Tech insurance startup Koop Technologies Inc. announced the release of a new underwriting product aimed at covering off-road autonomous vehicles for robotics developers, operators and service providers spanning various industries.
According to the Pittsburgh startup, its "Robotics General Liability and Errors & Omissions" insurance offering is an "industry first" and it's being backed by C. J. Coleman & Company Ltd. and Lloyd's of London syndicates.
In a statement, Koop declared the new insurance offering is available today for purchase and distribution to robotics customers and retail brokers on Koop's "Singularity Platform," which the company launched earlier this year. Koop also claimed that this product's launch signified the start of "automation as a class" as Koop looks to offer insurance for various on- and off-road automation use cases bound by software- and hardware-defined risk properties.
"Our new [Errors & Omissions] product is designed to meet the unique needs of the robotics ecosystem," Kamron Khodjaev, chief commercial officer at Koop, said in a statement. "Automation is poised for exponential growth, and we are prepared to provide our clients and broker partners with an insurance program and experience created specifically for them."
Added Hector Fitch, U.S. lead casualty broker at C.J. Coleman: "[We] are proud to be supporting cutting edge companies in their growth, and we are excited to have a front row seat, alongside our trusted partners, as autonomy and robotics enter the mainstream."
Through various forms of data collection, Koop — one of Pittsburgh Inn's Startups to Watch in 2022 — combines technology and insurance offerings designed specifically for companies like autonomous-vehicle fleet operators or those using autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles.
The roughly 10-person team has raised at least $2.5 million in seed funding from several Silicon Valley venture capital firms, including Ubiquity Ventures, Bee Partners, Sure Ventures and WestWave Capital. It’s using the funding for the build out of its product and intellectual property as well as for the hiring of more employees. The company moved into space at Nova Place in the fall of 2021.
