Insurtech startups — particularly ones with Colorado ties — have recently grabbed a surge of investor attention. On Thursday, Flyreel announced that it raised $10 million in Series A funding amid widespread growth in the digital insurance industry.
The Denver company provides an AI underwriting solution for property insurance. Flyreel’s conversational AI assistant asks property owners to scan images of their property with their cell phone. Its computer vision system automatically snaps pictures of fire hydrants, broken fences, gas ranges and other features that may impact their policy. That data is then sent to the insurance underwriter, with the aim of speeding up — and bringing more accuracy to — the traditional underwriting process.
The four-year-old startup now counts 15 major insurance providers as customers, including Jewelers Mutual. CEO and founder Cole Winans said Flyreel plans to invest the funds in growing its customer base, as well as developing its tech to further integrate and automate other insurance providers’ systems.
“The insurance market and consumer expectations are shifting dramatically in the wake of current events and technical innovation,” Winans said in a statement. “Customers expect consumer-grade product experiences coupled with financial products and services that protect and support them.”
The 23-person company plans to more than double its headcount to 50 by the end of 2021, according to Colorado Inno.
The Series A round brings total investment in Flyreel to $18 million. IA Capital Group led the round, with participation from the San Mateo-based insurtech provider Guidewire Software, Google’s AI-focused venture fund Gradient Ventures, State Auto Labs and Donan Engineering.
Flyreel isn’t the only Colorado insurtech company to receive investment recently.
This month, Highwing raised $4 million to double its headcount in Denver; in October, the Denver-based Pie Insurance announced it exceeded $100 million in premiums in less than four years, which it said was an industry record; and in August, AgentSync raised $4.4 million to track insurance broker licensing data.
