Nirvana Insurance launches, raises $22 million
Commercial fleet insurance startup Nirvana Insurance announced its public launch along with a $22 million Series A funding round, bringing the total raised to over $25 million. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with additional participation from General Catalyst, Elad Gil, Fidji Simo (CEO, Instacart), Spike Lipkin (CEO, Newfront), Sam Hodges (CEO, Vouch), and more.
Founded by former employees of Samsara, Rubrik, and Root Insurance, Nirvana uses telematics data to “transform the stubbornly analog world of truck insurance.” Nirvana gives up to a 20% discount upfront to the “safest fleets, and turns an insurance process that often takes months into mere minutes.”
Users can get a quote by filling out an online form and the startup also works with agents. Policies are written on state-admitted, A.M. Best A-rated paper, and backed by a panel of global reinsurers.
“The analog approach to issuing insurance to commercial fleets is fundamentally broken. The process is confusing, slow, and comes at a high productivity and financial cost. In my time working with more than 20,000 fleets at Samsara, I saw over and over again how these small businesses were completely frustrated with insurance and struggling to survive. Truckers who were doing all the right things and investing in safety, still saw their rates go up every year to the point where it forced them out of business.” – Rushil Goel, CEO and co-founder of Nirvana.
“Rapidly rising premiums in commercial fleet insurance are causing trucking businesses to shut down. Nirvana is bringing next-generation, data-driven insurance to the commercial fleet world by helping them operate not only more safely as business owners, but leverage that safety to positively impact customers and beyond. Nirvana’s mission and leadership team have impressed us from the very beginning and we’re excited to collaborate with the team to help unlock its full potential.” – Raviraj Jain, partner at Lightspeed Partners.
“Today, commercial fleet insurance is creating high costs and inefficiencies for trucking companies. Nirvana Insurance is poised to transform the trucking insurance industry and bring it into the 21st century. Led by Rushil Goel, on the heels of his success as a product leader at Samsara, Nirvana is delivering an amazing product for customers and agents alike.” – Joel Cutler, partner at General Catalyst.
“Partnering with Nirvana was a no-brainer for us. Their insurance platform has taken applications to quote processing time from 30-45 days to just 48 hours and has nearly eliminated any and all paperwork. On top of that, with commercial auto premiums continually on the rise, we feel like this is the exact product our customers need. Using telematics to underwrite customers accurately is the only way our industry will survive, and we are so excited to partner with Nirvana to make that a reality.” – Nicole McMurtry, president of USI Insurance Services.
