OpenEyes, an insurtech company serving commercial automotive fleets, today emerged from stealth with $18 million in Series A funding led by global software investor Insight Partners and Pitango First, with participation by MoreVC, which led the seed round together with Pitango First. OpenEyes will use the funding to fuel the development of its cutting-edge technology and to hire additional team members to support its increasing US operations. To date, OpenEyes has raised a total of $23 million.
World Property and Casualty Insurance Report 2022: Walking the talk
OpenEyes offers commercial automotive insurance to fleets of all kinds at more competitive rates, first and foremost by reducing the frequency and severity of traffic accidents. Using OpenEyes's innovative technology, fleet managers and safety officers can identify the sources of risk in their fleet, empowering them to implement practices that reduce the frequency of accidents. In addition, OpenEyes enables precise underwriting and streamlines claims handling and prevention. Having rebuilt commercial automotive insurance for fleets from the ground up, OpenEyes offers competitive rates to a commercial automotive insurance market that has been plagued for years by rising costs for carriers and fleets alike.
"Large numbers of accidents and high costs of claims in commercial fleets are leading to ever-increasing premiums on commercial auto insurance, making it difficult for fleet to afford coverage and maintain operational efficiency. In addition, insurance companies have been losing money for years paying out accident claims, and little or nothing is being done to address and reduce the core risks. Instead, carriers raise premiums each year to cover the ever-increasing costs of accidents," said Yoav Oron, Co-Founder and CEO of OpenEyes. "This broken market dynamic is particularly difficult in a recessionary environment and, moreover, it disregards the human cost and impact of these accidents. Truckers and bus drivers are the essential workers that power the American economy, and without proper insurance that leverages technology to reduce accident frequency and severity, their families can suffer dearly after an accident."
Co-founded by Yoav Oron (CEO), Dr. Omry Sendik (CTO) and Dan Charash (Chairman), OpenEyes is committed to reducing accidents while reducing the cost of insurance. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that the number of people who died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2021 increased by 10.5% from 2020—the highest numbers of fatalities since 2005 and the largest annual percentage increase in history. In addition, studies by NHTSA show that large truck crashes are roughly three times more likely to result in injuries when compared to passenger vehicles.
OpenEyes is already being used by fleets driving millions of miles nationwide. The independently validated results demonstrate that OpenEyes has helped reduce the frequency of accidents by over 25.5%, and the severity of claims by over 30%.
"Since our launch two years ago, we have witnessed first-hand how OpenEyes' solution lowers the insurable risk and the cost of claims, but more importantly, we have seen accidents reduced and lives saved," continued Oron. "We look forward to using the proceeds of our recent round to bring this to more customers in the North American market."
"We set out to turn the tables on insurance losses by equipping fleets, insurance partners and ourselves with a pair of eyes. Our goal is to become the first insurance company that is actively reducing accidents and saving lives while saving money," said co-founder and CTO Sendik.
In addition to the specialized backgrounds of its co-founders and R&D team in both engineering and actuarial science, OpenEyes is partnering with leading insurance veterans and driving safety professionals to ensure it provides the best possible product. "We are proud of our achievements so far, and together with our outstanding team, we are looking forward to bringing a massive positive change to this critical industry," said the founders.
"OpenEyes provides a novel one-stop-shop solution that enables fleets to truly understand their source of risk, from both the fleets' as well as the insurers' perspective. This precise understanding allows OpenEyes to power their underwriting, driver coaching and prevention, and claims handling," said Daniel Aronovitz, Principal at Insight Partners. "We look forward to partnering with OpenEyes as the company continues to grow."
"OpenEyes leverages cutting edge full stack technological solution to fundamentally alter the risk model of commercial fleets insurance. The integration between In-vehicle technology and insurance creates a new experience for fleet owners," said Eyal Niv, Managing Partner at Pitango First, which co-led OpenEyes' seed round. "In the intersection between technology and InsureTech-play, the company's proprietary solution increases driver safety and collision avoidance while providing a faster and more accurate claim management process."
"When we met the OpenEyes founders in the dark days of the Covid pandemic in February of 2020, we knew that they had the core values and product direction to bring light and relief to one of the largest insurance markets in the world," said Jack Levy at MoreVC. "We are incredibly proud to have led their seed round, and excited to continue to support their mission driven approach that has already saved many lives and brought much needed financial relief and a better experience to their customers."
