CA-based AI-powered auto insurance comparison engine Jerry debuts after raising $28m in Series B funding, bringing its total fundraise to $57m.
The round was led by Goodwater Capital with participation from a slew of angel investors including Jay Vijayan, CEO of Tekion; Jon McNeill, CEO of DVx Ventures, former president of Tesla and COO of Lyft; Brandon Krieg, CEO of Stash; Ed Robinson, co-founder and president of Stash; Johnson Cook, president of Greenlight; and Timothy Sheehan, CEO of Greenlight.
The round comes after the firm completed a Series A round in 2018 led by Bow Capital, with participation from Y Combinator, SV Angel, FundersClub, Joe Montana’s Liquid 2 Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures; Zillionize and Immad Akhund, CEO of Mercury.
The company, which provides customised quotes from more than 45 insurance carriers including Progressive, Allstate and Travelers in 45 seconds, intends to use the funds to scale the car insurance product and hire talent to expand its marketplace into additional categories.
While it is mostly focused on insurance at the moment, it also plans to use its new capital to move into other categories of car ownership.
Launched in 2019 by Art Agrawal, Jerry’s free-to-use app leverages AI and machine learning to provide a car insurance comparison service. Jerry’s app eases access to automotive insurance, loans, maintenance, repairs, warranties, parking needs and more in one super app.
With a 10x revenue growth in 2020, the firm boasts of serving nearly a million customers across the US. Its customers save on average about $800 a year on car insurance, the company claimed. Jerry also offers a similar offering for home insurance but its focus is on car ownership.
Commenting on the rise of digitalisation, Agrawal said that today, consumers demand access to any product or service with a few clicks, a text or a swipe and insurance companies must be prepared to offer that.
Agrawal added, “We’re bringing the daily needs of car owners – insurance, loans, maintenance, repairs, warranties, parking, and more – in line with modern e-commerce expectations to create a frictionless cost-saving experience. And that’s the experience we’re creating at Jerry by redesigning and disrupting the processes of 100-year-old industries. Our talent and our balance sheet are strong. Our customer acquisition strategy is generating recurring revenue in the auto insurance category.”
Highlighting the benefits of using Jerry, Goodwater Capital’s Chi-Hua Chien said, “What attracted us to Jerry is an automotive services marketplace for time-strapped and budget-minded consumers that offers a beautiful customer experience – significantly smarter, faster and more effortless in every way. AI combined with machine learning and bots creates the purchase environment that today’s customers expect. No others in the market can match the speed and agility that Jerry has built.”
Headquartered in Palo Alto, the company has offices in Toronto and Lockport, NY.
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