HIPPO INSURANCE

INTRODUCTION

Hippo insurance is an American property insurance company with its office in Palo Alto, California, USA. The main area of specialization of the company is homeowners insurance. Home owners insurance is a class of insurance coverage that offers protection to the homes as well as the possessions of the policyholders. It equally covers the liability from accidents happening in the homeowner’s property. They use AI and big data to aggregate and analyze property information. You can buy insurance policy from the company personally or through insurance brokers.

HISTORY OF HIPPO INSURANCE

The founders of Hippo insurance are Assaf Wand and Eyal Nayon, a former Intel Capital investor and McKinsey Consultant and an Entrepreneur with an extensive background in software engineering respectively. Assaf Wand’s interest in insurance was through the inspiration of his father’s lengthy career in the insurance Industry. This Insurance company was launched in 2015 with a mission to make it easier for prospective policyholders to purchase home insurance online. And make homeowners insurance coverage more transparent. This is as a result of the fact that many homeowners in the United State of America were underinsured, and many homeowners didn’t really understand what coverage was in their policies or otherwise.

There were also a case of majority of homeowners spending too much money and time on purchasing home insurance because of hidden fees and commissions And hippo insurance after an observance of this gap, stepped it to bridge it. And founded Hippo Insurance to address these issues and redesign home insurance.

In order to achieve this feat, the company added 10 features to their home insurance policy that weren’t part of conventional policies. And also employ new set of technologies to create a faster online purchase process. As well as eliminating unnecessary or hidden fees, Hippo Insurance provided smart home sensors as a preventive mechanism that could help their insurance holders to prevent loss.

HIPPO INSURANCE FINANCIAL BACKGROUND

Hippo insurance as at 2016 (In December) was able to raise 14m USD through venture capital financing to fund its product development. And in April 2017 Hippo insurance was launched in California USA. At launch, the company’s marketing was at the centre of delivering of a 60-second quote for homeowner’s insurance policies; a transparent, online purchase process; and smart home sensors that could proactively identify and prevent potential damage to policyholder’s homes.

In November 2018, Hippo insurance was again able to raise $25 million in the second venture capital financing. The funding was used, in part, to open a customer service and insurance operations centre in Austin in Texas. Similarly, in 2018, a $70 million funding round was announced, and in March 2019, with Hippo insurance has its presence in more than 50% of the homeowners in the United States. As a result of increased patronage, the company reported a 25% monthly growth in sales. It equally has a property value of above $50 billion as per its insurance

Similarly, In July same year, $100 million was raised in new venture capital, championed by Mary Meeker’s Bond Capital, bringing Hippo’s valuation to $1 billion.

Also in November 2018, Hippo raised $70 million in Series C funding, led by Felicis Ventures and Lennar.

In July 2019, Hippo insurance raised yet another $100 million in Series D funding, led by Bond Capital.

Also in July 2020, Hippo raised $150 million in Series E funding.

In November 2020, Hippo raised $350 million from an investment by Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, Limited, a subsidiary of MS&AD Insurance Group.

GOALS OF HIPPO INSURANCE

Hippo Insurance was launched to provide homeowners with quality home insurance. The Hippo Insurance Company wanted to modernize coverage, automate the process and offer coverage to consumers with great savings. The company believe was that it could reduce the expense of insurance for homeowners across America at its foundation. And now, it has become one of the company’s main focuses to providing quality insurance service to consumers at affordable rates.

Hippo believes that homeowners deserve better, cheaper, more modern home insurance package and process. They deliver a fast experience to quote and buy online. If you own a home, you need to subscribe to home insurance to protect your financial asset.

 Moreover, it is always the requirement of mortgage lenders that home buyers purchase a home insurance cover. And this will usually cover your house, other structures that are within your property. It equally covers your personal belongings and effects within your home. And as well as third party liability if someone sustains injury while on your property.

Hippo insurance strives to provide the very best home insurance alternatives to its customers. And also seeks to redefine home insurance for American homeowners. This insurance company adopts a novel approach to homeowners insurance and provides modern households with smart home insurance policies and quotes.

HIPPO INSURANCE CUSTOMER SERVICE

Hippo offers quality insurance and customer service to its customers. This has led many consumers to partner with Hippo insurance. And many states to include this company among their insurance providers. The company’s commitments to its customers includes; (1)Simplicity in its insurance quotes, (2) Proactive rather than reactive customer service (3)Smart coverage (4) standard customer service (5) Partnership with other providers

WHY HIPPO INSURANCE?

They are a lot of factors that makes hippo insurance different from other insurance providers. The following are a few of the reasons Hippo stands out from other competitors:

1.       Technology driven system

Hippo insurance employs the use of internet services like data and smart home sensors in its services. This helps it identify problems timely and prevent damages beforehand. Part of this technology includes a free water leak detector that can immediately send digital alerts when water damage is detected. It is its belief that Home insurance and protection should not be about providing financial relief after a disaster. That’s why it employs technology to help its customers prevent damage to their homes.

