Investing in Coverdash
Authors: Stephanie Khoo, Tom Brown, Max Liebeskind
We’re thrilled to announce that Nyca has led the Series A funding round for Coverdash, the leading embedded commercial insurance agency for startups and SMBs, and that our Partner Stephanie Khoo has joined the Coverdash Board of Directors. We love backing management teams that have a proven record of attracting top talent and possess deep subject-matter expertise and an unwavering drive to win. The Coverdash team embodies this spirit, and in under two years they have built an innovative insurance platform from the ground up. We’re excited to support them on Coverdash’s journey to transform the commercial insurance landscape.
As we’ve discussed previously, oft-overlooked corners of the insurance industry play a key role in keeping the wheels of commerce spinning. This is certainly true for startups and SMBs, which require insurance to secure office leases, win contracts, retain vendors, and hire employees. In the U.S. alone, SMBs account for $150 billion in annual insurance premiums. Yet, estimates suggest that three in four businesses are underinsured.
The past decade has witnessed a surge in innovation within the startup and SMB insurance space, as several insurtech startups have launched digital brokerages and digital-first commercial insurance MGAs. Even so, many businesses still view purchasing insurance as a tedious chore, and the aphorism that “insurance is sold, not bought” persists. Indeed, we were surprised to learn that around one-quarter of small businesses switch insurance policies each year.
This is where Coverdash steps in. It offers an easier way for many startups and SMBs to purchase insurance. As an embedded commercial insurance agency, Coverdash enables digital platforms to sell insurance to their startup and SMB customers with minimal work required from the end-customer. Coverdash empowers its partners — including payroll providers, POS providers, banks, lenders and vertical SaaS platforms — to seamlessly integrate an end-to-end insurance purchasing experience (including rate, quote, bind, and checkout) directly into their websites, with just a single line of code. This allows businesses to purchase insurance from the places they trust most, without being redirected to external portals or interacting with human agents. Coverdash even offers pre-filled quotes, enabling businesses to instantly view personalized proposals and purchase policies without any information-entry process. And because Coverdash partners with dozens of carriers, providing access to all common lines of insurance, companies can fulfill all their insurance needs in one place.
Coverdash’s remarkable growth since it came out of stealth in early 2023 is a testament to CEO Ralph Betesh and the team that he has recruited. Ralph brings extensive experience working with companies across the insurance landscape from his prior career in investment banking. When we spoke with Coverdash’s partners, we consistently heard the same unprompted feedback: CTO Avery Rubin leads a top-tier tech team that makes “very fast product updates.”
This culture of relentlessness — to build the best product, deliver the best customer service, and ensure that Coverdash lands in the hands of all the partners that will benefit from it — has been the foundation of Coverdash’s accomplishments to date and will continue to drive success in the years to come. If you are a digital platform that wants to offer your startup and SMB customers a better insurance purchasing experience, an insurance carrier or MGA looking to grow your online book of business, or a business that wants to search for an affordable insurance quote, we encourage you to get in touch with Coverdash today!
