Insurtech funding surges, with SPACs and IPOs in sight

In October 2021, Nerdwallet joined the list of insurtechs going public and announced that it filed for an IPO for a potential valuation of $5 billion. The company reached 21 million unique users per month in the first half of 2021, generating $181.6 million in revenue.

Despite climate change, the pandemic and the increasing frequency of catastrophic events impacting the stability of the insurance industry, insurtechs have enjoyed a fruitful year. But as companies find themselves fully loaded and in the fast lane to going public, will their futures be just as fleeting? 

Willis Towers Watson reported a surge in global insurtech funding to $7.4 billion in the first half of 2021, exceeding investment in all of 2020 and every other previous year. In Q2 alone, the company saw 162 deals with more than $4.8 billion in investment behind them:

• 57 deals in Q2 2021 were early-stage deals, a 200% increase from Q2 2020 
• 55% of startup deals involved insurtechs focused on distribution 
• 73% of funding involved P&C relate companies

Some startups that had successful funding rounds in August include:

• DealerPolicy: $110 million, Series C 
• Insurify: $100 million, Series B 
• Jerry: $75 million, Series C
• High Definition Vehicle Insurance Group: $32.5 million, Series B
• Sayata: $17 million, Series A
• TrustLayer: $15.1 million, Series A
• DigiSure: $13.1 million
• Breeze: $10 million, Series A

Below are a handful of insurtech companies that have gone public this past year: 

• Lemonade was valued at $1.6 billion when it went public in July 2020, and its shares more than doubled during its debut. In fact, the insurtech was the strongest initial public offering debut of a U.S. company in 2020. However, the company lost $55.6 million in its most recent quarter with stocks falling by 9% in August 2021.  
• Root Insurance filed for IPO last October at the valuation of $6.7 billion, making it the largest IPO in Ohio history. More recently, Root reported a Q2 2021 loss of $178.6 million, raising the loss ratio to 88.3% compared to last year’s. 
• Metromile went public via SPAC at a value of $1.3 billion in November 2020 with Insu Acquisition Corp II. 
• CCC Information Services, a SaaS platform for the P&C insurance industry,  announced its plans to go public via SPAC in February in a deal that values it for about $7 billion.
• Kin Insurance, a homeowners insurtech startup, also announced plans to go public via SPAC with blank-check acquirer Omnichannel Acquisition for $1.03 billion right after raising $63.8 million in Series C funding in May. 
• Hippo Insurance went public via SPAC by merging with blank-check acquirer Reinvent Technology Partners Z in early August for about $5 billion but received less than it initially anticipated as the company lost investors. 
• Policygenius reported that it plans to go public via SPAC with PWP Forward Acquisition Corp. I in July but the valuation has yet to be finalized.

Although the uptick in insurance tech companies finding funding and going public seems promising, the heightened risk of these companies failing lingers: According to Willis Towers Watson’s Quarter InsurTech Briefing, more than 450 insurtechs have failed over the past decade, and success has proven to be limited. 

The briefing also suggested that insurtech stock prices move up and down together, almost regardless of how the business themselves are performing.

While this past year brought several prominent wins to the industry, it’s important to keep in mind that even the greatest and most innovative business models could tank in this unpredictable time. Finding ways to differentiate and deem a business as truly valuable could be the only way to stay afloat.