(Image source: Hi Marley)

Hi Marley, the Boston-based provider of an insurance-specific communication platform, has closed an $8 million A1 round, bringing its total financing to $18.6 Million. The new funding was led by True Ventures (Palo Alto, Calif.) and Underscore VC (Boston), along with Bain Capital Ventures (Boston) and Greenspring Associates (Palo Alto, Calif.). A company statement says that the round will be used for building upon Hi Marley’s insurance-focused conversational messaging product and increasing customer engagement.

Hi Marley describes its offering as an intelligent, text-based messaging platform that helps insurers and their partners seamlessly connect with customers the way they prefer to communicate, and simplify transactions across claims, service and underwriting. Hi Marley says that it is also enabling new use cases around customer engagement and retention. This includes two-way mass-communication to support announcements related to the pandemic, such as notifying customers of premium relief credits and billing options.

“We value the existing partnership with Underscore VC and True Ventures and welcome our new partners at Bain Capital Ventures and Greenspring,” comments Mike Greene, Founder and CEO, Hi Marley. “We’re grateful to have investors who appreciate the insurance industry and are aligned with the purpose and vision we share with our innovative customers.”

Hi Marley says the new financing round will support:

• Hiring, including expansion of the engineering team to accelerate industry-specific features and support interactions from initial purchase to service and renewal.
• Growth of the company’s customer-facing teams to meet the increasing demand for Hi Marley’s platform.
• Continued build-out of Hi Marley’s portfolio of APIs and partnerships with industry leading platforms like Guidewire.

“Boston is filled with passionate, creative founders and Hi Marley is no exception,” comments Lily Lyman, Partner, Underscore VC. “Their focus on innovation within the insurance industry will have dramatic, positive effects on insurance companies and their customers, and Underscore is excited to have been on this journey with Hi Marley from its earliest stage.”

“Hi Marley is solving a fundamental problem with the way insurance carriers interact with their insureds,” says Puneet Agarwal, partner at True Ventures. “The deep industry expertise of the Hi Marley team combined with their aspiration to change the way people experience and think about insurance makes it the type of market-changing company with whom we’re excited to partner and proud to back.”

Since launching in mid-2017, Hi Marley has earned the trust of some of the country’s leading and most innovative insurers including American Family (Madison, Wisc.) and Plymouth Rock. According to Mary Boyd, President and CEO, Plymouth Rock Assurance, “The Hi Marley platform is helping our insurance business level-up to, and even exceed, the expectations of our customers that are used to mobile-enabled experience in most other aspects of their life. Combining Hi Marley’s technology and the Plymouth Rock brand of uniquely human service, we are delivering proof that by meeting customers where they are and offering satisfying service, we can build a stronger business.”

QBE North America Uses Hi Marley for AI-driven Claims Texting