Austin-based The Zebra, a “Kayak for auto insurance” startup, has secured $17m in Series A funding led by Ballast Point Ventures. With the additional funding, The Zebra plans to increase its efforts around customer acquisition and business development, as well as expand its licensed agent call center in Austin. On the product side, the plan is to introduce new educational tools that will further explain to drivers what’s behind their rates. These will also show drivers how they can reduce their costs while increasing their coverage
The technology on The Zebra’s back-end uses public state filing data and data from insurance companies, along with machine learning, to arrive at its quotes. Over the past year, The Zebra has expanded its direct relationships with over 40 of the top insurance companies in the U.S., says The Zebra co-founder and COO Joshua Dziabiak. In addition, the company delivered 3.5 million quotes last year, saving drivers an average of $368 per year, he notes, and has been growing at 35 percent month-over-month in 2015.