Ascend has raised $5.5m in a seed funding round for its insurance payment platform that offers financing, collections, and payables.
First Round Capital led the seed funding round and joined by Susa Ventures, FirstMark Capital, and Box Group.
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The round also saw participation from several angel investors such as Coalition CEO Joshua Motta, Newfront Insurance CEO Spike Lipkin, Newfront Insurance CTO Gordon Wintrob, Vouch and Insurance CEO Sam Hodges.
Layr Insurance CEO Phillip Hodges, Anzen Insurance CEO Max Bruner, Counterpart Insurance CEO Tanner Hackett, Bunker Insurance former CEO Chad Nitschke, SageSure CTO Paul VanderMarck, Instacart co-founders Max Mullen & Brandon Leonardo and, HouseParty co-founder/CEO Ben Rubin, also participated in the round.
Ascend intends to use the funds for expansion, product development, go to market initiatives and increasing headcount.
It uses APIs to automate insurance payments from an online point of sale (POS) with buy now, pay later (BNPL) financing and distribution of commissions and carrier payables.
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By GlobalDataThe payment platform is live across 20 states of the US.
Ascend co-founder & co-CEO Andrew Wynn said: “Today, insurance distributors and carriers are not enabled with modern technology leaving them stuck with pen and paper processes, outdated systems and complicated operations behind the scenes.
“This results in a poor customer experience because modern tools for critical things like billing and payments don’t exist. Our mission is to modernize insurance’s financial infrastructure so that carriers and distributors can be successful in today’s digital world.”
Partner First Round Capital partner Bill Trenchard said: “With Ascend, insurance sellers/distributors now have an effective way to collect payments, offer financing, and handle accounting and payables.
“Automating the many steps of money movement associated with selling an insurance policy, saving lots of time and operational effort will become an industry game changer.”
