Lula Secures $35.5M Funding to Transform Insurance Landscape
Lula, a Miami-based insurance startup, secures $35.5 million in Series B funding after a 20-fold revenue surge since February 2022. NextView Ventures and Khosla Ventures co-led the financing, which included participation from Founders Fund, Financial Technology Partners founder and managing partner Steve McLaughlin, Steve Pagliuca, co-chair of Bain Capital and co-owner of the Boston Celtics, and Nextera Energy.
The company used to focus on building an insurance API to eliminate companies needing to build their insurance infrastructure. However, Lula’s offering evolved over time into a broader insurance offering designed to help companies reduce insurance premiums and insurance-related expenses for businesses. Lula now offers a range of tools, including risk management, claims management, policy management, and access to insurance coverage. Currently, Lula works with car rental, trucking, logistics companies, and car-sharing platforms. Its notable customers and partners include Kyte, Turo, and State National.
Source: Lula
Twins Michael and Matthew Vega-Sanz founded Lula in early 2020 to build tailored insurance infrastructures for businesses. In alignment with its mission, Lula introduced a cost-saving product for truckers in May 2023. Previously, truckers were required to pay coverage fees for the entire year, irrespective of their time on the road. With the new offering, they only need to cover the days they are actively driving. Moreover, Lula equips owner-operators with tools for driver vetting, history checks, policy organization, and claims management.
Vega-Sanz explained, “Surprisingly, a lot of senior leadership appreciate coming into a company or a business that is not going to have to be in a position to raise capital in 12, 18 or 24 months and potentially take a down round. They seem to really appreciate being part of a business where they don’t have to worry about in a few months if things really hit the fan that we’re going to have to go through company-wide layoffs.”
The company plans to use its new capital to expand outside of the “wheels” space into industries such as logistics while continuing to expand its offerings. One way it plans to broaden its scope is to move into embedded insurance.
