Lemonade Insurance Company files for licences in 46 states

Lemonade Insurance Company announced on Friday that it has filed for a licence in 46 states and the District of Columbia in the United States, in addition to New York, where it was licensed three months ago.

The three remaining states – Mississippi, Washington and Wyoming – have strict statutory waiting times, and Lemonade plans to file there once these have been met. Credit: Lemonade.

Lemonade, the renters and homeowners insurance company powered by artificial intelligence and behavioural economics, said in a press release that it “hopes to become available to 97% of the U.S. population during 2017.”

“Staffing Lemonade with bots instead of brokers allows for rapid expansion,” said Shai Wininger, the company’s president and co-founder, in the release. “The cloud is accessible from anywhere, our datasets are nationwide, and our network of contractors span all 50 states. The reception in New York has been remarkable, and we can’t wait to be live across the nation.”

Since its New York debut in September, tens of thousands of people from around the country applied for Lemonade, making nationwide expansion a top priority, the company said. The three remaining states – Mississippi, Washington and Wyoming – have strict statutory waiting times, and Lemonade plans to file there once these have been met.

“Lemonade went from standstill to launch in 15 months, and that included building the entire technology stack, reinsurance program and professional team from scratch. That’s unheard of,” said Peter Diamandis, founder and executive chairman of XPRIZE, an “innovation engine.” He added that Lemonade is now on course to grow its footprint more than 40 times during its second 15-month period. “That’s what happens when you move insurance from an infrastructure reliant on people and paperwork to one built on bots and apps,” Diamandis said.

With licensed insurance carrier Lemonade, buying insurance or submitting a claim takes virtually no time and no paperwork, with the company reporting on its website that it takes “90 seconds to get insured” and “three minutes to get paid.” And unlike legacy insurers, Lemonade takes a flat fee, giving back unclaimed money to non-profit organizations; this unique ‘Giveback’ program derives from studies by Lemonade’s chief behavioural officer, Professor Dan Ariely.

“By replacing brokers and bureaucracy with bots and machine learning, Lemonade promises zero paperwork and instant everything,” the release said, adding that the company “is remaking insurance as a social good, rather than a necessary evil.”