Metromile (acquired by Lemonade)

Metromile offers pay-per-mile automobile insurance using a smartphone app that collects data on distance traveled. Premiums are paid monthly, based on the number of miles traveled during the previous month. Metromile allows customers to file claims online along with other value-added services such as roadside assistance.

In 2016, Metromile acquired Mosaic Insurance for USD 22 million, which enabled the company to bring the underwriting and claims management process in-house. In 2017, Metromile commercially launched its own artificial intelligence (AI)-powered claims processing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution, which enables insurers to streamline areas ranging from the First Notice of Loss (FNOL), fraud detection, and replication incidents using collected data.

Key customers and partnerships

Metromile had partnerships with Ford, to use built-in telematics from eligible vehicles, and Japanese insurer Tokio Marine, for its enterprise solution. The company also partnered with Hippo Insurance, a homeowners insurance provider, in May 2021 to offer an auto and home insurance discount bundle, which would initially be rolled out in eight states. 

Funding and financials

As of March 2022, the company had 101,294 policies in force. During  FY2021, the company recorded direct earned premiums (DEP) of USD 111.1 million with a net loss of USD 216.5 million. The direct loss ratio was recorded at 78.4% for the same year. The total revenue for its enterprise software arm amounted to USD 4.9 million for FY2021.

The company went public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in February 2021 at a USD 1.3 billion valuation that was funded by the SPAC’s USD 230 million cash-in-trust and a USD 170 million private placement.

In July 2022 , Metromile was acquired digital insurer Lemonade in an all-share transaction valued at USD 145 million (or 7.3 million Lemonade shares), excluding cash worth USD 150 million. Through the acquisition, Lemonade aimed to bolster its auto insurance offerings by using Metromile’s vast amount of driving data to offer competitive and precise policies and benefit from Metromile’s written premiums of over USD 110 million and insurance licenses in 49 states, compared to the three it owned in Ohio, Illinois, and Tennessee, accelerating its speed to the market throughout the US.