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Paris-based Shift Technology is a startup that provides AI-based fraud detection for the insurance industry. In a recent development, the SaaS provider announced that it has raised $220M (approx €182.58M) in its Series D round of funding.

With this round, the company has raised a total of $320M (approx €265.5M) in funding to date. In addition, Shift has now earned the ‘Unicorn’ status as the company is currently valued at more than $1B.

AI for insurance decision making

Shift Technology was founded in 2014 by David Durrleman, Eric Sibony, and Jeremy Jawish. Previously known for its fraud detection and claims automation software, in January 2021, the company introduced the Shift Insurance Suite to help insurers apply AI-based decision automation and optimisation technology solutions for the insurance industry. 

The Shift Insurance Suite addresses critical processes across the insurance policy lifecycle as well as helps insurers achieve faster, accurate claims and policy resolutions. According to the company, Shift now serves more than 100 customers in 25 different countries and has analysed nearly 2 billion claims to date.

Investors

The Series D round was led by Advent International, through Advent Tech, with participation from Avenir and others. In addition, the company’s previous Series C investors Accel, Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst, and Iris Capital, also participated in this round. 

This round is Advent’s sixth growth equity investment this year. As part of its long history of technology investing, the firm has significant investment experience in vertical software, and data & analytics. The firm has previous technology investments in the insurance vertical,including CCC, a SaaS platform for the P&C insurance economy and Transunion, a provider of credit information and risk management solutions to businesses and individual consumers.

Jeremy Jawish, CEO & co-founder, Shift Technology, says, “The entire Shift team has worked tirelessly to build this company and provide insurers with the technology solutions they need to empower employees to best be there for their policyholders. We are thrilled to partner with Advent International, given their considerable sector expertise and global reach and are taking another giant step forward with this latest investment. We have only just scratched the surface of what is possible when AI-based decision automation and optimisation is applied to the critical processes that drive the insurance policy lifecycle.”

Capital utilisation

The proceeds will help Shift Technology to accelerate its mission to revolutionise the policyholder experience through wide-ranging products that apply AI and advanced data science to key insurance processes. To achieve its mission, Shift will expand its service in key locations including the US, Europe, and Asia. 

In the US, the company will look to further penetrate the property and casualty (P&C) insurance market as well as expand into the health insurance sector, an area in which Shift sees a large opportunity. 

In addition, the funding will also be used to drive R&D efforts to create new solutions to address emerging decision automation and optimisation requirements for forward-thinking insurers. The company is currently hiring for data scientists and engineers, checkout all the roles here.

A brief about Advent International

The firm claims to be one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors. It has invested in over 370 private equity transactions in 41 countries, and as of December 31st 2020, had $76B in assets under management. 

The firm focuses on investments in five core sectors, including business and financial services; healthcare; industrial; retail, consumer and leisure; and technology. Advent has 15 offices in 12 countries with a global team of 240 investment professionals across North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

Advent’s investments date back to its founding in 1984, and in 2019 launched Advent Tech, a dedicated technology-focused fund focused on growth investments and buyouts of leading technology companies globally.