Kin Raises $35M; Florida Home Insurance Carrier Pilot to Expand

August 14, 2020

Kin Insurance raised $35 million in new venture funding, attracting multiple investors including the investment arm of AAA Insurer CSAA Insurance Group.

The Chicago-based home insurer focused on catastrophe prone regions said that Commerce Ventures led the Series B round. Hudson Structured Capital Management Ltd. (doing its reinsurance business as HSCM Bermuda), Flourish Ventures, QED, Alpha Edison, Allegis NL Capital, Avanta Ventures (venture arm of CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA Insurer), August Capital, the University of Chicago via its Startup Investment Program and others also participated.

Sean Harper/Kin

To date, has raised $86 million, including the new round. With money in hand, Kin plans to expand its signature product from a Florida pilot to homeowners nationally, starting with states most affected by severe weather.

Kin’s last financing – $47 million secured in August 2019 – was designed to propel the launch of the company’s Kin Interinsurance Network, a Florida-based insurance carrier designed as a reciprocal insurance exchange so policyholders can have a voice in operations. The arrangement is also intended to give Kin more flexibility so it can innovate in customer-friendly ways and keep costs down. (Kin also continues as a managing general agent and brokerage in Texas, Georgia and Alabama.)

Kin said its proprietary platform allows the company to develop and launch new products in as little as a week, price risks in real time, and ingest more data than competitors. The company claims its technology also reduces general and administrative expenses – about 15 percent of premiums at legacy homeowner’s insurance companies.

As well, Kin sells its products directly to consumers rather than through outside agents.

Kin, now focused on growth, said it is actively hiring tech and sale talent in Chicago and in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Tech entrepreneurs Sean Harper (Kin’s CEO) and Lucas Ward launched Kin in 2016.

Source: Kin