Lemonade

Founded in 2015, Lemonade is looking to do for the insurance industry what Uber did for taxis. The company sells peer-to-peer insurance, based around the idea of a group of users paying into a pool, with claims being withdrawn from that shared resource as necessary. At the end of a year, any leftover money is donated to charity, with Lemonade taking a 20 percent cut of premiums. The hope is these smaller, more connected groups will generate fewer claims and cut costs; already it offers renters insurance from as little as $5 a month and homeowners from $35. The company’s seed investment round was the largest of 2015, and in 2016 the service officially launched in New York.