The InsurTech Waffle has raised $5 million in seed funding, with plans to offer cyber, renters, pet, travel and life insurance in the initial launch of its new virtual agency platform. Auto and home insurance are to be added by the end of June.
Chubb joined Waffel’s platform with cyber coverage through its Blink by Chubb platform. Other participating carriers include MassMutual’s Haven Life Agency (Life), Crum & Forster Pet Insurance (Pet), Arch RoamRight (Travel), Clearcover (Auto), and Boost (Renter’s).
The idea is to partner with insurers to give users – particularly younger uses like Millennials – “simple, fully customizable products with broad coverage and limited to no exclusions,” the company explains.
Verve Ventures led the round, though BetterLabs Ventures and Techstars also participated. Waffle, which is based in New York, is debuting its platform in both iOS and web, and it is available in all 50 states.
Waffle is the product of research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that focused on holistic coverage and risk pricing. The technology behind Waffle includes a proprietary holistic risk model named Galileo, a risk mitigation engine named Y.O.D.A. (Your Own Derisking Assistant), and a proprietary onboarding engine. The company bills itself as an “all-in-one app that puts all of a customer’s insurance needs in one easy-to-use place.” Waffle’s ultimate goal means coverage for car, home, life, travel, pet, digital life, identity, friends and family.
“We want to provide people with a sense of security and safety when it comes to the things that matter most in their lives,” Waffle CEO and co-founder Quentin Coolen said in prepared remarks.
Source: Waffle