Honeycomb Insurance secures a $36M Series B funding round led by solo VC firm Zeev Ventures

After experiencing the disappointment of his first startup’s failure in 2018, Itai Ben-Zaken, a former BCG consultant and Wharton MBA, embarked on a journey of introspection to discern the lessons learned from his entrepreneurial endeavor. His analysis revealed a pivotal insight: while Comprendi, his digital ad recommendation business, held promise, its critical misstep lay in competing within a market dominated by two behemoths: Google and Facebook.

Determined not to repeat past mistakes, Ben-Zaken set out to launch his second startup, vowing to enter a market characterized by a multitude of competitors. Eventually, he zeroed in on the property and casualty insurance sector, focusing on serving landlords and condo associations.

Unlike the saturated landscape of digital advertising, the insurance market presented a more fragmented playing field. Travelers, the largest carrier in landlord insurance, commanded just 7% of the market share, leaving ample room for smaller providers to thrive.

Ben-Zaken’s background in insurance, gained from his tenure at QuinStreet overseeing Insurance.com, positioned him well for this venture. In 2019, he founded Honeycomb Insurance, leveraging computer vision and AI-driven technology to streamline property inspections using aerial photographs of building roofs, thereby reducing the need for costly physical assessments.

With the sale of its first policy in 2021, Honeycomb gained momentum. Securing a $15 million Series A funding round in early 2022, the company is poised for growth, projecting a significant increase in insurance premiums sold for 2024.

As Honeycomb prepared to raise its Series B funding, Ben-Zaken sought strategic guidance from Oren Zeev, a prominent solo venture capitalist renowned for his investments in successful startups like Navan, Houzz, Next Insurance, and Tipalti.