online insurance platform CoverWallet announced this month that it has raised $7.8 million in funding for its small business insurance website in a Series A round led by Union Square Ventures. That brings the total amount that the start-up has raised, since launching earlier this year, to $9.5 MM.
“We are very excited to welcome Union Square Ventures, Index Ventures and executives who have a proven track record in building online brands that reinvent entire markets”, said Inaki Berenguer, CEO of CoverWallet. “Buying and managing insurance feels analog and painful. With CoverWallet, we are building a customer-centric online product that is both beautiful and intuitive. We are reinventing how small businesses get insurance, saving time and money.”
Providing a “concierge-like” service to commercial insurance
Combining data, design and technology, CoverWallet, says it wants to simplify the commercial insurance-buying process for businesses of all shapes and sizes. While simplification seems to be the mantra of most online insurance platforms, CoverWallet says it differs, however, is in its ability to provide a high-level of customer experience in conjunction with a variety of online servicing options. One way it says it achieves that objective is by offering its customers the opportunity to get in touch with their “own personal insurance advisor”. By providing this “personal insurance advisor”, CoverWallet say it is not just “high tech” but also “high-touch.”
“The $100B US small business insurance market is on the verge of a big paradigm shift. Business owners expect to deal with insurance online, in the same way they use consumer-friendly online technologies to deal with banking, payroll, accounting or sales”, said Rashmi Melgiri, COO of the company.
The online platform has developed strategic partnerships with certain national carriers including Liberty Mutual, CNA, and Travelers. As for commercial insurance options, CoverWallet currently offers general liability, commercial property, workers compensation, directors and officers, professional liability, errors and omissions, and cyber liability coverages. Now with its latest funding successes, the company says it is poised for growth with plans to launch new products in the coming months.
CoverWallet’s Boston ties…
While CoverWallet is “Proudly Made in NYC”, the company does have many ties to Massachusetts, which as our dear readers know, is what matters most to us here at Agency Checklists. In addition to both Co-Founders Inaki Berenguer and Rashmi Melgiri, who have MBAs from MIT, the company also just announced the appointment of Jim Ermilio as its new President of Insurance.
Many in the Massachusetts insurance industry might know Mr. Ermilio from his days at Commerce /MAPFRE. Mr. Emilio spent a decade with the Commonwealth’s largest insurer, where he served as the company’s Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary. After leaving MAPFRE, Mr. Ermilio entered the State House, first as Special Counsel to the Secretary for the Executive Office of Housing Economic Development of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and then as the Commonwealth’s Executive Director of Massachusetts Office of Business Development.
In 2014, he joined Boston-based Goji Insurance, as well as joining the Board Director of Consumer United, before moving to the New York area and eventually joining CoverWallet.
