A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that Lemonade, a New York-based insurance startup, has successfully raised USD 33 million in Series B funding within two months of launching its brand-new P2P insurance model.

        Lemonade's latest funding round was quietly completed in November, in stark contrast to the fanfare of its debut last year.

In December last year, Lemonade raised USD 13 million in seed funding, the largest seed round ever led by Silicon Valley firm Sequoia Capital, which drew widespread attention from the industry.

        In the months that followed, however, Lemonade remained rather quiet.

        As early as August this year, foreign media reported that Lemonade had received a "significant investment" from XL Innovate, and that XL Innovate founder Tom Hutton had joined the company's board of directors. This SEC filing may serve as formal notice of XL Innovate's August investment and the seed round completed last December. In the filing, Tom Hutton, together with Haim Sadger of Sequoia Capital and Michael Eisenberg of Aleph VC, are all listed as members of Lemonade's board of directors.

        Lemonade has not made any comment on the matter.

        In September this year, Lemonade returned to the spotlight with its first products: P2P insurance for homeowners and renters. Lemonade's renters insurance policies start at just USD 5 per month, and homeowners insurance starts as low as USD 35 per month. The business relies entirely on Lemonade's online app, so there are no insurance brokers involved.

        Most insurance companies generate revenue from the premiums paid by customers (net of all claims, of course); Lemonade takes a flat 20% of premiums as its share of revenue. If there is money left over from the total premiums paid by customers, Lemonade will donate it to a charity of the customer's choosing — it could be the school their children attend, or a designated charity.

        Chief Executive Officer Daniel Schreiber said: "We will never profit by denying claims. Even if there is money left over, we won't."

Source: Lieyunwang 2016-12-06