New Capital Will Be Invested in Further Development of Technology for Retail and Commercial Insurance Brokers.
Capitola, the digital marketplace for commercial insurance that connects brokers and carriers and uses AI-based risk appetite matching to streamline the placement process, today announced it has raised $15.6 million in its Series A funding round. Led by Munich Re Ventures, this round will be used to grow Capitola’s platform with an emphasis on its market intelligence capabilities and to accelerate sales in the U.S. This round adds to a $5M Series Seed round raised in 2021 that was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, who also participated in this round.
“The insurance industry has seen many technological advancements over the years, but very little attention has been given to the insurance professionals and the tools they use,” said Sivan Iram, Capitola’s co-founder and CEO. “Capitola’s mission is to help insurance professionals deliver exceptional client service and coverage. Our platform brings together brokers and underwriters, removing many of the operational inefficiencies around manual processes and repetitive tasks to allow them to focus on what they do best. We’re thrilled to have the support of Munich Re Ventures, Lightspeed, and our other investors as we continue to grow our team, develop innovative solutions and expand our impact on the insurance industry.”
With Capitola’s smart placement and market intelligence platform, firms can now transform how broker teams work. The platform:
- Saves time and increases productivity with simplified and streamlined workflows
- Provides smart market recommendations based on AI (artificial intelligence) driven risk appetite matching
- Easily organizes and manages hard-to-place risk and multi-layered programs with intuitive tools
- Creates advanced client reports and proposals using customized templates
“The U.S. specialty risk market has grown exponentially over the last few decades and would benefit from a digital marketplace that streamlines processes and expands the option for insurance placement,” said Oshri Kaplan, managing director at Munich Re Ventures. “We are excited by Capitola’s approach to this opportunity and are thrilled to support their journey.”
“As active investors in the Insurtech space, we were immediately excited by Capitola’s vision to revolutionize the commercial insurance distribution network,” said Yoni Cheifetz, Partner at Lightspeed. “We truly believe their strong team can realize this ambitious vision.”
“Our broker teams are at the heart of our organization and it’s a priority for us to provide them with the tools that would make them more productive and happier,” said Mike Heffernan, president and CEO at Heffernan Insurance, a Capitola customer. “Capitola’s solution has impressed us with its ability to solve our brokers’ key pain points and increase the performance of our teams.”
About Munich Re Ventures
Munich Re Ventures is the venture capital arm of Munich Re, one of the world’s leading providers of reinsurance, primary insurance, and insurance-related risk solutions. With more than $1 billion in assets under management, Munich Re Ventures invests in the most innovative start-ups transforming the future of risk and risk transfer.
About Lightspeed Venture Partners
Lightspeed is a multi-stage venture capital firm focused on accelerating disruptive innovations in the enterprise, consumer, fintech, and health sectors. Over the past two decades, they’ve backed hundreds of entrepreneurs and helped build more than 500 companies globally. www.lsvp.com
About Capitola
The Capitola productivity and market intelligence platform transforms how broker teams work, saving time and eliminating errors with simplified and streamlined placements. The Capitola platform organizes and manages complex, hard to place and multi-layered programs with intuitive tools, creates customized client reports and proposals using automation features, and finds the right markets with up-to-date, AI-driven market intelligence. Broker teams powered by Capitola, can do more of what they do best: strengthen relationships, expand their client base, and close more deals, all of which helps fuel growth and profitability.
