jbduler
Technically this is not a new entrant, just a different way to recycle capital. Munich Re (one of the top three reinsurers in the world) will provide reinsurance/capital to Vouch or anybody who could bring growth to them.
The post is a bit misleading. A lot of startups in that field use the standard bashing of “middlemen”, “making the process more efficient”, etc when in fact they are just another broker. Just about EVERY startup in that field uses the same language (Lemonade, MetroMile, etc…).
In this case Vouch is an agent of Standard insurance, a subsidiary of Markel, a company in the business of providing “Fronting” for large reinsurers: https://www.statenational.com/fronting/ https://interactive.web.insurance.ca.gov/webuser/Licw_Agy_De...
An analogy would be emails: you can go directly to Gmail, Yahoo or whatever or you may access all those emails on your Mac Mail or whatever . What matters is the provider behind (their tech, spam capabilities, etc.)
Vouch is an agent of Standard Insurance, not really a top player in the field of insuring tech. Chubb and Hartford are.
Vouch is thin on experience with only two endorsed agents (I assume the founders) who only got their license one year ago: https://interactive.web.insurance.ca.gov/webuser/licw_endors... And have no classes/credit or whatever to back up the fact that they can “provide advice” to startups: https://interactive.web.insurance.ca.gov/licensestatus/licst...
This is public information. The fact that they are licensed surplus lines brokers is a flag as they may place your business with “non-admitted insurers” instead of established insurers in your state (who have experienced claims people, insurance wording approved in your state, and backed by state guarantees). “Non admited insurers” is an opaque field of various insurers, some are good, some are just shabby. Just be aware.
Most of the time you will be better off with admitted insurers (Hartford, State Farm, Chubb) for a number of reasons: they have the experience, they pay claims promptly, and are cheaper. The state will keep an eye on them if they don’t pay claims promptly.
I assume that Vouch will also farm out the claim process to contractors. I just don’t know.
I am not saying that Vouch is good or bad, just be aware, don’t buy into the BS and be an informed buyer.
Buying from a mid-size insurance broker provides some piece of mind: they know what they are doing, have the equivalent of a large enterprise team dealing with big, publicly traded tech companies, and they can call on those in house folks to help if needed or if you have a claim that the insurance company “initially” denied. They can apply “gentle pressure” because they have buying power.
Of course if you deal with Vouch, an agent of Standard Insurance, your options are limited if you get in trouble.
You may think “I will sue them”. You don’t sue insurance companies, or very rarely (and only if you are a consumer, not a company) because they have in house counsels they pay $50/hr against your $1,000/hr lawyers.
There are several exceptions:
1) you are the CEO or a top exec in a VERY large company. In that case your personal lawyers are involved in the negotiation of the contract, and it is assumed that you know what you are doing. But even in those rare cases, the law in on your side. 2) a non-compete COULD be part of the sale of your company (I wrote YOUR company, you own it, and your are not merely an employee, even senior employee).
Don't confuse that with the IP rights you give up to the company (legales like like we own EVERYTHING you have created or will create). You can still quit tomorrow with no notice given and work for whomever you feel like. Don’t use that IP, and don’t take ANYTHING with you (no files, no customers lists, no lines of code, no presentations, no emails). Then you are fine.