Good Neighbor Stories

Snapsheet Secures Strategic Investment from State Farm Ventures®, Fueling Digital Innovation in Claims

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 15:12:26 -0500

Chicago, IL: July 17, 2023 — Snapsheet, an industry leader specializing in claims management technology, today announced a strategic investment from State Farm Ventures.

Through its innovative platform, Snapsheet streamlines and expedites the claims process, providing insurers and policyholders with a seamless, user-friendly experience. Snapsheet offers a comprehensive range of appraisal, claims, and payment solutions for auto, property, and commercial insurance. They work with over 140 insurance carriers, Managing General Agents (MGAs), Third-Party Administrators (TPAs), and self-insured entities in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

“This investment solidifies Snapsheet's position as an industry leader and highlights State Farm's commitment to fostering digital innovation within the insurance claims landscape,” said Snapsheet CEO & Founder, Brad Weisberg. “We're eager to bring innovation to the insurance claims process and are deeply committed to making claims simpler for both carriers and their policyholders. Our focus is on improving customer experiences by providing insurance carriers with technology to drive automation, reduce costs, and improve accuracy.”

“State Farm Ventures has been tracking Snapsheet for a while and is pleased to invest in them as a differentiated claims technology company,” said Michael Remmes, VP of State Farm Ventures. “Snapsheet has been a trusted relationship for a number of years, and this investment demonstrates State Farm’s commitment to customer-centric solutions that help drive innovation and streamline the claims process.”

About Snapsheet

Snapsheet ignited the virtual appraisals revolution and is a leader in claims management technology, empowering claims organizations to offer seamless customer experiences. Built on a foundation of claims innovation, Snapsheet boasts a swift digital insurance claims process primarily for auto, property, and commercial lines in the United States.

As a trusted partner, Snapsheet collaborates with over 140 customers, encompassing some of the largest insurance carriers, TPAs, MGAs, and insurtechs. Snapsheet streamlines claims and appraisals, and scales payments through modern insurance technology.

About State Farm Ventures, LLC

State Farm Ventures focuses on investing in startups developing technologies and products to fulfill customer needs in ways they may not expect from their insurance company. State Farm Ventures, LLC, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company.

State Farm Ventures participates in funding round

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 14:03:07 -0600

NEW YORK, Dec. 6, 2022 - Get Covered, a leading insurance technology provider for multifamily operators, managers, residents and distribution partners, today announced it has raised $14.5 million in total funding after closing a recent investment round. RET Ventures, State Farm Ventures®, WISE Ventures and LeFrak participated in the round.

A year after Get Covered’s Series A fund raise, Get Covered has announced the closing of its Series A-2 $6 million round. The new funding will empower Get Covered to innovate new products, increase staffing and grow partnerships with insurance carriers, agencies and proptech companies. Get Covered also plans to significantly expand its client base of renters, apartment owner/operators and property managers and strategically grow in new and existing markets.

“Insurance is a fundamental component of renting for residents, owners, operators and property management teams,” said Brandon Tobman, CEO of Get Covered. “Insurance is one of the oldest industries in the world, and it’s also one of the most challenging to change. We are proud of the technology solutions we’ve created that have alleviated many of the friction points in buying and tracking insurance. We are excited to continue growing and providing better experiences for renters and optimizing risk mitigation strategies for operators.”

Founded in 2018 by Brandon Tobman, Dylan Gaines and Ryan Solomon, Get Covered provides insurance technology products and services for the multifamily industry that make buying, selling and tracking insurance as simple and seamless as possible. Get Covered ensures that residents are covered with the community’s minimum required policy and tracks insurance policies throughout the lease term. Embedding insurance tracking within owner/operators’ existing processes, Get Covered allows renters to seamlessly purchase customized insurance policies from A rated carriers. On the backend, owner/operators are equipped with a policy admin portal for certificate of insurance (COI) verification, tracking, billing and policy administration.

In 2022, Get Covered has added more than 600,000 units to its all-in-one activation and COI tracking platform. Get Covered currently operates in 48 states and has been deployed in more than 3,500 apartment communities nationwide.

“Get Covered’s technology-based solution of offering renters insurance as an embedded option within the tenant leasing process is an intriguing approach to meet the needs of more customers,” said Michael Remmes, Vice President of State Farm Ventures. “We believe that our agent-based distribution model in combination with their platform approach to serve the institutionally-managed property market could deliver a strong customer experience for renters.”

