A home insurance technology startup born during a Thanksgiving meal between two friends has hauled in money to advance its product.
Chrp Technologies Inc. raised a seed round to further develop its home loss prevention platform, the company announced Sept. 14. Chrp’s product stands to save billions of dollars for the home insurance industry while also helping homeowners identify possible hazards in their homes and save money themselves.
“The insurance industry is very slow and they have structural challenges,” founder and President Chin Ma told Orlando Inno. “What we’re hoping to change is to help guide them to be more proactive.”
Homeowners can conduct home inspections themselves with Chrp’s platform, which uses AI models to flag anything in the home that is a potential risk. Meanwhile, home insurance firms can rely on Chrp to reduce claims and losses.
The idea for Chrp was born as founder and CEO Micah Kalisch was working for an insurance carrier in the last five years. Kalish, whose background is in construction, was trying to prevent water-related losses. So he built a model capable of saving hundreds of millions of dollars in potential claims, he told Orlando Inno.
He brought the idea to Ma, a longtime friend who worked in the insurance industry. During one of their annual Thanksgiving get-togethers, the pair decided to expand on the idea with an AI-powered platform. The idea is to enable home insurance companies to prevent losses by identifying issues as early as possible.
Chrp then turned to investors for capital. Instead of pursuing venture capital firms as investors, the startup built a network of angel investors who primarily are based in Florida, Kalisch said.
They included the top executives at Orlando fintech unicorn Stax: CEO Suneera Madhani and President Sal Rehmetullah. The two invested in Chrp and joined its board, Rehmetullah told Orlando Inno via email. “We love the tech — it’s a big game-changer."
Chrp did not disclose the value of the seed round, though a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing notes the company raised at least $2.31 million.
The money will enable Chrp to integrate more insurance firms and industry partners as it focuses on the B2B applications of its platform first. The company has enlisted two insurance firms, with another two interested. The firm aims to bring on another five insurance firms before the end of 2023, Kalish said.
Plus, the startup will grow its team. Chrp will need to hire for sales, operations and tech roles, including those with artificial intelligence and machine learning expertise, Ma said. “We’ve got to grow, and we’ve got to grow fast.”
Chrp asks interested candidates to send their resumes through the company website.
Local tech firms turned in a historic quarter for fundraising earlier this year. Metro Orlando companies raised a combined $315.6 million from investors in the second quarter, according to PitchBook and National Venture Capital Association data.
Not only was Q2 venture capital investment up 650% from Q1, but Q2’s $315 million is the most money Orlando companies have raised in a single quarter since at least Q1 2014, the oldest data available from PitchBook and the NVCA.
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