San Francisco-based Cover, which provides insurance recommendations via a mobile app, has raised an $8 million Series A funding round.
The company, which was co-founded by Canadian entrepreneurs and former Shopify employees Karn Saroya and Anand Dhillon, also announced a previously undisclosed seed round of $3 million.
Cover said the Series A funding is being led by Social Capital. The company’s seed round was led by Social Capital, Tencent, Shasta, Sound, Sherpa, Maveron, SV Angel, Great Oaks, and others.
Cover is an app that recommends insurance providers when users send a photo of an item such as a car, electronics, jewellery, or a pet. The company, which claims it has processed over 90,000 requests for insurance through its app, said it has received a license to sell insurance across the United States directly and work with nearly 30 insurance carriers.
“Our business is about simplifying getting property insurance, and offering value to our customers beyond what any typical insurance entity could.”
“Our business is about simplifying getting property insurance, and offering value to our customers beyond what any typical insurance entity could,” wrote Cover’s CEO Saroya in a blog post. “Product market fit already exists in our space – people buy existing insurance products (though begrudgingly), largely because they’re mandated to by law. Our focus at Cover is on finding ways to change the value equation of insurance in favor of our customers.”
In addition to announcing its funding, Cover announced that Arjun Sethi, founder of Lolapps, MessageMe, and a partner at Social Capital will be joining Cover’s board of directors.
The company also announced the launch of a stream of new features that will allow Cover’s users to walk around their homes and have the Cover app auto-detect, identify, and catalogue their property against existing and new insurance policies. The features will also include price drop alerts on different insurance policies and port the insurance users have on their credit cards to cover.
“These tools uncover insurance our customers already have, automate behaviors they already perform (shopping rates), and make insurance as intuitive as getting your property on camera,” wrote Saroya.
Cover said that it was being run entirely out of one of the co-founder’s living rooms, until a few weeks ago when it moved into an office space in San Francisco’s SoMa district.