Teodora Gouneva took over as CFO of the Palo Alto, California-based company last month after serving as vice president of finance for Airbnb for about two years, where she oversaw finance for the company's hosting, guest experiences, and marketing divisions. She spent 15 years at digital payments company PayPal Inc., including as CFO of the company's Venmo and Braintree businesses, before joining Airbnb, which went public in December 2020.
Since its inception in 2016, Next Insurance has raised $881 million from investors, including a $250 million round in March that valued the company at $4 billion. Chief Executive Guy Goldstein stated that the company has no immediate plans to go public, but that it may do so in the future.
Ms. Gouneva's priorities in her new position include assessing the company's accounting processes and looking for ways to support its growth in the coming years. Next Insurance intends to grow by offering tailored insurance policies to new industries and by partnering with software platforms whose customers include small businesses. For example, it currently provides insurance through Toast Inc., a provider of restaurant software.
Next Insurance is one of many insuretech startups aiming to digitize the industry by selling insurance to customers directly online. According to Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, a vice president and analyst at research and advisory firm Gartner Inc., large insurers that serve commercial customers mostly work through agents and haven't historically made their products easily accessible online. That business model caters to large corporate customers, but she claims that it is difficult for small businesses to navigate.
According to her, startups such as Next Insurance have catered to small-business clients by offering digital products tailored to specific industries, such as restaurants. "They've realized that small-business owners think, feel, and act more like consumers," Ms. Harris-Ferrante explained.
According to the company, which is not yet profitable, it generated $650 million in gross written premiums in 2021, up from $200 million in 2020.
According to the company, Next Insurance has approximately 300,000 customers across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., which is more than double the number it had at the end of 2020. It paid an undisclosed sum to acquire digital insurance company AP Intego last year.
Ms. Gouneva took over for Michelle Cheung, Next Insurance's CFO for nearly four years. Ms. Cheung is now the company's chief corporate officer, in charge of the legal, human resources, and operations divisions.
According to Michael Brown, a general partner at venture capital firm Battery Ventures, Next Insurance hired an executive who has worked in the finance function at companies that have transitioned from fast-growing startups to established public companies in Ms. Gouneva. The firm was one of several investors in Next Insurance's March 2021 funding round, which also included Founders Circle Capital and FinTLV Ventures.