About Get Covered

Get Covered builds software solutions for the property insurance sector and acts as the bridge between insurance and real estate. Clients include insurance carriers, insurance agencies, property managers, landlords and membership associations who offer our insurance products to their clients, residents or members. For more information, please visit getcovered.io.

About State Farm Ventures, LLC

State Farm Ventures focuses on investing in start-ups developing technologies and products to fulfill customer needs in ways they may not expect from their insurance company. State Farm Ventures, LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary and registered trademark of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company.

Media Contact
Morgan Dzak
LinnellTaylor Marketing
303-682-5001
morgan@linnelltaylor.com

State Farm Ventures invests in Technology Company

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 14:01:00 -0600

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Elpha Secure Technology Inc., the first cyber insurance startup to combine proprietary cybersecurity software with coverage to improve risk transfer, has completed a $20 million Series A funding round. Canapi Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in early to growth-stage fintech companies, led the round with participation from Elpha Secure’s existing investors, including Stone Point Ventures, AXIS Capital, State Farm Ventures^®, The Hartford STAG Ventures, Fermat Capital Management, and EOS Venture Partners.

Elpha Secure provides a groundbreaking cyber protection solution for small and midsize businesses that marries proprietary cybersecurity technology with insurance policies. In a departure from the conventional cyber insurance model, Elpha Secure’s end-to-end, proprietary solution helps customers reduce cybersecurity risk through its unique approach rather than focusing on limiting coverage or raising rates. As part of the company’s offerings, insureds gain enhanced coverage with a single software installation that brings greater cyber protection through security controls like encrypted data backups, multi-factor authentication for remote desktop connections, software version control, and machine learning to detect anomalies and advise specific action.

The funding round will help drive business growth across broker networks and evolve Elpha Secure’s product features to better equip small and midsize businesses to defend against cyberattacks and their consequences with end-to-end protection and response.

“We are humbled by the great investors supporting Elpha Secure and we are thrilled to welcome Canapi as a new partner,” said Preetam Dutta, CEO of Elpha Secure. “Digital threats are growing in variety, frequency, and intensity, so cyber insurance is becoming indispensable. Yet, smaller businesses are finding they don’t have adequate cyber infrastructure to qualify for insurance. Instead of challenging business owners to define and implement the required cybersecurity measures themselves, we provide these measures through our software as well as the insurance policy. We’re only just getting started, and we look forward to expanding our reach and serving even more businesses in need in the years to come.”

“Today’s small and midsized businesses are not only at a greater risk than ever of suffering a cyberattack, but they also face significant hurdles when it comes to acquiring cyber insurance policies,” said Jeffrey Reitman, Partner at Canapi Ventures. “By embedding security controls directly into their policies, Elpha Secure removes the friction associated with acquiring a cyber insurance policy, while simultaneously controlling loss ratios for their carrier partners. In offering an unprecedented solution that newly combines both cyber protection software and insurance, Elpha Secure greatly reduces the cyber risks in the system for all. We’re so excited to be leading this Series A and look forward to helping fuel the company’s growth into the future.”

Elpha Secure’s team of in-house experts has crafted a streamlined portal experience to eliminate friction in the insurance quoting, binding, and renewal process. For users, the team provides support for all of their cybersecurity needs throughout the life of the policy. Customer employees can easily improve and maintain their organization’s cyber health, which shrinks the attack surface and reduces the chance of an insurance claim, through Elpha Secure’s centralized suite of security controls on its intuitive platform. The cyber insurance product is backed by two industry-leading insurance carriers, AXIS Surplus Insurance Company and Everest Indemnity Insurance Company.

"As a specialist insurer and reinsurer with a leading cyber practice, we at AXIS recognize the dynamism of the digital risk landscape and the importance of risk mitigation against this backdrop,” says Linda Ventresca, Head of Digital at AXIS Capital. “Elpha Secure’s innovation in monitoring, reducing, and managing risk throughout the life of an insurance policy aims to improve an insured's risk profile, ultimately delivering better experiences and outcomes for all stakeholders."

About Elpha Secure

Elpha Secure fuses cyber insurance with advanced security software and support for a complete cyber defense in a single product designed for small and midsize businesses. Built upon a belief that all business owners should have access to the tools they need to function safely in the digital age, we evolve the standard approach to cybersecurity by providing user-friendly software, the protective measures needed to qualify for cyber insurance, and the insurance itself. Our company is headquartered in NYC, with technology teams spread across North America. Learn more at https://www.elphasecure.com.

