Home and Auto insurance Startup Branch raised $147 mn

Branch, a startup offering bundled home and auto insurance, has raised $147 million in Series C funding at a postmoney valuation of $1.05 billion.

Weatherford Capital, a family-owned private investment firm, led the round, which also included participation from existing and new backers such as Acrew, American Family Ventures, Anthemis, Gaingels, Greycroft, HSCM Ventures, Narya, SignalFire and Tower IV.  With this latest financing, Columbus, Ohio–based Branch has raised $229.5 million in total funding since its 2017 inception.

Branch, according to co-founder and CEO Steve Lekas, is the only insurance company that he is aware of that can bind insurance through an API, and the only one that can bundle auto and home insurance in a single transaction.

Another way Branch is unique, he adds, is that it can be embedded into the buying experience. In other words, the company has partnered with mortgage or security system providers to integrate insurance at the point of sale in their products. For example, if a person is closing on a home, they have the option of purchasing Branch insurance at the same time. Partners include Homepoint, OpenRoad Lending and SimpliSafe, among others.

This distribution model means that Branch shells out less to acquire customers and thus, it claims, is able to offer premiums for a lower price than competitors. But the startup also offers its insurance direct-to-consumer and through agencies.

The company has seen impressive growth. While Lekas declined to reveal hard revenue figures, he did say that Branch has grown its annualized written premium by 1,300% in the last 12 months.

Since announcing its $50 million raise almost exactly 1 year ago, the startup has also increased its head count from around 75 employees to just over 400 today.

The company plans to use its new capital in part to accelerate its rollout across the U.S. It is currently in 28 states, having expanded into nine new ones this year.