Quick Quotes

Hippo aims at delivering fast quotes to its policyholders. A customer can receive a quote in 60 seconds. And proceed to make a purchase. Consequently, a customer’s personalized quote can be delivered to him by phone or through Facebook Messenger. This is part of its efforts at catering for the insurance needs of today’s average homeowners. That is to say, making home insurance fast and convenient to find and buy by prospective policyholders.

Standard Customer Service

Hippo insurance provides compassionate customer service to homeowners, including finding temporary accommodation where customers can live if their homes become inhabitable. They equally see to the supervision over repairs after damage occurs to a customer’s home. Equally hippo insurance adopts its customers as top priority.

Quick Application Process

In order to create a faster application process, Hippo insurance pulls data from a variety of sources, such as aerial photography of a roof, permit filings and property records to create a seamless application process and monitor risks. Many other Insurers require potential customers to attend to more than a hundred questions just to obtain a quote, as against hippo where a potential customer can get one within sixty seconds. Thus, the speed with which consumers can get a quote and apply for home insurance gives Hippo an edge over other competitors.

 Comprehensive Package

Hippo insurance offers its customers a coverage that’s more comprehensive. It introduced a more relevant coverage options for the modern homeowner considering the needs of the average American homeowner. To address the insurance needs of homeowners, Hippo Insurance has a home insurance policy with various coverage options that covers the modern homeowner.

HIPPO INSURANCE PROTECTION AND POLICY

Hippo Insurance provides homeowners with the best protection possible for their homes. Thus, the company includes several bonuses and coverage options in its home insurance policies, including:

1. Coverage for equipment breakdown
2. Water backup coverage
3. Service line coverage
4. Home office coverage
5. A home leak detector
6. Computers coverage
7. Domestic workers coverage

Hippo wants to offer its customers more than the bare necessities in its home insurance policies and provide homeowners with the coverage they need.

Equipment Breakdown

 This coverage option will cover a loss from an electrical or mechanical breakdown of your home’s equipment and other home appliances, such as washers, dryers and refrigerators, etc. this will enable you to save money and spare yourself the headache of replacing your broken appliances.

Water Backup & Sewer Line Coverage

This coverage will protect you against any damage from a drain backup that overflows into your house. With this water coverage, you’ll be able to repair a leak or a burst pipe without compromising your budget.

Service Line Coverage

This coverage will help the costs of fixing a utility line after breakage. Since these repairs can be quite costly, this coverage can help you save money. When a utility line under your lawn breaks, as the owner of the land, you’re responsible for fixing it. That’s why you need service line coverage.

Computers coverage

Most often, you have many computers in your home. In fact, the modern American home has multiple computers and other valuable electronics. The essence of this computer coverage offer by hippo is to let these expensive computers enjoy insurance coverage. While many homeowners’ insurance policies of other insurers offer limited computer insurance coverage, Hippo Insurance strives to be in touch with the modern homeowner, by offering more coverage than other standard home insurance policies to enable you cover many computers in your home.

Home Office Coverage

Many home insurance policies don’t offer any coverage for in-home businesses. In fact, many insurance providers won’t even quote a policy with business activity in the home. This is another coverage option that makes Hippo stand out. As long as your clients aren’t visiting your property, Hippo provides coverage for your home office business. This is because of the present migration to the internet and prevalence of working from home by employees in the US

Domestic Workers coverage

This coverage covers domestic workers who work in your home. These workers may include housekeepers, nannies, cooks etc. This coverage is part of Hippo’s home insurance policy.

Home Leak Detector

This is a smart device as part of your subscription package when you become a Hippo Insurance Policyholder. This device monitors for leaks in your home and helps reduce the risk for a water claim, benefitting both provider and customer. This is because small leaks in the home can lead to big problems. That’s why Hippo offers its customers a home leak detector.

FILLING A CLAIM WITH HIPPO INSURANCE

The process for filing claims with Hippo insurance is quite simple. It demands calling to hippo’s claim concierge line on 855-999-9746. Also, a Hippo Insurance claims advocate will work to manage your needs and find the most effective solution to your claim as fast as practicable. This point of contact will help you through communications with service providers and adjusters and even help you book a hotel room or secure transportation. Claims are clearly the reason why a homeowner will have bad experience with their home Insurer. Hippo Insurance knows that filling claims are a usually stressful for customers. And for this reason, the company places a strong emphasis on customer service as regards claims. When it comes to claims, Hippo performs more than other Insurers in the industry.

Where is Hippo available?

Hippo insurance is available in the following states:

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado ,Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky,Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire,New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia,Washington, Wisconsin

HIPPO HOME INSURANCE BENEFITS

Insurance policy savings

With a quote ready in 60 seconds, and registration taking an average of 5 minutes, their customers apparently save an average of more than $400 off their annual insurance premium.

Reduced escrow balance

Because of their partnership with homepoint, the later is able to pay insurance premiums from our homeowners’ escrow accounts on a monthly basis, instead of annual payment.

Equipment breakdown coverage, including:

1. Heating and air conditioning units
2. Hot water heater Service line protection for your sewer and electrical lines Up to four times more coverage than competitors for:
3. Computers and electronics
4. Home office equipment
5. Connected devices