(Image source: Counterpart homepage.)
Counterpart, a Los Angeles-based management liability insurance platform startup, has announced that it has raised $30 million in Series B growth financing led by Vy Capital (Dubai), a global technology investment company that has backed companies such as Coalition and Reddit. Prior investors also participated in the round, including Valor Equity Partners, an early backer of Tesla, SpaceX, Addepar and GoPuff, and Felicis Ventures, which has funded Plaid and Credit Karma, bringing Counterpart’s total capital raised to $40 million.
Counterpart’s contextualizes its Series B raise within what it calls an increasingly challenging operating environment for small businesses, where one in four has faced a management liability lawsuit in the last three years at an average cost of more than $100,000, according to Chubb. However, only 3 percent of small businesses purchase management liability coverage due to underwriting inefficiencies, confusing terms and coverage, and increased costs, the announcement notes.
Tanner Hackett, Founder and CEO, Counterpart.
“Small businesses are struggling and traditional commercial insurance carriers have been slow to respond to their needs,” comments Tanner Hackett, Founder and CEO, Counterpart. “On top of a pandemic, inflation, labor shortages and supply constraints, in 2022 companies now also face lawsuits related to their COVID vaccination and return-to-work policies. We’re committed to introducing more insurance products and tools to help small businesses navigate the new norms of operating in this dynamic business environment.”
Counterpart claims to have built the insurance industry’s most advanced management liability rating system to measure small business risk exposures more efficiently. The company says it proactively identifies and mitigates potential claims through its suite of broker and business services that include Risk Assessment, HR Expert On-Call, and Harassment & Discrimination Training tools, among others.
“Counterpart has unlocked something truly novel in a market that is in need of innovation. They’re using more data in unique ways to underwrite and mitigate the evolving exposures of small businesses,” comments Jon Shulkin, Co-President and Partner, Valor Equity Partners. “We’re thrilled to support their mission to foster better workplaces through insurance.”
Jon Shulkin, Co-President and Partner, Valor Equity Partners.
Counterpart says it will use the new growth capital to expand its footprint in the $20 billion private company management liability insurance market, scale its team and launch new products–including Crime and Excess insurance in the coming months. Counterpart reports that it has an extensive network of appointed brokers already offer its three existing management liability products: Directors and Officers, Employment Practices, and Fiduciary.
The company says it is also investing in its broker distribution partnerships to make management liability insurance more accessible to small businesses with the introduction of a new API platform. “The easy-to-integrate API enables brokers to grow their clientele by digitizing the application process, expediting insurance purchase flow, and creating customized user experiences,” the Counterpart announcement says. The company says that several national brokerages are already in the process of building their own digital management liability offerings on top of Counterpart’s APIs, with many others queued to join throughout 2022.