Insurtech startup Hippo raises $150 million in funding to transform home insurance for the modern household

Unicorns, the venture capital backed technology startups that graze throughout the Silicon Valley, once disappeared from the face of the planet due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now, unicorns are back flying in the skies with record-breaking funding. Earlier today, we told you about Innovium after the San Jose, California-based tech startup raised $170 million in new funding for next-generation cloud data center networks to join the coveted $1 billion unicorn club.

Now Hippo, another Silicon Valley tech startup, today announced it has raised $150 million in Series E funding round for its insurtech platform. The new funding, which values Hippo at $1.5 billion post-financing, brings the total raised by the 5-year old startup to $359 million. The funding for this round came from new investors FinTLV, Ribbit Capital, Dragoneer and Innovius Capital, with significant participation from existing investors.

Founded in 2015 by Assaf Wand and Eyal Navon, Hippo automates and modernizes home insurance coverage to change the way homeowners safeguard their most important asset. Hippo’s innovative home insurance model includes world-class customer experience and services that proactively identify and help to resolve risks for its consumers. In the past 12 months, the company has grown its total written premiums to $270 million, growing at 140 percent YoY.

Hippo said that it will use the new funding to accelerate the company’s expansion, including to reach 95 percent of the U.S. homeowner population in the next 12 months, make key hiring additions, invest in its successful technology operations and support the company’s proposed acquisition of a national insurance carrier.

“We set out to change the relationship between homeowners and home insurance by offering more value and services in each interaction with our customers,” said Assaf Wand, Co-founder and CEO, Hippo. “We’ve seen tremendous growth over the last three years since launch, by leveraging technology wisely and reimagining the customer experience. We’re developing a long-term relationship with our customers, in part by supporting our insurance customers with home maintenance and smart home devices – all of which help solve small problems before they become big headaches.”

For the majority of Americans, their home is their most valuable financial asset, and yet, more than 60 percent of U.S. homes are underinsured, leaving people’s financial future at risk. Hippo provides more accurate and affordable coverage by using technology and data integrations to develop a unique profile of a customer’s property during the onboarding process. The company actively reviews changes to a customer’s property over time, using thermal and satellite imagery and layers in AI, machine learning and public records to keep customers’ properties protected, year after year.

For protection inside the home, the Hippo smart home program, which offers eligible customers complimentary smart home devices at sign-up, has delivered more than 400,000 devices to date and helps alert homeowners to potential issues, like water leaks. When things do go wrong, Hippo’s one-of-a-kind claims process delivers an efficient service and repair experience for its customers that leverages highly vetted contractors and is supported every step of the way by Hippo’s empathetic claims concierge team.

Hippo began selling its policies to homeowners in 2017, which initially rolled out in California and is now available to more than 70 percent of the U.S. homeowners population across 29 states. Hippo expanded its product portfolio with products for landlords, available in nearly 15 states, and a product for new construction, which is available in 12 states and counting.

Hippo Co-Founders, Eyal Navon, CTO (left) & Assaf Wand, CEO Hippo Insurance