Hippo, a California-based digital homeowners insurance company, announced Monday that it raised $25 million in its Series B funding round that it plans to use to continue its growth.
Hippo launched in April 2017 in California, and has since expanded to Arizona and Texas.
But the company doesn’t plan on stopping there.
The company said Monday that it plans to continue expanding to additional states throughout 2018 and is aiming to reach 60% of the U.S. population by the end of the year.
Leading the funding were Comcast Ventures and Fifth Wall, along with “other top fintech investors,” the company said.
Hippo previously raised $14 million in Series A funding in December 2016, led by Horizons Ventures, along with RPM Ventures, Propel Venture Partners, GGV Capital, and Pipeline Capital.
Hippo allows homeowners to get a quote and purchase home insurance online in 60 seconds or less, save up to 25% compared to traditional insurers, and obtain “smarter coverage for modern households,” the company said in a release.
The company also offers direct integrations into loan origination systems and point of sale systems to allow borrowers to obtain homeowners insurance as part of the mortgage process.
“Hippo is reimagining homeowners insurance with a customer-centric model, built from the ground up,” Assaf Wand, Hippo co-founder and CEO, said.
“Homeowners insurance is an antiquated industry that has lost its way,” Wand continued. “Up to 65% of all homeowner claims result from catastrophic events. Whether it’s damage from a hurricane or wildfire, the last thing homeowners should have to deal with is a complicated battle with their insurance carrier. We get our customers what they need immediately, so the claims process doesn’t become another crisis they have to deal with.”
In addition to growing to more states in 2018, Hippo also plans to use the funding to continue several expansion and development initiatives the company has planned for 2018, including opening a new customer service center in Austin, Texas, that will serve as the home of Hippo’s “claims advocate concierges,” along with its insurance operations teams.
Both Comcast Ventures and Fifth Wall said that they see tremendous potential in Hippo and its business model.
“More and more complex financial purchases are being made online, yet the insurance industry has fallen short of providing homeowners with a digitally delivered product that provides the quality of service consumers deserve,” said Sam Landman, managing director of Comcast Ventures. “We invested in Hippo because the team is executing against their vision to build a more modern, consumer-focused product with proprietary internal tools that we believe will create a sustainable operational advantage.”
Brendan Wallace, co-founder and managing partner of Fifth Wall, agrees.
“There’s a massive opportunity to reimagine the way home insurance is bought, sold and serviced by combining big data and personal assistance with better, cheaper and more comprehensive coverage,” Wallace said.
“U.S. homebuilders similarly want to digitize all aspects of the home-buying experience and home insurance remains a largely offline, antiquated financial product,” Wallace added. “After evaluating the whole category of next-generation home insurance providers with our strategic real estate investors, Fifth Wall is excited to be partnering with Hippo to dramatically accelerate its growth through real estate partnerships.”
