Root Insurance To Raise $350M in Series E; Valued at $3.65 Billion

rootAccording to reports, Root Insurance, a Columbus, Ohio-based car insurance company, is raising $350m in Series E funding.

The round, which reportedly would bring the company’s valuation to $3.65 billion, will be led by new investors Coatue Management and DST Global, with participation from existing investors.

Led by Alex Timm, CEO, and Dan Manges, CTO, Root Insurance is a licensed insurance carrier powered by mobile. Through smartphone technology and data science, the company measures driving behavior, and uses it as the primary factor in determining rates.
Root offers Usage Based Insurance (UBI), collecting telematics data from the accelerometer and other sensors on a smartphone to understand driving behavior. The company uses its proprietary algorithm to identify and offer policies to good drivers.
Policy rates are based primarily on the results of a test drive, but also take traditional variables into consideration. Driving behavior is the single
largest factor in Root’s pricing structure.
The system looks at more than 200 driving variables to assess a driver’s risk behind the wheel. Factors that it looks at to assess driving behaviors include: braking, turning, miles driven, and phone use while driving.

The company, which has raised $177.5m in funding to date, will presumably use the funds to expands operations and its business reach acorss more states in the USA. It is currently available to drivers in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.

Root recently added Daniel Rosenthal, CFO, Lauren Norelli, head of capital markets, with Cindy Powell moving into the newly created External Affairs role.

FinSMEs

25/08/2019

Join the discussion