Hi Marley, a Boston startup that provides a platform for insurers to better communicate with clients, announced Tuesday it closed on an $8 million funding round led by existing investors True Ventures and Underscore VC.
Founded in 2017, Hi Marley helps insurance carriers do business with their customers and partners in a more streamlined way, providing a space where they can communicate about things like claims and underwriting in real-time over text. At the end of the day, Hi Marley claims its service results in a 22 percent faster claim rate and four fewer calls per claim.
The platform also provides an AI-enabled AutoTranslate tool that handles customers’ more routine insurance questions and features for internal communication between members, representatives, adjusters and support providers.
This industry has seen a fair amount of disruption over the last few years, with startups like NYC-based Oscar and Boston-based Openly raising millions of dollars to offer new insurance alternatives. In the midst of this, Hi Marley stands out as a company that works alongside pre-existing insurance providers, offering a service that is meant to make the lives of both insurers and their customers easier. Plus, with the chatbot market expected to be worth more than $9 billion by 2024, Hi Marley is tapping into technology that is experiencing tremendous growth right now.
“Hi Marley is solving a fundamental problem with the way insurance carriers interact with their insureds,” True Ventures partner Puneet Agarwal said in a statement. “The deep industry expertise of the Hi Marley team combined with their aspiration to change the way people experience and think about insurance makes it the type of market-changing company with whom we’re excited to partner and proud to back.”
This most recent funding, plus the $8.7 million round it announced last year, brings the company’s total funding raised to $18.6 million. Hi Marley says it will use the money to expand its partnerships as well as grow its team, specifically in engineering and customer-facing roles.
