New Israeli Unicorn Emerges After Insight Partners-Led Round

(Bloomberg) --

Israeli startup Earnix Ltd., which uses advanced analytics to help insurers and banks offer personalized financial products, reached a $1 billion valuation in a financing round led by Insight Partners.

Existing investors Jerusalem Venture Partners, Vintage Investment Partners and Israel Growth Partners joined the New York firm in the $75 million round that vaulted Earnix to so-called unicorn status. Earnix’s first new funding since 2017 brings total capital raising to more than $100 million.

“The company is growing to a point where this was a pre-IPO round,” said Erel Margalit, the founder of Jerusalem Venture Partners who is set to become Earnix chairman. “This is an industry that’s been waiting for the disruption. Its been waiting for a platform that is both AI and very dynamic.”

Founded in 2001, Earnix helps its customers provide personalized rates and products using artificial intelligence and analytics. The startup will use the new funds to grow internationally, develop new products and support deals, it said in a statement Sunday.

Earnix operates in markets across North America, Europe and Australia, Margalit said in the interview.

The startup is among other fast-growing companies with Israeli ties in the insurance and financial technology space, a list that includes Lemonade Inc., Hippo Insurance and Next Insurance.

Israeli startups overall raised a record $1.44 billion in January, with a half-dozen firms announcing funding rounds of at least $100 million, according to a report from Start-Up Nation Central, a non-profit organization that tracks Israel’s tech industry.

Earnix Chief Executive Officer Udi Ziv said his company counts major clients such as NatWest Group Plc and Liberty Mutual, and that it would expand its workforce from around 200 at the start of 2021 to 350 by year’s end.

“We have been growing very fast and we’re going to accelerate that very fast growth in terms of employees globally,” Ziv said.

(Updates with record January fundraising by Israeli startups in seventh paragraph)

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