Hippo Insurance

Hippo Insurance allows homeowners to get a quote and purchase home insurance online in 60 seconds. They offer their users more cover than typical home insurance policies, such as broken appliances and service lines coverage. Their policies are underwritten by big corporate (re)insurers including Swiss RE.

Hippo utilises big data from building records, satellite imagery and smart home devices to improve the customer experience and better their services. The company also offers direct integrations into loan origination systems and point of sale systems to allow borrowers to obtain homeowners insurance as part of the mortgage process.

As of 2018, Hippo are fully licensed in 17 states, and have plans to expand availability to 60% of the US population by the end of the year, following significant funding from such investors as RPM Ventures, Comcast Ventures and Fifth Wall.

In July 2018, Hippo revealed it topped $10bn in total insured property value in the same month as it discontinued its home insurance chatbot.

In the same year, it also announced a multi-year partnership with Zesty.ai, which will see the insurer leverage the latter's computer vision technology and property attributes when conducting data-driven underwriting. Then, in 2019, the startup teamed up with data-driven flood insurance company, Neptune Flood, to launch a new online home and flood insurance solution. Later that year, Hippo teamed up with property data startup Arturo to utilise its near-real-time property analytics capabilities.

In July 2019 Hippo became a Unicorn after securing a $100m Series D investment. The most recent round of funding will be used towards Hippo geographic expansion across the US.

In November 2019 Hippo announced it had acquired home maintenance startup Sheltr. It did not disclose how much it paid for the startup. Hippo had previously said it wasn't looking to make any acquisitions, however said the pairing was an obvious move as it looks to build a more proactive relationship with its customers.

In 2019 Hippo topped $50bn in total insured property value. Founder Assaf Wand revealed that the company had received over $150m in premiums.

Hippo expanded its reinsurance panel in February 2020, and announced it had established its own captive to participate in the risk and underwriting profit.

In March 2020 Hippo partnered with Simplisafe to provide homeowner policy holders with home security and alarm devices, hoping to reduce the 40% of all its claims resulting from fire, water, property damage or theft. The partnership adds new services to the existing range of options already on offer from Hippo.

A few months later, in June, Hippo announced it had acquired national P&C insurer Spinnaker Insurance. The two had been partners since 2017, and the new relationship means that Hippo can now expand the geographical reach of its policies. That same month, Hippo expanded its partnership with Handii and Westhill, aiming to increase the efficiency of its end-to-end customer claims handling.

In July 2020 Hippo raised a $150m Series E funding round, valuing the company at $1.5bn post-financing. The company also reported its total written premiums had grown to $270m - an increase of 140% YoY. The company stated it would be employing around 100 new employees by the end of the year.

In September Hippo selected ClaimsPay, part of One Inc's Digital Payments Platform, to enhance the company's outbound payment capabilities and improve consumer claims settlement experience. Through ClaimsPay, Hippo’s customers will have access to digital disbursement options that deliver payments instantly.

In November 2020, Hippo Insurance and Kangaroo partnered to offer customers more ways of protecting their homes with smart device kits. New Hippo policyholders can now receive Kangaroo's sensors, which can alert home owners to unexpected leaks and motion. Those who opt in will save around $64 on their premium annually

That same month, it was announced that Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company was investing $350m in home insurtech Hippo, and planned to sign a reinsurance agreement.

In February 2021 Hippo was reportedly in talks with Reinvent Technology Partners, a Special Purpose Acquisition Company, to merge and go public. The combined business would potentially have a value of more than $5bn - Hippo declined to comment, though CEO Assaf Wand had previously stated the company could go public in 2021.

In March 2021 Hippo revealed two new partnerships with Claimatic and Five Sigma, aiming to enhance the speed and processing of its back-end customer claims services using automation. Hippo's Claim Concierge service already has NPS scores nearly twice that of its counterparts, and the new partnerships aims to help the company keep its high scores as it scales to reach 95% of US homeowners in 2021.

In June 2021 Hippo partnered with Cape Analytics, using the latter's geospatial's solution to further enhance their automated property analysis capabilities.

The following month, Hippo revealed it was entering the commercial insurance market. Its first new product is a tailored homeowners association product, leveraging data-driven underwriting and satellite imagery.

In August 2021 Hippo announced a new issuing carrier relationship with Ally Financial. The partnership will double Hippo's insurance underwriting capacity.

Also in August, Hippo launched a customisable Homeowners association insurance in Arizona.

In January 2022 Hippo announced it was launching its commercial lines HOA insurance in new markets, leveraging new partner Socotra's open API's and platform to support the expansion. Hippo has already expanded the HOA insurance into 16 states.

In June 2022, according to reports, Hippo stopped offering the HOA coverage due to unfavourable reinsurance terms. Hippo stated its choosing to focus on its 'core Hippo products'.

The company was a participant in the 2022 InsurTech NY InsurTech Accelerator. 

During February 2023 the company launched the Hippo Builder Insurance Agency, which leverages its proprietary technology to allow small and medium-sized builders to partner with the company at no cost.