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The pandemic served as a driver for digital transformation throughout various industries. Inside the insurance coverage sector, evolving buyer expectations has insurance coverage gamers dashing to undertake digital options to streamline the shopper journey. Policygenius has emerged because the main on-line insurance coverage market the place customers can uncover, examine, and buy insurance coverage. The platform covers life, house, auto, incapacity, and rental insurance coverage choices throughout the biggest and most trusted carriers, offering an expertise just like Kayak for journey. Nevertheless, buying insurance coverage is a little more sophisticated than reserving a airplane ticket and Policygenius affords entry to 400+ consultants to navigate the whole course of. For carriers, the corporate’s proprietary expertise supplies the conduit to entry the digital insurance coverage ecosystem via a confirmed and battle-tested on-line gross sales and advertising and marketing channel; the corporate has facilitated $90B in life insurance coverage insurance policies offered since 2014 for 30M+ people.
AlleyWatch caught up with Policygenius CEO and Cofounder Jennifer Fitzgerald to study extra concerning the inspiration for the enterprise, the corporate’s strategic plans, newest spherical of funding, which brings the overall funding raised to $276.1M, and far, way more…
Who had been your buyers and the way a lot did you increase?
Sequence E — $125M.
All current main buyers participated within the spherical, together with KKR, Norwest Enterprise Companions, and Revolution Ventures. New buyers included a number of of the biggest annuity and life insurance coverage carriers in North America, like Brighthouse Monetary, International Atlantic Monetary Group, iA Monetary Group, Lincoln Monetary, and Pacific Life.
The funding of those carriers, together with further funding by current buyers that additionally included AXA Enterprise Companions and MassMutual Ventures, exhibits the {industry}’s assist of our observe file and transformative imaginative and prescient.
Inform us concerning the services or products that Policygenius affords.
Policygenius is the one-stop digital platform for customers to check and buy insurance coverage. Since our founding in 2014, Policygenius has constructed integrations with the biggest and most trusted insurance coverage carriers within the {industry} and developed proprietary expertise for quoting, underwriting, and achievement. Earlier this 12 months, we introduced the launch of our Policygenius Professional providing, which brings the facility of the Policygenius life insurance coverage platform — together with modern software program, expansive provider shelf, and award-winning operations — to B2B distribution companions.
What impressed the beginning of Policygenius?
Beforehand, I labored as a McKinsey guide advising main insurance coverage corporations, alongside my cofounder Francois de Lame, once we recognized that old-school carriers didn’t know how one can join with a contemporary shopper. We determined to launch Policygenius to deliver digital comfort to the insurance coverage buying course of. By means of Policygenius, customers can examine insurance coverage quotes on-line and are guided via the appliance and shopping for course of by a licensed insurance coverage agent, in order that they expertise each digital comfort and get pleasure from a private contact when making a significant monetary choice.
How is Policygenius totally different?
Now we have achieved true scale in insurance coverage: Policygenius is on tempo to be the one largest distribution platform for time period life insurance coverage this 12 months.
We’re the one tech-enabled brokerage and distribution platform to have efficiently scaled and diversified throughout life and residential and auto insurance coverage. And now we’re providing these companies in a B2B platform with Policygenius Professional, a service not like every other within the {industry}.
We generate our personal leads via a complicated, proprietary platform and deal with them with our in-house operations group.
Our proprietary end-to-end expertise platform is not like the rest used or obtainable within the insurance coverage {industry}.
- Our purpose-built enterprise expertise platform, Umbrella, powers almost every little thing we do and is a differentiator for our enterprise. We made a major funding to construct it from the bottom up.
- It integrates with the main life, incapacity, and residential and auto insurance coverage corporations, and delivers an distinctive digital expertise for each customers and insurance coverage corporations. Umbrella permits us to see and handle the whole buyer journey and seamlessly integrates every little thing we have to service them from first quote to closing buy.
- These distinctive capabilities allow us to scale extra effectively and speed up our future development.
What market does Policygenius goal and the way huge is it?
The $1.3T U.S. insurance coverage market is archaic, fragmented, and overwhelmingly sophisticated — there’s a large alternative within the insurance coverage area. There are almost 6,000 insurance coverage corporations and greater than 400,000 insurance coverage brokers competing for American prospects and most are nonetheless working fully offline at conventional, brick-and-mortar workplaces. These native brokers are providing a small handful of choices and sometimes depend on a paper-heavy course of. They’re not often licensed to supply life and incapacity insurance coverage, which places the work within the palms of the buyer to search out options for every of their insurance coverage wants. Policygenius supplies the trendy resolution to those challenges — bringing these choices to a straightforward to navigate, digital, one-stop platform for a lot of forms of important insurance coverage wants.