About Canapi

Canapi Ventures is a venture capital firm investing in early to growth-stage fintech companies. Our partners have been at the forefront of financial services innovation as operators, investors, bankers, advisors, and regulators. Our venture capital model connects high-quality fintech companies to our extensive network of banks and strategic partners. Canapi Ventures is advised by CenterHarbor Advisors and Canapi Advisors, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. (Nasdaq: LOB). For more information, visit http://www.canapi.com.

Contacts

Media:
For Elpha Secure:
press@elphasecure.com

For Canapi Ventures:
FGS Global
Chris Kittredge/Danya Al-Qattan/Kevin Siegel
Canapi-SVC@sardverb.com

State Farm Ventures invests in May Mobility

Tue, 12 Jul 2022 08:00:00 -0500

MAY MOBILITY CLOSES $111 MILLION SERIES C FUNDING, BEGINS PRELIMINARY DEVELOPMENT ON TOYOTA’S NEXT GENERATION MOBILITY PLATFORM

May Mobility continues to focus on delivering equitable autonomous mobility solutions.

May Mobility garners commercial traction with partners leading the adoption of AV technology in the business-to-government and business-to-business sectors, including a project with MONET Technologies Inc. and SoftBank Corp. for an international route in Tokyo
May Mobility will continue collaborating with Toyota, with more deployments coming in late 2022 with the Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicle platform and preliminary development on Toyota’s e-Palette mobility platform
Insurance conglomerate backs AV technology, stating potential reduction in accidents.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – May Mobility, a leader in the development and deployment of autonomous vehicle (AV) technology, today closed a $111 million Series C round of funding. Additionally, the company plans to continue to pursue its deployment programs using the Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicle platform while beginning development on another vehicle design centered mobility, Toyota’s e-Palette, signaling the next potential milestone as it seeks new ways to bring equitable mobility solutions to the masses.

“With the close of this latest investment round, May Mobility will continue to accelerate growth in our technology, business development and platforms, all with a global reach,” said Edwin Olson, CEO of May Mobility. “Our additional investors, as well as our continued strategic collaboration with Toyota and others, will enable us to march toward driver-out commercial operations in 2023 and enable our expansion into new markets as we roll out more Toyota Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicles now and look to next generation platforms, such as the e-Palette.”

Insurance Industry Supports AV Future

Joining Tokio Marine, State Farm Ventures^® participated in the round, supporting May Mobility’s growth and becoming one of the first U.S.-based insurers to invest in AVs. With improving road safety as a key goal for May Mobility, the investment indicates the insurance industry’s growing support for AV operations to reduce road accidents.

“The insurance industry sees the future of mobility and is recognizing the importance of helping to design the way insurance will support autonomous vehicles in the future,” said Ryan Green, CFO of May Mobility. “Having partners like Tokio Marine and State Farm Ventures helps expedite that vision for the future of mobility.”

State Farm Ventures focuses on investing in start-ups developing technologies and products to fulfill customer needs in ways they may not expect from their insurance company. As the leading U.S. automobile insurer, they look to invest in technologies, services and capabilities that improve vehicle and pedestrian safety.

“May Mobility’s technology is a potential compelling advancement in the evolution of autonomous driving and may help to reduce accidents and improve road safety.” said Michael Remmes, Vice President, State Farm Ventures.

Continuing collaboration with Toyota

In addition to the new round of funding, May Mobility is also continuing its collaboration with Toyota. Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicle platforms modified by May Mobility have already been launched for testing and demonstrations in Ann Arbor, with other public deployment locations anticipated in late 2022. The program also features an ADA-compliant up-fit through the company’s partnership with Braunability.

Furthermore, May Mobility has begun initial development work on incorporating the company’s ADK onto the Toyota e-Palette, a battery-electric vehicle platform that is positioned to further transform the future of mobility. With greater rider capacity and the expansion of more efficient transit services made possible from a platform like e-Palette, May Mobility will continue its mission to ultimately reduce traffic and the need for parking lots and garages, creating more livable green space.

“We are already seeing the benefits of using Toyota’s Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicle platform as it was designed from the ground up to interface with computers, and we look forward to future discussions on the use of Toyota’s e-Palette as an exciting opportunity to set new milestones as we transform mobility with an autonomous, electric vehicle platform. This platform, coupled with our technology, has the power and capability to accelerate the future of mobility,” said Olson.

