Zensurance

Zensurance Inc. provides online commercial insurance brokerage services for startups and small businesses. It offers business, contractors, tech, and tenants insurance. The company, founded in 2016 and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, recently announced it has expanded operations to Newfoundland and Labrador.

The company uses data and analytics to identify the most common risks so client companies can able to create curated insurance packages ideally suited for each industry. Small business owners no longer have to wade through endless forms and play phone-tag. They can learn about all their needs and purchase at their own convenience within minutes online.

The company was founded in 2016 by Yusuf and is headquartered in Toronto. Zensurance works with more than 50 insurance companies across Canada and builds curated insurance packages tailored to each industry, geography, and company size. Data analytics are used to curate and recommend appropriate insurance packages for different types of small businesses.

Zensurance was previously housed at the DMZ, the Toronto-based university incubator, and was awarded first place and $25,000 at the DMZ’s Next Big Idea in FinTech competition. In late 2016, the company raised $1 million in seed funding in a round led by Ferst Capital Partners.

Then, in 2018, Travelers purchased approximately 60% of Zensurance’s issued and outstanding shares, leaving Zensurance CEO Danish Yusuf and CTO Sultan Mehrabi with about a third of ownership in the company. Travelers paid approximately CAD$16 million for the deal. Currently, Zensurance is operating independently of Travelers. Zensurance is also looking to secure the authority to bind insurance contracts in real-time through its platform, instead of relying on insurance companies to complete the process.

In August 2020 Zensurance announced a Series B round from parent company Travelers. The company stated that they plan to use the funds to fuel growth - expanding the Zensurance team and growing their customer base to a targeted 150,000 SMEs.