Foresight raises $15M for its building staff compensation platform – TechCrunch

When an accident on a construction site led to the death of their friend, the founders of Safesight were inspired to start the platform to digitize safety programs for construction. From this data, a new InsurTech startup, Foresight, emerged this year, which covers employee compensation. The startup has now released news for the first time that it started a $ 15 million financing round in May of this year with the participation of Blackhorn Ventures and the Transverse Insurance Group. To date, the company has raised $ 20.5 million from industrial technology venture capital firms led by Brick and Mortar Ventures and Builders VC.

Foresight was launched in August this year, but has already covered $ 30 million in risk. The company says it is now well on the way to achieving an insured premium of $ 50 million in 2021. By using data from sister company Safesite, the platform was able to reduce the number of employee comp incidents by up to 57% in an actuarial study, consulting firm Perr & Knight.

The Foresight algorithm uses Safesight data to predict incidents, highlight risk and inform underwriting. By integrating Safesite risk management technologies and services into each policy, Foresight provides customers with a path to lower incident rates and lower premiums.

Foresight is focused on the US $ 57 billion national labor compensation market on policies with annual awards ranging from US $ 150,000 to over US $ 1 million. The company says this segment has been largely overlooked by well-funded InsurTech startups like Next Insurance and Pie, which offer guidelines for small businesses under $ 50,000 in annual rewards.

Foresight and Safesite were developed by longtime friends and co-founders David Fontain, Peter Grant and Leigh Appel.

Fontain said, “Foresight strengthens the correlation between safety and savings while delivering the fast and easy user experience that InsurTechs are known for. We use specially developed technology to drive behavior change and provide an irresistible alternative to traditional compensation. “

Darren Bechtel, The founder and CEO of Brick & Mortar Ventures commented: “We first invested in 2016 and have known the founders since 2015, when it was just the two of them sitting at a couple of empty desks in the office of another portfolio company. Their initial vision was both elegant and powerful, and the proven impact of their solution on safety performance was evident even in early interactions with the product. “

Outlook now includes Nevada, Oklahoma, Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, and New Mexico. The company expects to introduce workers’ compensation and a general liability line in the eastern US in early 2021.