Investors Support Driver-Out Operations

Bringing the company’s total raised funding to date to $194 million, the round is expected to increase May Mobility’s engineering headcount, expand its global customer base, enhance rider experiences and further invest in technology advancements. With this round of funding, May Mobility has doubled down on its commitment to driver-out operations in 2023. SoftBank, State Farm Ventures, Next Century Ventures, SAIC, Wanxiang, Karma and 10x GmbH join the list of partners committed to the company’s mission of driving a greener, more accessible future through mobility. The round was led by SPARX Group Co., Ltd.’s Mirai Creation Fund II alongside Tokio Marine, Toyota Tsusho, Bridgestone Americas and returning investors Toyota Ventures, Millennium Technology Value Partners, Cyrus Capital Partners, LG Technology Ventures and Maven Ventures, among others.

Gaining Traction with Commercial Partners

With its Series C round, May Mobility also garnered commercial traction with partners leading the adoption of AV technology in the business-to-government and business-to-business sectors. In addition to its previously-announced program with Bridgestone, May Mobility is working on a project with MONET Technologies and SoftBank for an international route in Tokyo.

For more information, visit maymobility.com.

About May Mobility:

May Mobility, established in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2017, is building the world’s best autonomy system. Their proprietary Multi-Policy Decision Making (MPDM) system is at the core of their mission to help make cities safer, greener, and more accessible. MPDM’s proven track record has delivered more than 315,000 autonomy-enabled rides to date in several public transit applications across the U.S. and Japan. With key strategic partnerships including some of the world’s most innovative automotive and transportation companies, such as Toyota Motor Corporation, May Mobility aims to achieve the highest standard in rider safety, sustainability, and transportation equity. For more information, visit www.maymobility.com.

About Toyota:

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our nearly 1,500 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs more than 39,000 people in the U.S. who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 32 million cars and trucks at our nine manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 10th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With the more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, a quarter of the company’s 2021 U.S. sales were electrified.

To help inspire the next generation for a career in STEM-based fields, including mobility, Toyota launched its virtual education hub at www.TourToyota.com with an immersive experience and chance to virtually visit many of our U.S. manufacturing facilities. The hub also includes a series of free STEM-based lessons and curriculum through Toyota USA Foundation partners, virtual field trips and more. For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

About State Farm Ventures:

State Farm® doubles its venture capital efforts

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 14:36:10 -0600

Bloomington, IL, Jan. 27, 2022, State Farm Ventures® announces the expansion of its venture capital investment fund to $200 million, up from the initial commitment of $100 million in September 2018. The fund focuses on start-up companies that align with the strategic goals of State Farm, which include helping meet customers’ needs in more ways.

“Throughout our 100-year history, continuous innovation and adaptation has positioned State Farm as the leader in a highly competitive industry. We recognize that investing in innovation is key to our continued success of serving our customers, and we look forward to discovering additional opportunities for investment in diverse and creative start-up companies that promote safety and security in our communities,” says Michael Remmes, Vice President, State Farm Ventures.

State Farm Ventures was established in 2018 and has made 21 investments to date.

State Farm Ventures Mission:

Inspired by our Ventures’ mission to Go Beyond Possible®, our goal is to meet the ever-growing needs of our diverse customer base. We invest in companies that disrupt conventional modes of operation to help each of us live smarter, safer and better lives.

We encourage start-ups to approach our team to discuss how we can assist their efforts to improve the lives of our customers. Go to: https://ventures.statefarm.com/

State Farm Ventures focus areas include, but are not limited to:

Mobility & Transportation – As the leading automobile insurer, we look to invest in technologies, services and capabilities that improve vehicle/pedestrian safety, enhance our ability to underwrite and handle claims more efficiently, and allow us to enter new markets, including connected vehicles, cyber-security, and payments.

Residential & IOT – As the leading homeowner insurer, we seek to invest in emerging technologies, including the Internet-of-Things (IOT) to help reduce claim frequency and severity and allow our customers to live safer and better lives.

Artificial Intelligence – We look to invest in new technologies, such as machine learning, natural language processing, and virtual reality that can bring improved simplicity and service to our customers, agents, and employees.

Insurtech/Fintech – We seek to invest in new technologies that expand our market leading ability to provide products and services to our customers.

