Corvus Insurance already pulled in a $100 million Series C venture financing in March. Within two months, more money came through.
In late May, the InsurTech startup raised another $15 million, from investors FinTLV and Aquiline Technology Growth in what is considered an “extension” of the Series C.
Such extensions aren’t always common with startup funding. With that in mind, both parts of the Series C financing reflect a big vote of confidence in Corvus, a Boston-based MGA focused on providing smart commercial insurance products through artificial intelligence-driven risk data. The company has also scored early on with products such as its Corvus Crowbar digital platform, which is designed to provide cyber risk data to brokers and policyholders.
Carrier Management contacted Corvus founder and CEO Phil Edmundson by email to ask about the significance of the additional financing, growth strategies, hiring plans and how the pandemic has given it opportunities to grow.
Below are his responses.
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Q: Why the Series C Extension?
Edmundson: FinTLV and [Aquiline Technology Growth] recognized the value of Corvus as an innovative InsurTech and as a category leader in smart cyber insurance, with both strong broker-focused technology and experienced leadership. Corvus deeply understands the commercial insurance business and strategically empowers brokers to tackle complex risk through our unique underwriting technology. These investors saw great potential in getting into business with Corvus, and we’re equally excited about both investors’ considerable insurance industry experience. We are confident that FinTLV and Aquiline, like our other investors, will demonstrate their value and expertise as we continue executing on our commitment to make the world a safer place.
Q: What do you plan to use the money for?
Edmundson: The additional Series C investment will be used to continue scaling Corvus’s business, increase our share of the market, and enter new commercial lines.
Q: How did you survive the coronavirus pandemic?
Edmundson: While companies were forced to shift most interactions online during the pandemic, the threat of exploitation by cyber criminals increased. As a result, Corvus experienced tremendous growth since early 2020 as mitigating cyber risk became more and more necessary. The Corvus Scan became a critical tool for many companies to appropriately assess and mitigate their cyber risk.
Q: How many people work for the company presently, and how many will you be hiring?
Edmundson: Corvus currently has 170 employees and we’re rapidly growing. Our employee base grew 172 percent in 2020 with a number of significant senior hires. In the wake of our Series C funding, our plans are already underway to more than double our headcount in 2021 and notably further build out our data science team.
Q: What do you hope to accomplish in 2021 in terms of company growth strategy?
Edmundson: Our 2021 growth strategy is all about executing our annual operating plan and achieving our aggressive GWP and hiring goals. We also plan to enhance our industry leading broker platform, the CrowBar and will soon launch a new commercial insurance line.
Q: Where do you hope Corvus will be in terms of its development five years from now?
Edmundson: We don’t share our growth plans beyond the next year publicly.
Q: Will you stay independent or are you looking for a merger or acquisition?
Edmundson: For the time being, and for the years ahead, we’re laser focused on growing the company and continuing to serve our brokers and policyholders the best way we can.
Q: Is an IPO or reverse merger in your future?
Edmundson: It’s a bit premature to talk about going public at this point. In the meantime, we’re focused on growing, continuing to innovate and create new solutions to make a safer world for our customers. As long as we keep doing that, any future financing and the future trajectory for Corvus will take care of itself.