Coterie Insurance, a Blue Ash-based insurtech startup, has closed a $50 million Series B financing round, months after it closed another a multimillion-dollar raise. The news comes one day after the company landed tax credits from state of Ohio to create nearly a dozen new jobs in the region.
The Series B was led by Weatherford Capital, a private investment firm with offices in Tampa and Dallas, alongside existing investors RPM Ventures, Intact Ventures, Group 1001 and Alpha Edison.
The funding will allow Coterie to “skyrocket” its growth and build out, David McFarland, Coterie co-founder and CEO, said. The raise brings the company’s total financing to $75 million since its founding in 2018 — $61.5 million of which has been raised this year.
Coterie’s digital platform delivers insurance solutions to small businesses, contractors and gig workers. Its agent portal allows for the instant quoting and issuing of policies as well as a 100% digital underwriting process.
Coterie initially focused on non-traditional channels, teaming up with platforms like Intuit Quickbooks and Thryv to deliver business insurance. It has since expanded with solutions for independent agents and brokers, allowing them to more seamlessly sell and service small business insurance.
McFarland told me the latter has generated good activity. More than 2,000 agents and brokers have used Coterie’s product.
“Because of the success we’ve seen, we decided to accelerate the fundraising process,” he said. “We’ve been able to build some products that our agents and brokers really like.”
McFarland said he liked Weatherford Capital as an investor because of the firm’s long-term focus and prior history in the insurtech space. Weatherford has funded companies like Austin-based unicorn The Zebra, which offers an online insurance marketplace; and Chicago-based HDVI, which focuses on the trucking industry.
Weatherford said insurtech is a market ripe for disruption.
“Coterie has delivered value by modernizing an antiquated industry through innovation and service,” Drew Weatherford, founding partner of Weatherford Capital, said in a release.
Overall, it’s been a busy year for Coterie. In February, the company announced a $11.5 million Series A-1, and a few months later it moved its headquarters to a larger space in Blue Ash.
Coterie, in July, signed a five-year lease for about 5,900 square feet of space at 4455 Carver Woods in Blue Ash. It had outgrown its previous location in Montgomery.
Monday, the company received a 1.319%, six-year tax credit from the Ohio Tax Credit Authority related to the move.
Companywide, Coterie employs around 110 with about 35 employees based in Cincinnati, McFarland said, and is actively hiring. With the tax credit, Coterie expects to create at least 10 full-time positions in Blue Ash, generating $750,000 in new annual payroll and retaining $2.73 million in existing payroll, by Dec. 31, 2024.
The Ohio Tax Credit Authority said the estimated value of the tax credit is $55,000.
As part of the tax credit agreement, the authority will require Coterie to maintain operations at the project location for at least nine years. The state said it competed with California, Massachusetts and North Carolina for the HQ.
