Insuretech startup Counterpart raises $10M in funding round led by Valor Equity Partners

Insuretech startup Counterpart, has raised $10 million in funding led by Valor Equity Partners. Also participating was Susa Ventures and Felicis Ventures. Counterpart works in the “management liability” insurance market. Counterpart will also partner with Markel Specialty, a specialty insurance division of Markel Corporation, to offer its management liability insurance products.

Insuretech startups like Oscar, Lemonade and Root have made incursions into personal insurance. What has been less prevalent, says Counterpart, is startups tackling the $300 billion corporate insurance market.

Counterpart is competing with Next Insurance, which has raised $631 million, and which also provides small business liability insurance, as well as the big insurance carriers, from AIG to Berkshire Hathaway.

Counterpart is used by some wholesale brokers in the United States to allow small to medium businesses to get insurance coverage, because it digitizes much of the process, from application submission, coverage selection, binding, claims management and loss prevention. Counterpart says this market has become less attractive to insurance carriers because of the increasing claims costs and severity, and their lack of digitization of the process.

Tanner Hackett, founder and CEO, said in a statement: “The $1.2 tn insurance industry is going through a digital revolution. We saw an outsized opportunity with management liability, a critical insurance line in which we have unique expertise.”

Valor Equity Partners partner and Counterpart board member Jon Shulkin said: “Counterpart’s platform goes beyond the scope of a traditional insurer, layering in insights, tools, and services to help business stakeholders navigate this extremely challenging operating environment.”

Valor was an early backer of Tesla, SpaceX, Addepar and GoPuff. Susa has previously backed Robinhood, PolicyGenius and Newfront Insurance. Felicis has funded Hippo, Plaid and Credit Karma.

As Next Insurance makes its first acquisition, insurtech looks energetic