Nationwide makes venture capital investment in Certificial
For decades, businesses have used paper certificates of insurance (COIs) to verify insurance coverage. However, these pieces of paper didn’t always reflect a policyholder’s current insurance protection status, which meant companies had to spend valuable time and resources to show that they were properly insured. Nationwide has invested in a company that is working to speed up the insurance verification process by making COIs dynamic.
New Jersey-based Certificial is the first platform designed to eliminate pain points for all stakeholders involved in the COI exchange process, including agents and brokers, the insured, and the requestor, by enabling dynamic certificates of insurance using real-time data.
“Business owners need to able to verify that their partners, contractors, and vendors are properly insured quickly and conveniently,” said Tony Fenton, Nationwide’s Vice President of Commercial Lines Underwriting and Product. “Nationwide believes Certificial’s digital technology will provide a level of speed, ease, and automation efficiency that will benefit both agencies and insureds, thus freeing them up to focus on other areas of their business.”
“We’re thrilled to have a terrific team of strategic investors like Nationwide bringing their unique value and ability to accelerate hyper-growth,” Pete Teresi, Certificial co-founder and CEO, says. “Together, we are transforming a process that has been standardized, but not yet automated, and opening up a whole new world of possibilities for stakeholders.”
Certificial’s platform supports tens of thousands of corporate users, including several leading U.S. companies from all industries, that can now monitor their suppliers’ insurance coverage in real-time, without the administrative burden and cost.
“The world is becoming increasingly digital, and with more moving pieces, maintaining compliance is becoming even more of a challenge,” Teresi said. "Certificial is transforming coverage verification to ease the process for agents, carriers, and their customers. At the same time, we are enabling companies to ensure their suppliers comply with their insurance requirements to make more informed business decisions.”
Nationwide’s investment in Certificial is through the company's $350 million venture capital fund.
Nationwide’s venture capital journey
Nationwide’s venture capital investments are directed into insurance and financial services startups with high-growth potential that directly advance Nationwide’s strategy to provide even greater customer value.
To date, Nationwide’s venture capital team has invested in nearly 30 companies, including Extend, Beam Dental, Health Gorilla, HOVER, Indico, and Deep Sentinel. The team has also helped to facilitate more than 30 partnerships between startups and Nationwide business units.
Tech startups interested in partnering with Nationwide can visit www.nationwideventures.com for more information.
Nationwide’s Corporate Development mission
Nationwide recently aligned Corporate Development capabilities to include the venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic partnership teams. These groups look for unique collaboration opportunities that help business units meet new or developing customer needs. These collaborations are enabled by Nationwide’s best-in-class digital infrastructure, which allows Nationwide to provide a unique digital experience for partners and their customers.