See additional focus areas and a portfolio of investments: https://ventures.statefarm.com/

About State Farm Ventures, LLC

State Farm Ventures invests in Owl AI

Mon, 24 Jan 2022 10:00:00 -0600

Owl Autonomous Imaging, a Silicon Valley Thermal Imaging Startup with Offices in Rochester, NY, ‘The Image Capital of the World’, Secures $15 Million in Series-A Funding for Next Generation Pedestrian Automotive Safety with the World’s Only Monocular 3D Thermal Sensor Solution.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, January 24, 2022 – Owl Autonomous Imaging (Owl AI), a developer of patented monocular 3D thermal imaging and ranging solutions for automotive active safety systems, today announced $15 million in Series A funding led by State Farm Ventures. Additional participation in the round included Excell Partners, Luminate NY Accelerator, Empire State Development, MHNW Consortium, Dr. Sanjay Jha, (former CEO of both GlobalFoundries and Motorola Mobility), as well as others.

The foundation of Owl’s patented technology is an adaptation of a thermal ranging solution developed under a challenge grant from the US Air Force to track missiles in flight traveling at over 1,000 mph. The solution to Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Autonomous Vehicles (AV) requires redundancy and diversity, maximized across a 3D image map. Owl has developed a patented 3D Thermal Ranging™ camera, the world's only solid-state camera delivering HD thermal video with high precision ranging for safe autonomous vehicle operation.

“Of the 1.35 million people killed worldwide in car accidents every year, more than half were outside of the vehicle (pedestrians, cyclists, or motorcyclists,)” said Owl CEO Chuck Gershman. “At Owl, we are all about safety, especially pedestrian safety, Owl’s 3D thermal ranging solutions enable the identification of pedestrians, animals, and cyclists far sooner than any other system on the road today, and we do it day or night, and in foul weather. Simply stated, we save lives; we save lots of lives.”

The current de-facto ADAS sensor suites typically comprise mutually dependent visible-light cameras and radar, but when one of these sensors becomes ineffective, so too does the entire sensor suite. This scenario happens often, especially when it comes to pedestrians, cyclists, and animals at night or in inclement weather. Owl has created a new modality known as monocular 3D thermal ranging that dramatically improves pedestrian safety. The system is based on specialty HD thermal imaging and innovative computer vision algorithms. Operating in the thermal spectrum these algorithms exploit angular, temporal and intensity data to produce ultra-dense point clouds and highly refined object classification.

“Preventing car accidents of any kind is of critical concern,” said Michael Remmes, Vice President, State Farm Ventures, “Owl’s technology is a potential compelling advancement in active safety detection and avoidance of collisions. We are excited to support Owl’s efforts to bring these advancements to the automotive community.”

“Luminate Accelerator is excited to support Class of 2021 Owl Autonomous Imaging. Harnessing integrated photonics, Owl represents the future of transportation,” said Sujatha Ramanujan, Managing Director, Luminate Accelerator.

Owl is also a Portfolio Company of Silicon Catalyst, the world's only incubator for semiconductor startups. Industry authority Semiconductor Review named Silicon Catalyst a Top 10 in 2021 for semiconductor manufacturing solutions. CEO Pete Rodriguez commented, "Given Owl's executive and technical team pedigree, they are the infrared and thermal imaging experts in the industry, and we are excited about their innovative technology solution.”

Owl recently completed field trials in conjunction with VSI Labs on the streets of Las Vegas, NV during #CES2022. Owl will be showcasing its field trial results along with live demonstrations at this week’s Photonics West Conference in San Francisco. Owl a recent winner of the Luminate Challenge will be showcasing their solution in the Luminate booth #3010.

Owl has recently been recognized by Aragon Research as a Hot Company in computer vision for 2021 and also took home the 2021 Silver Award from AutoSens for the Most Innovative Application or Deployment of Computer Vision.

About Owl Autonomous Imaging – Owl AI:

Owl Autonomous Imaging is all about safety. When it comes to mobility, safety starts with perception. It’s patented suite of thermal sensor technologies, computer vision algorithms and specialty optics aim to dramatically reduce both on road automotive and off-road industrial and agricultural accidents to reduce fatalities and injury.

About State Farm Ventures, LLC:

State Farm Ventures focuses on investing in startups developing technologies and products to fulfill customer needs in ways they may not expect from their insurance company. State Farm Ventures, LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary and registered trade mark of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company.

