Insurtech Policygenius cuts 25% of staff, less than 3 months after raising $125M – TechCrunch
Policygenius, an insurtech that elevated $125 million in a Series E round less than three months ago, has reportedly laid off about 25% of its team.
The range of staff members affected is not verified but is considered to be about 170, according to numerous sources.
1 worker posted on LinkedIn now that he was among the the 25% of employees that ended up let go.
In a assertion presented by way of email, Jennifer Fitzgerald, CEO and co-founder of Policygenius, did not affirm that quantity, expressing:
As with a lot of businesses, the sudden and spectacular shift in the economic system has forced us to adapt our method. Immediately after cautious thing to consider, we announced the complicated and important choice to reduce the dimensions of our workforce. With these modifications, we continue to be assured in the long term of our firm, our continued innovation, and the outstanding provider we continue to provide our customers each day. This is a tricky day for us at Policygenius, and specially for our workers who have been directly impacted. We’re stating goodbye to close friends and colleagues who have, by means of their difficult operate and perseverance, served make this enterprise and deliver on our mission for our customers. We’re grateful for their a lot of contributions and want them all the finest.
At the time of its Series E in March, Policygenius — whose application fundamentally will allow buyers to discover and buy different insurance coverage products on the internet — claimed that its property and automobile insurance coverage organization experienced “grown drastically,” with new prepared rates getting enhanced “more than 6x from 2019 to 2021.”
In a push release, the firm stated: “Policygenius continues to be the only tech-enabled brokerage and distribution system to have productively scaled and diversified throughout lifestyle and home and automobile insurance coverage. The firm will use the new capital to proceed to commit in the growth of its main enterprises of lifetime, disability, household, and car insurance, as properly as new no-test lifetime insurance coverage offerings and Policygenius Pro.”
Due to the fact its 2014 inception, Policygenius has lifted in excess of $250 million from traders such as KKR, Norwest Undertaking Partners and Revolution Ventures as very well as strategic backers such as Brighthouse Economic, World Atlantic Financial Group, iA Financial Team, Lincoln Financial and Pacific Daily life.
Jennifer Fitzgerald and Francois de Lame, co-founders of Policygenius. Picture Credits: Policygenius
When we can’t talk specifically to Policygenius, it’s been extensively reported how improperly insurtech businesses have fared in the public markets in excess of the past year with Lemonade, Root and Hippo all investing substantially decreased than their opening selling prices.
For example, as my colleague Alex Wilhelm wrote in January, Lemonade, which sells rental coverage, went public in early July 2020. Root, which focuses on car insurance, went out in Oct of the very same year. Metromile, also in vehicle insurance policies, went community through a SPAC in February 2021. And, at last, Hippo, centered on house coverage, went general public by means of a blank check out organization in August of previous year.
It was really the run of liquidity for firms that racked up remarkable venture backing in their early days.
Considering that then, Metromile announced that it would promote itself to Lemonade right after getting rid of approximately all of its benefit right now, Metromile is truly worth close to $1.12 for every share, down from a 52-week large of $12.74 for each share.
Its peers also struggled. Lemonade has noticed its value erode from $115.85 for each share to $21.72 as of the time of writing. Root is value $1.48 per share, down from a 52-7 days large of $14.70. Hippo is down to $1.42 per share from its 52-7 days superior of $10.82. Alex and team have lined the carnage above the final few quarters. In January, Root also done a layoff that afflicted 330 individuals, citing pandemic issues.