US startup Lemonade has closed a Series D funding round led by SoftBank, raising $300 million to fuel its AI-powered insurance platform's global expansion.
Allianz, General Catalyst, GV (formerly known as Google Ventures), OurCrowd, and Thrive Capital joined the round, which brings Lemonade's total funding to date to $480 million.
Founded by tech veterans Daniel Schreiber and Shai Wininger, Lemonade is licensed as a full-stack property and casualty insurance carrier. The company began offering homeowners and renters insurance in New York in late 2016, and is now available for most of the US population.
The firm uses AI and behavioural economics to digitise the insurance process, replacing brokers with bots and machine learning and collecting far more data than traditional carriers to generate predictive data and eliminate paperwork and speed up the process for customers.
In addition, it operates a policy that reverses the traditional insurance model, taking a fixed percentage as a flat fee, which it claims eliminates the conflict between paying claims and making a profit. It also donates a portion of unclaimed premium dollars during an annual 'Giveback'.
With the new funding in place, Lemonade is now planning to launch in Europe and could also roll out new product lines.
Says CEO Schreiber: "Looking forward, we aspire to create the 21st century incarnation of the successful insurance company: a loved global brand that can endure for generations; an organisation built on a digital substrate, enabling ever faster and more efficient operations, and ever more delighted consumers."