Nexar raises $53 million as its AI-digital twin of America drives cities and the future of mobility forward

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 16:05:41 -0600

Nexar's network of dash cameras collect more images than any entity besides Tesla and are being used to create a complete digital twin of U.S. roads

NEW YORK, Nov. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nexar, a leading AI computer vision company, announced today the completion of a $53 million Series D funding round led by Qumra Capital with the participation of State Farm Ventures, Catalyst Investments, Banca Generali, Valor and previous backers; Atreides Management, Corner Ventures, Regah Ventures, Aleph and more. Nexar is the leading provider of crowd-sourced visual data and with their data from hundreds of thousands of dash cams across the US and globally, they are second only to Tesla with the volume of image-data collected. The footage is contextualized with AI and provides valuable insights to cities, departments of transportation, automotive & insurance companies, and more. Erez Shachar, Managing Partner at Qumra Capital, will be joining Nexar's Board of Directors.

Nexar uses the footage it collects to create an AI-digital twin of U.S. roads and their surroundings. This dynamic representation provides real-time updates in a range of key areas such as work zones, road signs, road markings, potholes & many other elements, for a constant stream of accurate information. With this tool, city officials are able to plan, prioritize and fix issues at a much faster pace, while automotive companies are able to inform their autonomous vehicles of obstacles lying ahead.

This funding round comes on the heels of a two-year period when Nexar's Direct to Consumer camera business grew at a fast pace, making Nexar the leading dash cam consumer brand in the US. Nexar now has its "eyes" on 150 million miles of road every month. The collected image data gets anonymized and added to Nexar's database consisting of 4 trillion images.

Eran Shir, Nexar's Co-founder and CEO said: "When founding Nexar, my partner Bruno Fernandez-Ruiz came to the counter-intuitive understanding that the only viable path to truly turning the physical world digital, lies in a crowdsourced vision network that makes sense of the reality around us. In the last five years, we have worked to make that vision a reality by leveraging low-cost hardware and sophisticated AI to create a world previously only available through expensive and complex hardware sensors such as LIDAR. In the past year, this effort has come to fruition, paving a path to a truly scalable live mapping of the world we live in. This funding round allows us to further grow this vision to help drivers drive safer and help cities turn digital. "

Erez Shachar, Managing Partner at Qumra Capital, said "We are excited by Nexar's vision to digitize the physical world and are impressed with the great strides it took in the past couple of years turning this vision into reality. We can't wait to see how Nexar's unique data network impacts the way all of us interact with and traverse the world around us."

About Nexar

Nexar turns cars into vision-sensors to understand the world. Its platform powers car vision connected services and apps, at scale, making new vision-based applications for better driving, powered by a crowd-sourced vision feed. Using anonymous, aggregated data captured from this network, Nexar has developed a portfolio of vision-based data services for public and private sector partners to make roadways safer and more efficient. Nexar's platform is already deployed across hundreds of thousands of cars, detecting parking spots, managing city safety and more.

More information at: data.getnexar.com

SOURCE Nexar

About State Farm Ventures, LLC

Whisker Labs Funding Led by State Farm Ventures® Oversubscribed

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 13:50:11 -0600

Funding enables Whisker Labs to meet rapidly expanding demand for the Ting

GERMANTOWN, Md. November 16, 2021 -- Whisker Labs, a rapidly growing AI company and developer of Ting, today announced the close of its oversubscribed Series C funding round led by State Farm Ventures, a wholly owned subsidiary of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. Whisker Labs is offering a new paradigm in insurtech, bundling proactive safety and consumer simplicity. This funding allows Whisker Labs to accelerate distribution further and scale the business to meet growing demand.

“With over 100,000 homes currently using Ting, this round of funding enables Whisker Labs to serve hundreds of thousands more homes with Ting by the end of next year,” said Bob Marshall, Whisker Labs' Co-Founder and CEO.”

As insurance providers want to complement their homeowner offerings with more proactive solutions to improve safety and prevent claims, Ting identifies and alerts the homeowner through the monitoring service to the precise sources of electrical hazards that, left alone, could result in devastating home fires. Capturing and pinpointing fault signal data from inside the house or from local utility power - and certifying complete remediation of those faults – are key components of Ting’s turnkey service. The origins and types of faults Ting has identified are many.

