LatAm insurtech Pier gains $14.5m investment to expand in auto market

Latin American insurtech Pier has received a $14.5 million Series A investment led by Brazilian venture capital firm monashees, with the participation of Canary, Mercado Livre and BTG Pactual.

The artificial intelligence-powered start-up launched auto insurance for the state of São Paulo in January 2020, and is preparing for its Series B funding in 2021.

"With the received funds, we will make major investments to increase the auto market," said Igor Mascarenhas, co-founder and CEO of Pier. "We want to be in every state of Brazil in the first semester of 2021."

Mascarenhas added: "We offer the best flow to buy auto insurance in the world. There is no one who can approve an auto insurance policy as fast as we do, and in such a simple way. Not even insurtechs that are references all over the globe. We have developed an extremely robust technology and added a very refined anti-fraud predictive capability."

Marcelo Lima, partner at monashees, said: "The insurance market is very large and presents several opportunities for innovation through the use of technology, whether in customer experience, product design, distribution or use of sensors. As in other financial segments, this market will accelerate a lot. Pier has an excellent team and is very well positioned to lead this movement, offer great value to customers and become a giant company."