Cast your mind back to that scene in “Minority Report” where all those autonomous cars are whizzing through the city. The more practically minded of you may well have gone: “Yeah, but what about the insurance?”
Among the startups building the on-demand, connected insurance world for the vehicles of tomorrow right now are U.K.-based Zego, which has raised $201.7 million. Another is Flock.
Emerging from an academic project to look at drones, Flock shifted into providing drone insurance, then commercial vehicle insurance. The twist is that it hooks into the telematics of cars so that the vehicle only triggers insurance cover when it’s actually moving, not when it’s sitting on the lot, incapable of causing any accidents.
Flock has now raised $17 million in a Series A funding led by Social Capital, the investment vehicle run by Chamath Palihapitiya, best known as a SPAC investor and chairman of Virgin Galactic. Flock’s existing investors Anthemis and Dig Ventures also participated. This round brings Flock’s total funding to $22 million. Justin Saslaw (Social Capital’s fintech partner) joins Flock’s board of directors, as does Ross Mason (founder of Dig Ventures and MuleSoft).
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