“Part of our mission statement is to help people manage the risks of everyday life,” said Chris Schell, Senior Vice President-Property & Casualty, State Farm. “Funding for Whisker Labs aligns perfectly with that goal, helping our customers prevent and control losses in their own homes. As evidenced through the many accounts of how Ting has helped identify electrical issues before they cause losses in homes, our customers feel empowered to protect their families and possessions.”

"We appreciate our relationship with State Farm,” continued Marshall, “and we’re excited to continue our work with the insurance industry to accelerate the adoption of Ting's smart sensing and deep learning to deliver safety and peace of mind to customers.”

ABOUT WHISKER LABS

At Whisker Labs, our passion lies in solving hard problems with simple and elegant products that protect our customers and their homes by preventing fires. Winner of 2021 Best of the Smart Home Awards - Best Use of Machine Learning Category, Ting unlocks incredible insights into electrical anomalies in very fine detail, in real-time, from a single intelligent sensor. Ting's simplicity and high performance are born from decades of sensing, electromagnetic, and data science expertise. Ting is a turnkey subscription service to monitor and notify homeowners of electrical fire hazards using a DIY smart plug that takes 2 minutes to install. While on the lookout for electrical fire hazards within a home, Ting also monitors the quality of power delivered by electric utilities, identifying utility grid faults that can induce fires, damage appliances, and create electrocution risks inside the home. These same faults can also serve as an ignition source for devastating wildfires.

About State Farm Ventures, LLC

PreAct Technologies Secures $13 Million in Funding to Drive the Next Generation of Automotive Safety

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 13:00:00 -0600

PORTLAND, OR, November 16, 2021 -- PreAct Technologies, an Oregon-based developer of intelligent sensing technology designed to bridge the gap between collision avoidance and active safety, today announced $13 million in Series A funding led by State Farm Ventures. Additional participation in this round included Elev8.VC, Gotham Partners, Traylor Capital and Stargazer Ventures, among others.

“Every year nearly 50 million people, globally, are seriously hurt in car crashes and another 1.35 million die¹, which is completely unacceptable,” said PreAct CEO Paul Drysch. “At PreAct Technologies, we are focused on developing a reliable, high-speed detection, near-field sensing and perception system that will enable the world’s first mass production, pre-crash airbags and other safety countermeasures. This system will not only help prevent millions of serious injuries and fatalities, but will also save the economy around $120 billion each year,” he added.

By leveraging proven technology, and rethinking near-field sensing, PreAct Technologies is targeting “the last 100 feet” to predict crashes and prepare a vehicle for an imminent collision, deploying airbags and other safety devices before the crash happens. In an urban environment, being able to detect collisions milliseconds before they happen could help reduce the majority of severe injuries and fatalities from car crashes.

PreAct’s patent pending TrueSense™ sensors complement or may even replace many of the short-range sensors like radar, ultrasound, and cameras, estimated to be a $30 billion/year market, and enable pre-crash safety systems, while enhancing existing use cases such as park assist and self-parking. TrueSense sensors can help lower the cost and complexity of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and enable many new use cases that have proven challenging in the past.

“PreAct’s technology is a potential compelling advancement for car safety and will help to reduce serious injuries and fatalities. Moreover, utilizing the valuable driving behavior data that this technology detects may help create a more complete picture of driver risk.” said Michael Remmes, Vice President, State Farm Ventures.

On the heels of this funding round, PreAct was awarded a $1 million prize from Luminate for its TrueSense technology and will be establishing a manufacturing base in New York state.

Luminate is the world’s largest venture capital accelerator for optics, photonics, and imaging technology.

About PreAct Technologies

PreAct Technologies aims to bridge the gap between collision avoidance systems and active safety technology. Its patent-pending suite of sensor technologies, computing systems and unique countermeasure algorithms aim to drastically reduce fatalities and injuries in a crash. The firm is located in Portland, Oregon.

About State Farm Ventures, LLC

¹ Source: CDC.gov

Media contact

Priya Shah

mPR, Inc. for PreAct Technologies

priya@mpublicrelations.com

State Farm Ventures Is on a Hunt for the Top Start-ups

Mon, 11 May 2020 14:00:00 -0500

Armed with intuition and lots of data, State Farm Ventures scouts like Aaron Chan navigate Silicon Valley in search of the start-ups with the greatest disruptive potential. They are looking for tech companies that can help us help you - our customers.

