Commercial construction insurance business Shepherd has raised $6.15m from a seed funding round led by Spark Capital.
According to Crowdfund Insider, the round also saw participation from Susa Ventures, Procore Technologies, Greenlight Re, Oldslip, Y Combinator as well as several angel investors. Spark Capital partner Natalie Sandman will join the Shepherd board.
Founded in 2020, Shepherd provides ‘tech-enabled insurance for commercial construction’. The company claims it digitises the way insurance is procured within commercial construction, with its platform designed to automate the underwriting process and offer contractors rewards and incentives to invest in technology.
Shepherd claims that since 2015, over $5bn of venture capital has been invested into construction technology development. However, financial services for construction has been largely untouched.
The company has said it will use the newly raised seed funding to invest in the company’s engineering and underwriting teams.
Shepherd commented, “We believe contractors should be rewarded and incentivized to invest in technology that makes them safer, more productive, or more efficient. And, we’re betting on a world where the data from technology products is inherently tied to underwriting, pricing, and risk selection.”
“At scale, every Shepherd customer will be underwritten not just based on their history or the locations that they operate, but rather reflective of the investments they’re making into their businesses and employees. Technology is already changing the construction industry for the better – it’s time for insurance companies to embrace this same movement.
“Shepherd is the company that we have always wanted to build – pioneering new ways to solve old problems and setting a new standard for technology enabled insurance in the construction industry.”
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