What’s your small business mannequin?
Our enterprise is constructed on two major development drivers.
First, there’s our direct-to-consumer enterprise, which we’ve constructed out for eight years, and thru which we assist hundreds of thousands of individuals store for all times, house and auto, and incapacity insurance coverage.
Not too long ago, we’ve taken our expertise driving an industry-leading buyer expertise within the D2C area to launch Policygenius Professional, a B2B partnerships platform that gives our insurance coverage resolution to monetary advisors, impartial brokers, group banks, credit score unions, and extra.
We spent years assembling a superior product shelf, growing extremely environment friendly and customer-friendly gross sales and case administration processes, and constructing proprietary expertise that delivers industry-leading consumer outcomes. With Policygenius Professional, we’re capable of provide these benefits to impartial brokers, monetary advisors, and their purchasers.
What are your post-COVID workplace plans??
Now we have carried out a hybrid, versatile return-to-office mannequin. Our workplaces in New York Metropolis and Durham, NC are each open and obtainable to vaccinated workers who wish to are available, whereas workers preferring to work remotely are welcome to take action. Over the long run, we can have three classes of workers: flexible-first, totally distant, and in-person. The vast majority of our workers shall be flexible-first, that means they’ll select when and in the event that they wish to work from an workplace or from house. Workers even have the chance to use to be totally distant, whereas these with in-person-critical roles will work primarily out of the workplace. We hold a detailed pulse on worker engagement and suggestions, and created this versatile system in response to worker choice.
What was the funding course of like?
Fundraising teaches each chief dedication and dedication. It’s simpler when you could have a trusted observe file as we do, however as you get loads larger, the expectations are increased. The important thing to our capital elevating success is the distinctive group we’ve at Policygenius.
What are the most important challenges that you simply confronted whereas elevating capital?
It’s at all times a humbling expertise to satisfy with potential buyers — and even with this being a Sequence E for us, I nonetheless discovered loads. We had been fortunate to work with return buyers and insurance coverage corporations who perceive our enterprise, however you continue to have to speak via what your plans are and the way you’ll proceed to innovate. It may be difficult to get previous the ‘what if’s’ you run via in your thoughts.
What components about your small business led your buyers to write down the examine?
We heard lots of nice suggestions from buyers as we went via this course of, however one constant theme was our continued innovation and our give attention to the most important alternative within the insurance coverage worth chain: distribution.
Again once we based Policygenius in 2014, we introduced a digital purchasing expertise to evaluating and shopping for life insurance coverage. We constructed integrations with the biggest and most trusted insurance coverage carriers within the {industry} and developed proprietary expertise for quoting, underwriting, and achievement.
Again once we based Policygenius in 2014, we introduced a digital purchasing expertise to evaluating and shopping for life insurance coverage. We constructed integrations with the biggest and most trusted insurance coverage carriers within the {industry} and developed proprietary expertise for quoting, underwriting, and achievement.
We took that B2C system and expanded to launch Policygenius Professional earlier this 12 months. This brings our highly effective platform — together with modern software program, expansive provider shelf, and award-winning operations — to B2B distribution companions.
What are the milestones you intend to attain within the subsequent six months?
Earlier this 12 months, we launched Policygenius Professional, which brings our highly effective platform to B2B distribution companions. We’re wanting ahead to persevering with to innovate and construct out right here, in addition to launching new merchandise — keep tuned!
What recommendation are you able to provide corporations in New York that wouldn’t have a contemporary injection of capital within the financial institution?
Be sure to’re specializing in what’s most vital for you — and keep in mind it will not be the identical as what it’s for others. For us, we may’ve reduce prices by utilizing an off-the-shelf expertise platform, however we determined to spend money on constructing our personal from scratch. We might not have been capable of spend elsewhere, however this early funding paid off for us in spades.
The place do you see the corporate going now over the close to time period?
As I discussed, we simply launched Policygenius Professional, bringing our highly effective platform to B2B distribution companions, and we’re enthusiastic about that and persevering with to innovate in our core enterprise areas: life, incapacity, house, and auto insurance coverage.
We even have some thrilling new choices coming quickly!
What’s your favourite outside eating restaurant in NYC?
Lilia in Williamsburg, assuming it’s not freezing exterior!
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