Munich Re- backed Vouch Insurance raises $45M, launches in California

Vouch Insurance, a platform offering business insurance for start-ups, has raised $45M in a Series B investment round led by Y Combinator Continuity. Vouch is now set to launch in California, bringing digitally-delivered insurance coverage to the world’s largest technology and start-up market.

With the new investment, Vouch has raised $70 million in financing to date from Ribbit Capital, SVB Financial Group, Y Combinator, Index Ventures, and 500 start-ups.

A well-known start-up incubator, Y Combinator works directly with founders — which is why Continuity, the incubator’s venture fund, is leading this Series B round as a strategic partner for Vouch.

"Y Combinator and Vouch share a common goal – giving founders the support they need to build successful, innovative companies,” said Anu Hariharan, partner at Y Combinator Continuity. “Vouch is built specifically for start-ups, so founders have the peace of mind that their business is covered. This platform is fundamental to the start-up community, as it enables founders to focus on growing their companies — which is why we were bullish on leading the Series B."

After launching in Utah and Illinois in September 2019, Vouch rapidly scaled to six additional markets and plans to offer coverage nationwide by the end of 2020. Less than eight weeks after launching in Utah, Vouch crossed 5 percent market share, with an overall net promoter score of 80.

After gathering learnings from its early customer base, the company is launching in California to double down on its purpose of giving world-changing companies the freedom to innovate — and the support they need to minimize risk. California represents 50 percent of the business insurance market and is the centre of the fast-growth technology and start-up industry, which spends $44 billion per year on commercial insurance. Vouch’s offering in this market helps safeguard start-ups from the early missteps that can impact the growth of many companies. This launch is just one of many in the pipeline, as the company plans to provide coverage to start-ups nationwide by the end of 2020.

“Vouch helps founders manage the risks associated with starting up a new company, so they can focus on creating and growing businesses that change the world. We believe that’s a purpose worth pursuing,” said Sam Hodges, CEO and co-founder of Vouch and former co-founder of Funding Circle US, the peer-to-peer lending marketplace that went public in 2018.

“As an entrepreneur, I've spent most of my career building companies at the intersection of technology and financial services. I know first-hand that along the journey of building and growing a business, teams will face numerous high-stakes challenges. Vouch is here to support entrepreneurs and mitigate those challenges from the beginning, leaving more room for growth.”

All Vouch coverages are accessed from a single application that takes less than 10 minutes to complete. Vouch’s proprietary policies are backed by reinsurer Munich Re.

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