Oyster raises $3.6 million

Oyster Technologies, an insurance startup that provides personal insurance through point-of-sale and post-purchase experiences, has closed a $3.6 million financing round led by New Stack Ventures, with participation from Global Founders Capital, Conversion Capital, Cambrian Ventures, SNR VC, Kearny Jackson, Valia Ventures, Interlace Ventures, and V1 VC, alongside a group of angels including Garrett Koehn, president of CRC Insurance, Gokul Rajaram, executive at DoorDash, Eugene Marinelli, founder of Blend, and Joe Schmidt, partner at a16z.

Founded in 2021 and based in New York, Oyster allows merchants to offer their customers a range of personal coverages such as bike, jewelry, electronics, and collectibles insurance. The startup works with Markel, AXA XL, and The Hanover. Consumers also have the option to buy directly from Oyster.

“The property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry has historically been highly fragmented with low customer satisfaction and beyond this, getting insurance is still a tedious, manual process that’s overdue for change. Consumers expect simple, transparent, and digitally-led experiences when interacting with everyday facets of their lives. We’ve built an all-star innovative team ready to drive innovation in the P&C industry.” – Vic Yeh, CEO and co-founder of Oyster.

“You can buy a $5,000 ebike or engagement ring online in just a few clicks and get it delivered the next day. Want to get insurance for that purchase? Good luck! It’s an offline process that can take many days and lots of paperwork. Oyster is offering embedded insurance for high growth ecommerce categories to allow consumers to seamlessly insure some of their most important possessions at point of sale in a few minutes. It’s a huge opportunity to move personal insurance into the digital age.” – Rex Salisbury, founding partner, Cambrian Ventures.