Backed by Zeev Ventures, the fast-growing digital landlord insurance provider will use funding to expand into additional insurance markets and accelerate innovation of AI-powered insurance solutions
CHICAGO, IL / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2024 / Honeycomb, a leading, fast-growing digital insurer, announced today that it has raised $36 million in a Series B funding round. The round was led by Zeev Ventures, with the participation of new investors Arkin Holdings and Launchbay Capital. Existing investors Ibex Investors, Phoenix Insurance and IT-Farm also took part in the round.
From left to right - Itai Ben Zaken, CEO; Nimrod Sadot, CTO. Credit - Yossi Zeliger
In 2024, finding landlord insurance remains an increasingly challenging task due to the ongoing narrowing appetite among traditional insurers using a "broad brush" approach for underwriting. For example, when a major California insurer incurred losses in the state recently, it decided to completely pull out of the region and leave it to landlords and homeowners to find a solution. In other states, carriers who haven't completely pulled out of the landlord insurance market have imposed new limitations, rendering their coverage non-viable or unavailable. Some will only insure properties built after 2004, despite more than 80% of U.S. residential properties being built prior to 2004.
Honeycomb's proprietary AI-driven technology enables granular risk management, underwriting "at the individual building level," and providing consistent coverage at a better price for well-maintained properties. In a market estimated at over $34 billion in the U.S., Honeycomb is the first landlord insurer to simultaneously streamline the customer and broker experience, leverage unique proprietary underwriting technology, and offer bespoke insurance coverage that adapts to ever-changing client needs. Given its tech advantage, Honeycomb does not need to impose "blanket limitations" on the age of the properties it insures or similar categorical restrictions.
The company sells its policies directly via its platform and through a growing group of best-in-class insurance brokers, who can virtually "bulk-quote" an endless number of submissions in real time; significantly improving a process that used to take weeks to complete, and translating into greater profitability for brokers and meaningful value for customers.
"The new funding will be used to further improve the end-user experience, driving enhanced profitability to our broker partners, and broadening the type and size of policies offered," said Itai Ben-Zakan, co-founder and CEO of Honeycomb. "We plan to deepen our technological advantage with proprietary AI models leveraging unique first-party data and expand into new insurance markets, turning Honeycomb into a one-stop shop for everything related to commercial real-estate insurance in the U.S."
Honeycomb now operates in sixteen of the largest states in the U.S., covering approximately 60% of the U.S market. It insures more than $21 billion worth of real estate assets and expects to triple that number in the next 12 months. To achieve these goals, Honeycomb plans to double its staff from the current headcount of 90 employees to 180 within the next 18 months.
"Honeycomb is an example of an Insurtech company that solves a major problem in a huge market, thus allowing it to increase ARR at a fast pace and progress to operational profitability in a short time," said Oren Zeev, the Founding Partner at Zeev Ventures, which has invested in category-defining companies such as Navan, Houzz, Next Insurance, Tipalti, and Sunbit, among others. "I am happy with this opportunity to lead the current round, as the company's unique technological advantage positions it well to become the market leader in their space."
About Honeycomb
Honeycomb is a deep-tech powered P&C insurer covering landlords and condo associations in the U.S. By integrating aerial imagery and street-level photography with cutting-edge technologies including computer vision and artificial intelligence, Honeycomb can underwrite risks more accurately and in real time, delivering significant value to its customers and agents, and growing at a pace of 200-300% year over year. Honeycomb is headquartered in Chicago, IL with offices in Tel Aviv, Israel, and in California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia.
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SOURCE: Honeycomb
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