An InsurTech MGA with a focus on multi-family property insurance has raised $3.3 million in initial venture capital insurance and formerly launched in North America.
Honeycomb, formerly Agilius, drew participation from Phoenix Insurance, New Era Capital Partners, IT-Farm Corporation and NFP Ventures as part of the investment.
Honeycomb bills itself as “the first and only digital insurance platform to change how multi-family property insurance is purchased, underwritten and managed.”
Honeycomb is a reinsurance-backed MGA designed to provide simple, fair, and affordable multi-family property insurance through its end-to-end digital platform. Honeycomb leverages user-generated proprietary data, advanced AI and computer-vision to automate an underwriting process that is typically manual, inaccurate and costly. Honeycomb said it significantly improves the customer experience and provides tailored coverage at a competitive price point and at improved profit margins through its real-time rate/quote/bind offering and its data-driven “right-pricing” advantage.
“It’s mind-blowing that personal lines have advanced so much, and commercial is stuck in the past,” Itai Ben-Zaken, co-founder and CEO of Honeycomb, said in prepared remarks. “With Honeycomb, there’s no more manual underwriting or lack of quality data points, no more paper forms and no more endless back-and-forth emails.”
Honeycomb is partnering with brokers across the U.S., so customers have the option of purchasing insurance through an agent or directly on the website. Online customers receive real-time competitive options after answering a few questions about their property, with each quote fully customizable based on a data-driven “right-pricing” advantage. They can bind the policy immediately and have up to seven days to complete the remote inspection through the Honeycomb app by taking pictures of the building structure and key risk-indicative elements inside the premises.
The proprietary AI “learns” from the user-generated property data to improve pricing accuracy over time. Post-purchase, the app provides ongoing interactive risk mitigation recommendations, as well as a seamless digital claims process. Honeycomb noted its approach to multi-family property insurance earned Honeycomb (then Agilius) first place at InsurTech NY’s 2020 startup competition out of 200 companies who competed.
Honeycomb is currently only available in Illinois but it has plans to expand to five additional states by the end of 2021. It is licensed in 11 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.
Honeycomb’s California agency license indicates it has appointments from dozens of property/casualty insurance carriers including Ace, American Casualty, Chubb, Continental Casualty, Golden Eagle, Great Northern, Ohio Casualty, Pacific Employers, Peerless Insurance, Philadelphia Indemnity, Spinnaker Insurance, Travelers and Westchester Fire and Vigilant Insurance.
Co-founders of the company include Manny Rios, former CEO at American Modern and chief underwriting officer at USAA. Rios serves as chief underwriting officer for Honeycomb.
Source: Honeycomb
*Material from related Insurance Journal coverage was used in this story.