OpenEyes, an insurtech startup out of New York and Austin, Texas, emerged from stealth on Tuesday, saying it raised $23 million to provide auto insurance to commercial fleets.
The funding included $18 million in Series A co-led by New York-based Insight Partners and Pitango First, with participation by MoreVC; and a $5 million seed round co-led by Pitango First and MoreVC, both of which are headquartered in Israel.
OpenEyes was founded in 2020 by a trio — former Israeli government adviser Yoav Oron, former Broadcom executive Dan Charash, and Dr. Omry Sendik, who previously worked for Samsung. It equips fleets with technology to reduce accidents, enhancing margins for the company. OpenEyes claims its technology cuts accidents by a fourth and severity of claims by over 30%.
“Truckers and bus drivers are the essential workers that power the American economy, and without proper insurance that leverages technology to reduce accident frequency and severity, their families can suffer dearly after an accident,” said Oron, a former adviser to the Israeli Ministry of Finance who serves as the chief executive of OpenEyes.
“We set out to turn the tables on insurance losses by equipping fleets, insurance partners and ourselves with a pair of eyes,” said Sendik, who serves as the chief technology officer at OpenEyes. “Our goal is to become the first insurance company that is actively reducing accidents and saving lives while saving money.”
Before starting OpenEyes, Oron worked at Investec and Bank Leumi, and briefly as a partner at Pitango First. He holds a B.Sc. in computer science from IDC University, and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Charash, who serves as OpenEyes’ chairman, previously co-founded and ran Provigent, an infrastructure semiconductor acquired by Broadcom for over $300 million. He received an MSc. in Electrical Engineering from Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology, and a BSc. in Math and Physics from Hebrew University.
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Sendik headed Samsung’s algorithms group in Israel before co-founding OpenEyes. He received his PhD from the school of Computer Science of Tel-Aviv University, where he focused on Image Synthesis via Neural Networks. He served in an elite unit of the Ministry of Defense before starting OpenEyes. In addition to the specialized backgrounds of its co-founders and R&D team in both engineering and actuarial science, OpenEyes said it partners with insurance veterans and driving-safety professionals to enhance its services.
New York-based Insight Partners focuses on technology startups with high growth potential. Up until mid-2022, the firm, which also makes private equity investments, had over $80 billion in assets under management. It has invested in more than 700 companies worldwide, with over 55 going on to IPOs. Insight’s recent portfolio investments include Acceldata, Portside and AtomicJar.
“OpenEyes provides a novel one-stop-shop solution that enables fleets to truly understand their source of risk, from both the fleets’ as well as the insurers’ perspective,” said Daniel Aronovitz, a principal at Insight Partners who oversaw the firm’s investment in OpenEyes. This precise understanding allows OpenEyes to power their underwriting, driver coaching and prevention, and claims handling, he added.
