InsurTech Lemonade To Go Public

Betting going public will take advantage of a resurgence as the market recovers from COVID-19, Lemonade Inc., the technology-driven startup, has filed an initial public offering (IPO), the company announced Monday (June 8).

If successful, the New York-based company will list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “LMND,” the firm said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulatory filing.

“We rely on artificial intelligence and our digital platform to collect data points that we evaluate in pricing and underwriting our insurance policies, managing claims and customer support, and improving business processes,” Lemonade said in its filing.

The management team for the proposed offering includes some of the biggest names in financial services: Goldman Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley & Co., Allen & Company, Barclays Capital Inc., JMP Securities, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., William Blair & Company and LionTree Advisors.

Founded by tech veterans Daniel Schreiber and Shai Wininger in 2016, Lemonade is a property and casualty insurance carrier. The company began offering homeowners and renters insurance in New York in late 2016, and has expanded throughout the U.S. population. It also provides liability insurance in Germany and the Netherlands.

Last year, PYMNTS reported Lemonade raised $300 million in a Series D round of venture funding led by SoftBank. The other investors included Allianz, General Catalyst, GV, OurCrowd, and Thrive Capital.

At the time, the tech startup said it planned to use the proceeds from the capital raise to expand and consider new product lines, such as pet insurance. While Lemonade did not disclose its value with that latest funding, reports put it at $2 billion.

“Looking forward, we aspire to create the 21st-century incarnation of the successful insurance company: a loved global brand that can endure for generations; an organization built on a digital substrate, enabling ever faster and more efficient operations, and ever more delighted consumers,” said Schreiber at the time.

The Financial Times reported CEO and co-founder Schreiber has been critical of traditional insurers. He said the model pits insurers against their customers.

“I think there genuinely is a perception of a deeply-seated conflict of interest in the insurance space,” Schreiber told a Financial Times conference. “Until you can tell the customer…I am denying your claim but I am not going to profit by denying your claim, if you can’t get to that level of dialogue, then building trust becomes difficult.”