South Miami-based Lula plans to triple its team by the end of the year after closing an $18 million Series A financing round led by Silicon Valley venture capital firms Founders Fund and Kholsa Ventures.
The car insurance startup, which calls itself the “Stripe for insurance,” will use the funding to increase hiring and bring its service to the nearly 2,000 companies on its waiting list. Several notable investors – including SoftBank, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, and previous investors Nextview Ventures and Florida Funders – contributed to the financing round.
Just as fintech platform Stripe provides businesses with the infrastructure they need to process online payments, Lula provides the software that car rental and car-sharing companies need to process and manage insurance claims.
Launched by twin brothers Michael and Matthew Vega-Sanz, Lula began as a car sharing app for college students. The pair started the concept at Babson College in 2016, and the service – which connected college students with other students who wanted to rent out their vehicles – eventually expanded to more than 500 college campuses nationwide.
But once the Covid-19 pandemic hit, college campuses shuttered. That’s when they decided to repurpose the software that powered the app to create Lula 2.0.
“We realized companies wanted to vet their customers, insure their vehicles on a per-use basis and manage claims, but didn’t have the resources to do so,” co-founder and President Michael Vega-Sanz said.
The revamped Lula launched in August. The startup reports it had its first profitable month in November and began offering its technology to the trucking industry in April.
In a statement, CEO Matthew Vega-Sanz reflected on the brothers’ journey to becoming startup founders. It’s something he said he couldn’t have imagined growing up as the son of Puerto Rican and Cuban immigrants on a farm in South Miami, or while selling shoes at Nordstrom in between classes at Miami Dade College, where both brothers studied before transferring to Babson College.
“Our hope is people hear our story and realize how attainable this all is, regardless of your background,” he said.
Veru inks lease at Wynwood office tower
Veru has found a new home in Wynwood.
The Miami-based biopharmaceutical company signed an eight-year lease to occupy a 12,155-square-foot space at The Gateway at Wynwood, a new office and retail building at 2916 N. Miami Ave.
Veru will more than triple the size of its current office, at 48 N.W. 25th St. in Miami, when it moves into The Gateway in early 2022. The company had 28 full-time workers in the U.S. at the end of 2020, according to regulatory filings.
Veru CEO Dr. Mitchell Steiner described the company as a high-tech venture that will be well served in the popular neighborhood, which is already home to several tech businesses. Veru focuses on developing new biopharmaceuticals for the treatment of breast and prostate cancers.
“We believe that Wynwood’s eclectic mix of commerce, culture, restaurants and technology provides the ideal location to enable Veru to continue to grow and flourish as a global leader in oncology therapeutics,” Steiner said.
The move comes after Veru raised $100 million through a common stock offering that closed in February. The company reported it intends to use the proceeds for research and development; clinical trials; regulatory, sales and marketing expenditures; and working capital.
ADT sues smart home company for patent infringement
ADT, the nation’s largest home security company, is asking a court to block the import of certain products made by rival Vivint Smart Homes after alleging the Utah-based company committed patent infringement.
The Boca Raton-based company (NYSE: ADT) claimed Vivint “willfully infringed” upon three of its patents that cover innovations in smart home integration, data collection and control panel functions, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
The complaint said Vivint’s home security system, SkyControl Panel, and Vivint Smart Hub, a touchscreen control center for smart home devices, uses technology that violates patents owned by ADT.
ADP is asking the court for monetary damages and an exclusion order that would prohibit Vivint from importing products that infringe on its patents.
In a statement, Vivint said the case was filed in reaction to a complaint it launched against ADT in February. In that lawsuit, Vivint alleged ADT had infringed on six of its patents.
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