Billy Secures $3.5M in Seed Funding Led by Global PropTech VC Firm MetaProp
The funding will be used to hire new talent, scale the adoption of its insurance management platform and broaden the platform's technical capabilities.
NEW YORK, Oct. 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Billy, an end-to-end platform that helps construction companies manage their insurance, announced today a $3.5 million seed funding round led by MetaProp and Coelius Capital with participation from Global Village, Shadow Ventures, Hustle Fund, and Laguna Canyon Group. The round was oversubscribed, included several pre-seed investors, and brought total funding for the company to $4.25 million this year alone. The funding enables billy to hire new talent, scale the adoption of its insurance management platform, and broaden the platform's technical capabilities.
Zach Aarons, co-founder and general partner at MetaProp, a leading global venture capital firm focused on the PropTech industry, is excited about the team at billy and believes that the company's unique position in the PropTech industry is a promising indicator of success. "Billy sits firmly at the intersection of insurance and construction technology, two sectors where we have invested extensively over the past several years," Aarons says. "The team is well-positioned to bring increased efficiency to the construction sector."
The insurance and construction industries are notoriously archaic, relying heavily on paper documentation and manual systems for tracking contractors' insurance compliance, coverage, and status. Co-founders Nyasha Gutsa and Grant Robbins have attracted investors with an insurance management platform that brings much-needed digitization to construction insurance.
Gutsa, first-time founder and CEO of billy, was born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe. At 17, he earned a scholarship to attend Fordham University in New York and has spent the past few years leading software teams at Procore, WeWork, and Occupier, developing financial software for the construction and real estate industry. He brings 12 years of experience in building construction and property technology.
"At MetaProp, we have always endeavored to support talented and experienced immigrant founders tackling really challenging problems in antiquated industries," Aarons says.
Robbins, also a first-time founder and CMO of billy, brings 25 years of domain expertise in construction to the team. Newly hired Vice President of Insurance Amit Kalra has more than 10 years of experience in the insurance industry, recently serving as lead underwriter at Attune Insurance. The team's expertise allows them to help customers better mitigate risk exposure.
"We are reducing a lot of friction between insureds and their insurance companies by facilitating the exchange of insurance data on a single platform," says Gutsa. By applying technology to the process, billy's platform allows companies to increase from 17% compliance to 100% compliance within one week. "On a construction project, there might be as many as 20 different insurance companies underwriting risk for many different contractors involved. Managing this process in email, Excel, and project management systems is inefficient and extremely risky. We are incredibly excited to offer something that is not only faster and cheaper, but also improves the overall customer experience of managing insurance."
About billy
Billy is a leading provider of insurance and risk management software. Thousands of policies are run on billy's platform. Billy helps construction companies manage third-party liability by connecting key stakeholders (construction and insurance) on a single platform that is built specifically for the construction industry—for the owner, the general contractor, the subcontractor, and the supplier.
About MetaProp
MetaProp is the world's leading venture capital firm focused on the PropTech industry. Founded in 2015, MetaProp's investment team has invested in over 125 technology companies across the real estate value chain. The firm manages funds for both financial and strategic real estate investors that represent a pilot- and test-ready sandbox of 15+ billion square feet across every real estate asset type and global market.
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