Why we are Quadrupling Down on Insurtech Unicorn- Next Insurance

Next Insurance, announced today a massive $250MM Series D financing round led by new investor CapitalG. Other new investors include ERGO Capital and FinTLV.

Existing investors MunichRE and Group 11 also participated in this round.

This latest round values the digital business insurance leader at over $2BN and brings the company’s total funding to $631MM to date. This is Group 11’s fourth investment in Next Insurance since our first investment in the company in 2017. We continue to support the company’s rapid evolution from an SMB general liability insurance provider to a one-stop-shop for various SMB insurance needs.

When we doubled down (for the second time) in Next Insurance’s Series B round in June of 2018, we were impressed by the company’s emergence as a clear leader in the $139BN annual SMB insurance premium market. Like other Group 11 portfolio companies, Next Insurance leverages robotics process automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) overlaid by a seamless digital interface to provide incredibly efficient insurance solutions and superb user experiences in traditional financial services. Over the past three years Next Insurance has grown at a remarkable pace. The company essentially grew its daily Gross Written Premiums by 75X and it now serves over 100,000 customers.

What is so unique about Next Insurance

What is unique about Next Insurance’s model is that as opposed to traditional insurance providers, Next Insurance offers business owners a sleek, digital interface where they can request quotes and obtain coverage instantly. Their policies are customized to their specific business needs at flexible monthly pricing. Since Next Insurance is 100% online and driven by machine learning, the entire process is frictionless and hassle-free with zero paperwork, phone calls, or human agents involved. Moreover, thanks to Next Insurance’s custom-tailored coverage model, the company can offer more competitive pricing than brick-and-mortar business insurance providers.

In spite of the COVID pandemic, Next Insurance has only reaffirmed its market leadership, growing 107% year over year. The factors that drive Next Insurance’s growth are the same factors shared by other successful fintechs in the Group 11 portfolio: the company addresses a dire market need, has proven profitable unit economics, is rapidly capturing market share illustrating a perfect product-market fit, and is led by a stellar team of veteran founders.

Now more than ever, SMBs, representing 48% of the US economy and employing 60 million people in the US, are looking for ways to slash expenses and increase their bottom line during a global economic downturn. Next Insurance is helping these business owners protect their businesses while cutting costs and increasing their bottom line with fast, customized, and more affordable insurance coverage.

From Product to Platform

Next Insurance has greatly expanded its offering with additional lines of insurance, claims paid within 48 hours, on-demand coverage, and more sophisticated uses of AI and machine learning to improve customer experience and streamline the insurance purchasing process. Next Insurance now has a presence in all 50 states (up from 15 states in 2019) and it offers six different types of insurance coverage for 1,300 different small business types such as yoga instructors, HVAC contractors, florists, independent accountants, and dog day care. Next Insurance has now evolved into a one-stop-shop platform from being a general liability insurance provider.

TINA — There is no alternative

It is important to note that the current market environment also works to Next Insurance’s advantage. In fact, just recently we have shared what is arguably the most important thought-piece Group 11 has released to date, “Equities Gone Wild — Bubble or Beginning”, in which we have outlined the reasons why next-gen technology adoption has recently become a necessity rather than a fashionable luxury which results in the adoption stampede we are witnessing at some of our established portfolio companies such as Tipalti, TripActions, Next Insurance, HomeLight, Sunbit, Papaya Global, and also with some of our emerging portfolio companies such as Lili Bank and EquityBee.

The advancements we mentioned in this article coupled with the market environment further position Next Insurance to transform the SMB insurance industry and become a national leader.

That is why Group 11 is quadrupling down on our investment in Next Insurance. We strongly believe that the company is poised to dominate the SMB insurtech space in the coming years.

We continue to be impressed by the company’s year over year growth, graduation to a full suite, one-stop-shop insurance platform, resilience through the COVID pandemic, and stellar management team of experienced fintech founders.

We are thrilled to continue supporting Next Insurance alongside new investors CapitalG, FinTLV, ERGO and our fellow existing investors.