Lemonade Raises $120 Million Led by the SoftBank to Fund Global Expansion

December 19, 2017

Digital insurer Lemonade Inc., announced a $120 million Series C funding round led by the SoftBank Group, with participation from existing investors.

The insurance company that is run by artificial intelligence and behavioral economics said it plans to use the funds to accelerate its global expansion in 2018.

SoftBank joins prior investors Aleph, Allianz, General Catalyst, GV (Google Ventures), Sequoia Capital, Sound Ventures, Thrive Capital, Tusk Ventures and XL Innovate. The SoftBank Group’s David Thevenon will join Lemonade’s board.

“By combining big data and AI with a seamless user experience, Lemonade is truly revolutionizing the insurance industry,” said Thevenon, a senior investment professional within the SoftBank Group.

The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2018.

Last December, Lemonade announced a $34 million B round of funding. That round was led by General Catalyst with participation from GV (formerly Google Ventures), Thrive Capital and Tusk Ventures, as well as existing investors Aleph, Sequoia and XL Innovate. That brought Lemonade’s total funding to $60 million.

Lemonade is a licensed as a property/casualty insurance carrier founded by tech veterans Shai Wininger and Daniel Schreiber. The company began offering homeowners and renters insurance in New York in late 2016. Lemonade is currently selling in eight states including California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Texas, and is licensed in 17 additional states.

“The insurance brands we know today came of age in the era of the horse-drawn carriage,” said Schreiber. “But insurance is best when powered by AI and behavioral economics, which is why we believe that companies built from scratch, on a digital substrate and with a social mission, will enjoy a structural advantage for decades to come.”

In October, Lemonade invited others to use its sales platform. It is making its application programming interface or API available to developers of commerce sites, real estate apps, financial advisors, bots, IoT and smart home products. Within the first day of its offer, Lemonade said more than 400 businesses applied for early access.

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Latest Comments

  • April 12, 2019 at 12:02 pm
    Tiger says:
    I bought the Lemonade policy from safebutler and ever since I bought all my policies through lemonade. it's a very seamless experience.
  • December 29, 2017 at 12:43 pm
    Dick Wagner says:
    I think most are under-estimating them. I suspect that they, along with what Amazon has planned, will drastically change the brick and mortar insurance business. If I was a n... read more
  • December 22, 2017 at 1:40 pm
    Agent 3000 says:
    Maybe they will do to this what the auto industry giants did to the railroad industry - buy the system then bury it so the current system can continue to thrive.

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