Lemonade Raises $300M In Venture Funding To Expand

Lemonade, the insurance company powered by artificial intelligence and behavioral economics, announced Thursday (April 11) it has raised $300 million in venture funding.

In a press release, Lemonade said the Series D round of funding was led by SoftBank. Other investors that participated in the round include Allianz, General Catalyst, GV (formerly known as Google Ventures), OurCrowd, and Thrive Capital. The startup plans to use the proceeds from the capital raise to pick up the pace of expansion in the U.S. and Europe this year, and to evaluate possible new product lines.

Lemonade, a licensed property and casualty insurance carrier, started out with homeowners and renters insurance in New York in late 2016 and is now popular across the U.S. The company also has an altruistic bent: It takes a fixed percentage as a flat fee and donates a portion of unclaimed premium dollars to non-profits via its Giveback program.

“In less than three years, Lemonade has expanded across the U.S., given back to dozens of charities chosen by our community and fundamentally changed how a new generation of consumers interacts with insurance,” said CEO and Co-Founder Daniel Schreiber in the press release. “Looking forward, we aspire to create the 21st-century incarnation of the successful insurance company: a loved global brand that can endure for generations; an organization built on a digital substrate, enabling ever faster and more efficient operations, and ever more delighted consumers.”

Lemonade collects 100 times more data than traditional carriers which enables it to generate highly predictive data and improve underwriting, it sad in the press release.

“We’ve watched Lemonade transform insurance using big data and AI, reaching half a million homes in a little over two years – a shockingly rapid pace,” said Shu Nyatta, a senior investment professional within the SoftBank Group and a Lemonade Board Member in the same press release. “And we’re confident that the best is yet to come. The value Lemonade provides, together with the values baked into its model, are fast making it one of the most intriguing, differentiated and compelling brands.”