Hi Marley announces $8.7 million Series A funding
More good news for Hi Marley. In its first Series A funding round, led by True Ventures and with participation from Underscore VC, the Boston-based insurtech raised a total of $8.7 million which will be used to continue developing its intelligent conversational platform.
“We’re beyond thrilled to have True Ventures and Underscore join us as we fill the communication gap between insurers and their customers,” said Mike Greene, Hi Marley CEO. “We’re far into the age of the customer, and the insurance industry wants in. We wanted to provide a solution that’s sole purpose is to delight the end customer by delivering what they expect. To create a seamless customer insurance experience, we are connecting all the various insurance players into a single conversation, happening in real time. We’re ecstatic to build this service for the world.”
“Hi Marley automates the claims process while still maintaining a very human element,” said True Ventures Partner Puneet Agarwal. “For all stakeholders in the insurance ecosystem, the platform enables a new level of customer happiness the industry has never before seen.” In addition to investing in Hi Marley, Mr. Agarwal also has joined the Hi Marley board.
“Building on the founders’ deep industry experience and tapping into Boston’s rich talent pool, the Hi Marley team is well positioned to transform customer experience across the insurance ecosystem. We at Underscore, alongside our Core community, are proud to be a local partner alongside the Hi Marley team,” said Lily Lyman of Underscore VC. Underscore’s community-driven model aligns perfectly with Hi Marley’s community-focused platform to alleviate the communication barrier, so carriers and customers can move forward together.
An AI-driven platform, Hi Marley works “alongside” insurance carriers allowing them to better communication with customers in a flexible and intuitive fashion.
Apliant Appears To Be No More
Apliant has apparently closed up shop and the website has been taken down. The insurtech, founded by Casey Gustus in 2017 aimed to empower independent agents through a simplified workflow accessed through a proprietary customer engagement platform. A self-described serial entrepreneur, Mr. Gustas had launched Apliant after having worked for Consumer United which eventually became Goji.
Agency Checklists profiled Mr. Gustus and Apliant in a November 2017 article entitled, “How Apliant Is Applying Technology To Empower Insurance Agents.”
On the upside, while Apliant is no more, we took a quick look at Mr. Gustus’ profile and he is now in Sales and Operations with Verti Insurance, which just happens to be MAPFRE’s new online insurance platform.
Insurance Underwriters Draws A Crowd
While Agency Checklists was unable to attend the first meeting of the new collaborative Insurance Underwriters it looks like that there were a quite few who were able to make it for their first meeting. While the collaborative does not officially launch until September of 2019, they will be holding some unofficial get-togethers during the rest of the summer, for those who are interested.
As for who attended the inaugural event, we also spotted two familiar faces that also made it. Here are a couple of snaps from the night via Bindable and Venture Cafe’s Instagram Accounts:
