Insurtech Shepherd secures $135m in series A round

Shepherd aims to address commercial construction insurance challenges

Shepherd, an insurtech, has raised $135m in a series A round to expand its offering for commercial businesses, starting with the construction industry.  

The round was led by Costanoa Ventures, alongside Intact Ventures, Greenlight Re, Spark Capital and Era Ventures. 

Shepherd will invest in its engineering and underwriting teams, launch two products and continue to build out its risk management software platform.  

Justin Levine, co-founder and chief executive officer at Shepherd, said in a statement: “We’re humbled by the overwhelming support from our brokers, partners, investors and clients.” 

San Francisco-headquartered Shepherd also announced Mark Selcow, general partner at Costanoa, has joined its board. 

Launched in 2022, Shepherd supports 20 national retail insurance brokers operating in construction with nearly 200 offices around the country. The company believes technology can solve the sustainability challenges facing commercial insurance.    

In the $25bn premium US commercial construction market, the “exploding claim severity, archaic underwriting processes and underutilisation of technology” are making insurance more expensive and less sustainable. 

Shepherd added: “Across the construction and other commercial markets, technology is available but fundamentally underutilised, despite the potential for improving loss outcomes and stopping the crisis.”  

The company claims its solution underwrites insurance products in minutes instead of weeks.  

Image: © Boris Hamer via Canva

Josh Poyser Josh Poyser is an editor at FinTech Intel. He has written about fintech for several years and appeared at FinTech Connect 2023 on the 'Unlocking Success: The Art of Fintech PR' panel.