Climate Finance | August 8, 2017

Kin raises $4 million to simplify insurance in U.S. natural disaster zones

ImpactAlpha
The team at

ImpactAlpha

Climate Finance

The company was backed by Commerce Ventures, Omidyar Network, 500 Startups, Chicago Ventures and angel investors

People evacuate a flooded area in Louisiana | Photo credit: Max Becherer/AP

The Chicago-based company uses a home address and public data to underwrite its policies.

This simplifies the policy process for customers and brings down costs, the team says. Kin’s first markets are Florida, North Carolina and Oklahoma, “where hurricanes, tornadoes and other potential natural disasters allow it to apply data and risk models to differentiate itself,” TechCrunch reports.

There’s likely to be an uptick in data-driven products and services like Kin’s and MyStrongHome’s insurance policies for U.S. communities most vulnerable to shifts in climate change-related weather.

Kin’s funding round was backed by Commerce Ventures, Omidyar Network, 500 Startups, Chicago Ventures, and angel investors from companies like Square, Facebook and Capital One.