“When startups find out I work for State Farm they’re surprised,” says Chan.

State Farm products insure where we live, how we travel, and cover life and wellness. If companies can help us continue to innovate in any of those strategic areas, Chan wants to speak with them.

“That eureka moment where I make the connection between a State Farm need and a solution from a startup is my favorite part of the job,” he adds.

“We are looking for products and services that we don’t currently have or technology that can enhance the products and services we currently offer,” says Mike Remmes, Innovation Executive in Labs @ State Farm. He’s also the architect of its State Farm Ventures, which focuses on research and development.

“We want to invest in companies that can help streamline our processes and operations or provide better services and products to our customers, now and into the future.”

However, venture capital waters are rough and unpredictable.

“Challenging conventional thinking is the point where innovation occurs,” explains Corey Schieler, Director of State Farm Ventures. What his team seeks is alignment between State Farm and startups.

That connection recently happened with a young firm called HopSkipDrive. The company specializes in transporting children to and from school. State Farm Ventures determined that the idea provides a valued service and peace of mind. In fact, it’s not just for customers facing transportation challenges for their children; there may be future alignment to customers with elderly parents facing similar mobility difficulties.

State Farm Ventures is a wholly owned subsidiary of State Farm. It launched in 2018 with a $100 million investment commitment and has already provided funding to nine companies.

“We try to find companies that are strategic to us. They must benefit our policyholders or advance the interests of State Farm. They must also provide a competitive advantage,” concludes Remmes.

Other investing examples include Cambridge Mobile Telematics. They provide State Farm with the technology behind Drive Safe & Save, our signature discount program. There's also the Whisker Labs' Ting device that can help mitigate or prevent house fire losses.

State Farm has been an innovative company since day one. Then, a farmer named George J. Mecherle decided to create an insurance company that more fairly matched risk to price.

As we approach our 100^th anniversary, the pursuit of innovation to better service customers remains our north star.

Pitching ideas to State Farm Ventures has never been easier thanks to the new State Farm Ventures website. To all entrepreneurs seeking funding: innovation is key, but khakis are not mandatory.

Cape Analytics Secures Investment From State Farm® Ventures

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 07:18:00 -0600

Cape Analytics, the leading provider of AI-powered geospatial property data, is today announcing a significant investment by State Farm Ventures. Cape Analytics will use the investment by State Farm Ventures to accelerate the development of breakthrough solutions for property insurers leveraging geospatial analytics and other unique sources of information.

"We’ve been fortunate to build a broad base of support from the industry’s leading insurers, both as customers and as investors. We’re now privileged to have State Farm Ventures join this key group of supporters,” said Ryan Kottenstette, CEO and co-founder at Cape Analytics.

“State Farm has been paying close attention to the growing geospatial AI space and recognizes Cape Analytics as the leading and differentiated technology company in that area,” said Mike Remmes, Vice President of State Farm Ventures. As part of the financing, a representative from State Farm will be joining Cape Analytics’ newly formalized customer advisory council.

Cape Analytics’ property intelligence solution is derived by applying cutting-edge computer vision and machine learning algorithms to geospatial imagery. It is the only geospatial solution available that offers comprehensive and accurate intelligence at time of quote, with the speed and breadth necessary to improve insurer processes across the policy lifecycle. With a historical database of over 90 million structures across the United States, Cape Analytics can run time-series analyses, tie property characteristics to loss, and detect property changes over time.

To learn more, visit www.capeanalytics.com

State Farm® Announces Launch of State Farm Ventures LLC

Thu, 13 Sep 2018 12:05:00 -0500

State Farm, the largest insurer of cars and homes in the U.S., has announced the launch of a $100 million venture capital initiative through its newly formed State Farm Ventures.

State Farm Ventures will focus on investing in startups developing technologies and products in order to fulfill customer needs in ways they wouldn’t think possible with their insurance company. State Farm continually looks to evolve toward the future by finding new ways to provide more value to customers.

Led by Michael Remmes, Innovation Executive, State Farm Ventures will focus on several key areas, with the goal of providing new and innovative products and solutions to customers.

“Throughout our history, continuous innovation and adaptation has positioned State Farm as the leader in a highly competitive industry,” says Remmes. “In today’s rapidly changing marketplace, we recognize that even more innovation and adaptation are required to be relevant to customers in the future.”

To inquire, contact: StateFarmVentures