The funding gives the insurtech an enterprise valuation of more than $550 million as it eyes expansion into several overseas markets including South America, Europe, Africa and Asia, according to Slavin.
Strategically, he said, “one of the big focuses is going global.”
Slavin said the funding will fuel the recruitment of engineers and others as it continues its push into a competitive market.
“It’s been a very, very hot space at the moment, embedding financial services and insurance,” said Slavin, who co-founded the firm along with Jarod Kolman, chairman of Limestone Properties, a real estate developer in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Sure sells insurance for homes, apartments, financial services, businesses and jewelry. Since its founding in 2015, the insurtech — which uses technology to squeeze out savings from the traditional insurance industry model — has raised a total of $123 million in venture capital overall.
The latest funding round was led by Declaration Partners, a New York-based private investment firm, and Kinnevik, a Stockholm-based investment firm, with additional participation from WndrCo Holdings, a Hollywood-based venture capital firm, and existing investors W.R. Berkley Corp., a Greenwich, Conn.-based insurance holding company, and Menlo Ventures, a Menlo Park-based venture capital firm.
Sure has reportedly been working with Palo Alto-based electric vehicle-maker Tesla Inc. over the past year. The EV firm provides buyers of its cars the option of purchasing insurance on Sure’s software platform, which is embedded into Tesla’s online car-buying experience, according to insurance industry news site Coverager.
Slavin, who mentioned in the interview with the Business Journal that his firm is expected to announce a similar deal with a traditional automaker located “offshore” before the end of 2021, declined to confirm the Tesla partnership or identify the offshore auto manufacturer and whether other announcements might be forthcoming.
But Sure is doing more than just selling car insurance. It has already lined up a who’s who of insurance companies and automakers to use its insurance shopping software.
It counts among its partners Woodland Hills-based insurance firm Farmers Insurance Group, which is a unit of Swiss-based Zurich Insurance Group Ltd.
Through a technology platform, Sure also has partnered with Carvana Co., a Tempe, Ariz.-based car seller, to help integrate insurance into the consumer car-buying experience.
