- Vouch Insurance, a platform offering seamless business insurance, announced it has raised $45 million in funding
Vouch Insurance — a platform offering seamless business insurance for startups founded by Sam Hodges and Travis Hedge — announced it raised $45 million in Series B funding led by Y Combinator Continuity. And Vouch also announced its launch in California, bringing digitally-delivered insurance coverage to the world’s largest technology and startup market.
With this funding round, Vouch raised $70 million in funding to date from Ribbit Capital, SVB Financial Group, Y Combinator, Index Ventures, and 500 Startups.
As companies launch and raise funding, startup founders face a number of challenges and pain points as they scale their companies. So planning for early risk is critical to future success especially in an age when technology companies are held to increasingly higher standards. And through its proprietary insurance policies, Vouch gives world-changing companies the freedom to innovate and scale while still mitigating the risks and challenges that come with any company’s growth.
“Vouch helps founders manage the risks associated with starting up a new company, so they can focus on creating and growing businesses that change the world. We believe that’s a purpose worth pursuing,” said Hodges, CEO and co-founder of Vouch and former co-founder of Funding Circle U.S. — which is a peer-to-peer lending marketplace that went public in 2018. “As an entrepreneur, I’ve spent most of my career building companies at the intersection of technology and financial services. I know first-hand that along the journey of building and growing a business, teams will face numerous high-stakes challenges. Vouch is here to support entrepreneurs and mitigate those challenges from the beginning, leaving more room for growth.”
Vouch launched in Utah and Illinois in September 2019. And then the company scaled to 6 additional markets and plans to offer coverage nationwide by the end of 2020. Less than 8 weeks after launching in Utah, Vouch crossed 5% market share with an overall Net Promoter Score of 80.
“Y Combinator and Vouch share a common goal – giving founders the support they need to build successful, innovative companies,” added Anu Hariharan, partner at Y Combinator Continuity. “Vouch is built specifically for startups, so founders have the peace of mind that their business is covered. This platform is fundamental to the startup community, as it enables founders to focus on growing their companies — which is why we were bullish on leading the Series B.”
Soon Vouch is launching in California to double down on its purpose of giving companies the freedom to innovate and the support they need to minimize risk. California represents 50% of the business insurance market and is the center of the fast-growth technology and start-up industry, which spends $44 billion per year on commercial insurance.
Vouch safeguards startups from the early missteps that can impact the growth of many companies. And this launch is just one of many in the pipeline as the company plans to provide coverage to startups nationwide by the end of 2020.
And Vouch’s proprietary policies are backed by Munich Re — one of the largest A-rated reinsurers in the world — and Vouch is also a preferred insurance provider for Silicon Valley Bank’s client base — which includes approximately 50% of venture-backed technology and life science startups in the country.
