BriteCo wants to insure your watches and engagement rings, and it just hauled in $9 million to take on insurance giants like State Farm and Nationwide with a tech-forward solution it says can better cover your jewelry for less money.
The Series A round was led by Brand Foundry Ventures, a VC firm from Trunk Club founder Brian Spaly. Other investors include Western Technology Investment, Hannover Re and Hyde Park Angels. BriteCo raised a $2 million seed round in 2019.
Founded in 2017 by Dustin Lemick, a third-generation jeweler whose grandfather started a Chicago jewelry shop in the 1950s, BriteCo has built an online insurance platform that lets you quickly see quotes and purchase coverage online. It sells coverage direct to consumers via its website, as well as through its retail partners that offer BriteCo's services at the point of sale.
Lemick said BriteCo works with more than 3,000 jewelers across the U.S., most of which are independent mom-and-pop shops.
He said BriteCo can offer better coverage at lower prices compared to the incumbent insurance firms, which lack the industry expertise of a specialized insurer.
"If you asked me how much does State Farm actually know about replacing jewelry, I would tell you very little," Lemick said. "How much does BriteCo know about replacing jewelry? A whole heck of a lot. It's all we do."
Around 70% of BriteCo's business is engagement rings, Lemick said, typically from millennial and Gen Z buyers. He said those jewelry shoppers are used to "de-bundling" their insurance products (like opting for Chicago startup Clearcover, for example) in search for better prices and more specialized coverage.
"Those folks are literally de-bundling everything," he said. "You get better coverage, you get better price, and you get a better claims experience going with a specialized insurance company that knows what they're doing."
BriteCo has 15 employees and expects to grow its team across its underwriting, customer service and other departments, Lemick said.
Other investors in the round include John Bunch, the previous head of product at Zappos, Caribou Honig, an early executive at Capital One, and Jay Weintraub, the founder of LeadsCon.
