Home insurer Openly secures $75m funding round

Homeowners insurance provider Openly, has closed a $75m Series C investment as part of its mission to empower independent insurance agents, according to the company.

Backers include a mix of current and new investors, such as Advance Venture Partners, Clocktower Ventures, Obvious Ventures, Gradient Ventures, PJC Ventures, Techstars, and Mtech Capital.

The round also includes investment from several insurance agency partners.

Openly intends to use the funds to expand its home insurance product to more states and agencies, and to continue enhancing its technology and insurance product offering.

“We are excited about this funding round and what it will enable,” said Ty Harris, Co-founder and CEO of Openly. “Investors in our sector have become wise to some of the sector’s potential pitfalls, such as inefficient customer acquisition, high burn rates, and unsustainable underwriting.”

He added: “We built Openly from day one around a strategy that avoids those pitfalls, and we’re seeing that pay off in differentiated results. I believe that differentiation relative to competitors will become even more apparent over the next two years.”

Openly’s technology is powered by an algorithmic advantage, the company noted. It allows its rating models to look at more data with more and provide more accurate coverage options.

Instead of using legacy software, Openly explained, it built its technology from the ground up, allowing for updates and fixes to be implemented quickly based on agent feedback.

Courtney Robinson, Founding Partner at Advance Venture Partners, said: “We are excited about our continued partnership with Openly.

“AVP’s participation in this round underscores our confidence in Openly’s team and their approach to modernising the property and casualty insurance market with technology-driven underwriting and best-in-class service.”