Axle secures $4m led by Gradient Ventures to reinvent insurance verification

New funds will scale Axle's platform, service demand, and address new use cases as they build the Plaid for Insurance

ATLANTA, April 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Axle, the leading universal API for insurance data, raised $4m in seed funding led by Gradient Ventures, Google's AI-focused venture fund. The round also included continued investment from Y Combinator and participation from Soma Capital, Contrary Capital, Rebel Fund, BLH Ventures, and industry angels including members of the founding team of Plaid and former executives from Cox Automotive.

Over $13B is lost each year from uninsured motorists and mortgages and auto loans are prohibitively expensive for many borrowers. Why? Because many third-parties are missing access to real-time insurance data, leaving no way of accurately assessing risk at scale. Axle bridges the gap between insurance and parallel industries, whereas most insurtechs solve for distribution or administration.

"Insurance loss frequently tops the P&L for high-risk organizations like rental car companies, lenders, and gig services, yet today they rely on paper and lengthy phone calls to verify information," said Armaan Sikand, COO and Co-Founder of Axle. "Axle automates this process through a universal API for insurance data, enabling our customers to make decisions in seconds."

"Axle's innovative approach to insurance and commitment to a personalized customer experience has demonstrated early traction and validates their potential to make a significant impact in the market," said Wen-wen Lam, Partner at Gradient Ventures. "We look forward to supporting the team and their mission to democratize access to insurance data."

In less than a year since launching, Axle has grown their carrier network to hundreds of carriers. "Building a robust and accurate platform around unstructured data has its unique challenges, but we're excited to leverage the latest tools to offer leading accuracy and reliability," said Nihar Parikh, Co-Founder and CTO of Axle.

Customers can get started with Axle's developer-friendly API or no-code dashboard.

"Fundraising in this environment is a competitive process. We were fortunate to find investors with deep technical and market expertise," said Cameron Duncan, Co-Founder and CEO of Axle. "We're excited to work with them to service demand from our fast-growing list of customers, strengthen our carrier network, and expand into new markets."

About Axle: Axle is Plaid for insurance - a universal API for insurance data. With Axle, companies can instantly verify insurance and monitor ongoing coverage, helping them reduce operational cost while creating frictionless experiences for users. Axle is backed by leading investors including Y Combinator and Gradient Ventures, Google's AI-focused venture fund. For more information, visit https://axle.insure.

About Gradient Ventures:  Gradient Ventures, Google's AI-focused venture fund, helps founders build transformational companies. The fund focuses on helping founders navigate the challenges in developing new technology products, using the latest best practices in recruiting, marketing, design, and engineering so that great ideas can come to life. Gradient was founded in 2017 and is based in Palo Alto, California. For more information, visit www.gradient.com.

SOURCE Axle