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Policygenius, an insurtech that raised $125 million in a Sequence E spherical lower than three months in the past, has reportedly laid off about 25% of its employees.
The variety of staff affected isn’t confirmed however is believed to be round 170, in line with a number of sources.
One worker posted on LinkedIn at the moment that he was among the many 25% of employees that have been let go.
In an announcement supplied by way of electronic mail, Jennifer Fitzgerald, CEO and co-founder of Policygenius, didn’t affirm that quantity, saying:
As with many corporations, the sudden and dramatic shift within the economic system has pressured us to adapt our technique. After cautious consideration, we introduced the troublesome and mandatory choice to cut back the dimensions of our workforce. With these modifications, we stay assured in the way forward for our firm, our continued innovation, and the superb service we proceed to supply our prospects each day. This can be a troublesome day for us at Policygenius, and particularly for our staff who’ve been straight impacted. We’re saying goodbye to associates and colleagues who’ve, by means of their arduous work and dedication, helped construct this firm and ship on our mission for our prospects. We’re grateful for his or her many contributions and need all of them the very best.
On the time of its Sequence E in March, Policygenius — whose software program basically permits customers to seek out and purchase totally different insurance coverage merchandise on-line — mentioned that its residence and auto insurance coverage enterprise had “grown considerably,” with new written premiums having elevated “greater than 6x from 2019 to 2021.”
In a press launch, the corporate mentioned: “Policygenius continues to be the one tech-enabled brokerage and distribution platform to have efficiently scaled and diversified throughout life and residential and auto insurance coverage. The corporate will use the brand new capital to proceed to spend money on the expansion of its core companies of life, incapacity, residence, and auto insurance coverage, in addition to new no-exam life insurance coverage choices and Policygenius Professional.”
Since its 2014 inception, Policygenius has raised over $250 million from buyers corresponding to KKR, Norwest Enterprise Companions and Revolution Ventures in addition to strategic backers corresponding to Brighthouse Monetary, International Atlantic Monetary Group, iA Monetary Group, Lincoln Monetary and Pacific Life.
![](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Jennifer_Fitzgerald_and_Francois_de_Lame_cofounders_of_Policygenius.jpeg?w=225)
Jennifer Fitzgerald and Francois de Lame, co-founders of Policygenius. Picture Credit: Policygenius
Whereas we are able to’t converse particularly to Policygenius, it’s been broadly reported how poorly insurtech corporations have fared within the public markets over the previous 12 months with Lemonade, Root and Hippo all buying and selling considerably decrease than their opening costs.
For instance, as my colleague Alex Wilhelm wrote in January, Lemonade, which sells rental insurance coverage, went public in early July 2020. Root, which focuses on auto insurance coverage, went out in October of the identical 12 months. Metromile, additionally in auto insurance coverage, went public by way of a SPAC in February 2021. And, lastly, Hippo, centered on residence protection, went public by way of a clean examine firm in August of final 12 months.
It was fairly the run of liquidity for corporations that racked up spectacular enterprise backing of their early days.
Since then, Metromile introduced that it could promote itself to Lemonade after dropping almost all of its worth; at the moment, Metromile is value round $1.12 per share, down from a 52-week excessive of $12.74 per share.
Its friends additionally struggled. Lemonade has seen its worth erode from $115.85 per share to $21.72 as of the time of writing. Root is value $1.48 per share, down from a 52-week excessive of $14.70. Hippo is all the way down to $1.42 per share from its 52-week excessive of $10.82. Alex and workforce have coated the carnage over the previous few quarters. In January, Root additionally performed a layoff that affected 330 individuals, citing pandemic challenges.
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