Next Insurance Doubles Valuation To $4B With New $250M Funding Round

Israeli-founded insurtech company Next Insurance doubled its valuation to $4 billion in six months, raising another investment of $250 million, the company announced on Wednesday. The funding round was led by FinTLV Ventures and Battery Ventures, with participation from CapitalG, Group 11, Zeev Ventures, Founders Circle, and G Squared.

Next Insurance last raised $250 million in September 2020 at a valuation of $2 billion. And the latest round brings its total capital raised to date to $880 million.

Founded in 2016 by Alon Huri, Guy Goldstein, and Nissim Tapiro, the company provides digital, small business insurance coverage across the US, offering tailored, easy-to-understand policies with instant, 24/7, online access and in-house claims filings where a decision is typically made within 48 hours. The policies include general liability, professional liability, commercial auto and workers’ compensation coverage. Through the platform, clients can add additional insureds, update policies or payment information, and send verifiable proof of insurance.

Over the past six months, Next made two key acquisitions: AP Intego, a leading digital insurance agency that built partnerships with some of the largest small business software ecosystems in the US, including Intuit, Gusto, Square and Toast; and Juniper Labs, a provider of alternative open data and underwriting technology to accelerate the development of enhanced machine-learning capabilities and tools to strengthen the omnichannel customer experience.

These acquisitions helped accelerate Next Insurance’s growth and the company grew its customer base to more than 200,000 small businesses.

The company indicated that it also had a record year in 2020, increasing the number of customers holding more than one policy by tenfold, hiring close to 200 new employees, and tripling the amount of premium written by agent partners.

“Next Insurance’s full-stack approach to providing coverage for small businesses has created a radical paradigm shift in the legacy insurance industry,” said Gil Arazi, founder and managing partner at FinTLV Ventures, in a statement. “This value proposition, combined with a differentiated focus on machine learning and growing an innovative product portfolio has created unstoppable momentum that is undoubtedly changing how small businesses shop and purchase insurance.”

Michael Brown, general partner at Battery Ventures said Next Insurance was “modernizing insurance coverage and the customer experience by creating greater access to digital coverage and reinventing the way policies are designed, sold and purchased for everyday small business owners.”

“We believe Next Insurance is fundamentally changing the landscape of insurance and their passion for serving and supporting small businesses perfectly align with Battery’s investment goals. This is how you create an iconic insurance brand that customers love,” added Brown.

With this latest round, Arazi and Brown will join as board observers.

The investment, said Goldstein who serves as CEO of Next Insurance, “is a validation of our vision which is to make it dramatically easier for small business owners to get the insurance coverage they need by removing friction from the customer experience. It starts with developing a comprehensive digital product portfolio under one roof, continues with leveraging technology that improves the customer experience, and ends with a network of integrated partnerships that bring policy purchasing to the customer within the systems they already use. We’re not done improving the lives of small business owners, but we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished thus far.”

Earlier this month, Next Insurance announced a partnership with Amazon to offer Business Prime clients small business insurance.

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