Industry Insurance Area served United States Founded 2014 | Headquarters New York City Website www.policygenius.com | |
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Products Life, Renters, Long-Term Disability, Pet Founders Francois de Lame, Jennifer Fitzgerald | ||
PolicyGenius was founded in 2014 by two former McKinsey consultants, Jennifer Fitzgerald and Francois de Lame, who saw a gap and dissatisfaction in the insurance industry.
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PolicyGenius clients have access to advice through the company's insurance quoting platform. The platform provides personalized quotes, as well as side-by-side comparison of insurance policies from dozens of the country's insurance providers.
According to a LIMRA report, 132 million Americans rely on life insurance to protect their financial security, but the country is still facing a $20 trillion life insurance gap due to four key issues: lack of insurance understanding, overestimating the cost of insurance, lack of access based on an aging broker workforce and lack of online tools and an economic shift to a freelance workforce. Adding to the issue the Federal Reserve found that 47% of households couldn't cover an emergency expense of $400. Additionally, 62% of all personal bankruptcies were attributed to medical costs according to a Harvard study. Although many of these financial hardships could have been avoided with proper insurance, only 44% of individual American households have life insurance.
Insurance tech companies have made a big splash for their efforts to disrupt the insurance industry recently. CB Insights claims insurance tech companies have raised $2.12B between 2010 and 2015 to tackle this issue.
History
PolicyGenius officially launched in July 2014 by co-founders Jennifer Fitzgerald and Francois de Lame. Leveraging their multi-product platform, consumers are able to review advice, research and compare quotes for life, long-term disability, renters and pet insurance.
As McKinsey consultants, Fitzgerald and de Lame advised insurance companies on growth and marketing. They quickly noticed a pattern: all of the companies struggled with how to engage online with self-directed consumers.
Funding
PolicyGenius was part of the FirstGrowth Winter 2013 batch. In July 2014, PolicyGenius announced the completion of a seed round with investors Brendan Wallace, Paul Arnold, and Pen King.
The company raised its Series A in June 2015, about a year after graduating FirstGrowth. The $5.3 million round included investments from Karlin Ventures, Susa Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Transamerica Ventures and AXA Strategic Ventures. The round was aimed to expand marketing efforts and target new channels.
The company raised a $15 million Series B announced on January 14, 2016 from returning investors Karlin Ventures and Susa Ventures, and new investor Revolution Ventures led by Steve Case, former CEO of AOL.