High Definition Vehicle Insurance (HDVI) accelerates growth With $16M Series A
8VC and Munich Re Ventures lead round to fuel HDVI commercial auto insurance solution
High Definition Vehicle Insurance (HDVI), the next-generation commercial auto insurance business, today announced it has raised $16 million in Series A funding led by 8VC and Munich Re Ventures, with additional participation from Qualcomm Ventures and Autotech Ventures. The company has made tremendous progress since its founding in 2018, and this latest round of funding cements the company’s leadership position in a market in deep need of innovation.
The creation of Chuck Wallace, a co-founder of Esurance, and Reid Spitz, a former VC investor in insurtech and logistics, HDVI is wholly focused on delivering a new commercial insurance solution that helps small and mid-size trucking fleets improve their safety, compliance, and operations. While personal auto insurance has been experiencing the benefits of digitization, commercial trucking insurance has been largely untouched by insurtech. Many factors have added stress to the commercial auto sector, but a lack of integrated telematics data within insurance products has led to skyrocketing prices for fleet operators and unprofitability for carriers. By contrast, HDVI provides fleet operators with an integrated suite of hardware, software, and services as well as a next-generation insurance product that rewards fleets and drivers for operating safely.
“Double-digit increases in insurance costs are now common in commercial trucking, making it tough for many fleets to operate profitably,” said Chuck Wallace, CEO and co-founder, HDVI. “There is a lot of technology and data available that is not being taken advantage of that can help address new risks and changing demands. Demand for our product shows there’s a clear industry need for HDVI’s much better approach, and with our investors’ proven innovation and leadership across the logistics, insurance, and mobility industries, they are the perfect partners to continue to build our company with.”
HDVI will use the funding to scale company growth and expand its product offering to further meet increasing market demand. Specifically, this includes expanding the team, launching into new states, and building additional technology features for agents, fleets, and drivers.
Trucking is a key industry for the US economy, with truck driving jobs being the most common job in 30 out of 50 states. But for insurers, a number of factors including increased mobile phone usage, poor first notice of loss reporting times, and increased jury awards make it difficult to provide fleets with insurance that is both cost-effective and adds additional value. HDVI focuses on arming fleets with a new solution that makes use of high-quality telematics and an integrated suite of software and services to deliver greater protection and service than traditional insurers can offer — at the same or better price.
“Trucking fleets need better insurance coverage and tools that can help prevent incidents from happening in the first place, ” said Jake Medwell, Founding Partner, 8VC. “Taking a technology-driven approach to protection, HDVI empowers fleet owners to gain control over their operations and regain confidence that their business and their employees will remain safe. We have great confidence in this market and that HDVI’s team are the lead innovators.”
“The powerful combination of the HDVI team, investors, and partners helps position HDVI to become a leading provider of commercial trucking services and insurance by transforming the traditional offering and creating unique value and opportunities,” said Amir Kabir, Principal, Munich Re Ventures. “We’re excited to join HDVI on their journey and to help them build on their impressive accomplishments over the past two and a half years.”
Prior to co-founding HDVI, CEO Chuck Wallace co-founded Esurance in 1999 and helped to build the company through the dot-com crash and significant growth for 8 years, with Esurance ultimately being acquired by Allstate for approximately $1 billion in 2011. HDVI co-founder and Head of Operations Reid Spitz was at 8VC, where he was involved with the firm’s insurtech, and freight and logistics tech practices. 8VC was more than happy to continue the relationship with Reid after he decided to pursue entrepreneurship.
About HDVI
HDVI is the next-generation commercial auto insurance business. The company provides commercial fleets with an innovative, flexible insurance product alongside powerful, easy-to-use tools to help them improve safety, compliance, and profitability. HDVI is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with additional offices in Greenville, South Carolina and San Francisco, California. For more information, visit https://hdvi.com.