One of the more annoying aspects for renters looking for a new home is the need to provide cash for a security deposit. Luckily there are several insurtech companies solving this problem with insurance. The insurance company guarantees the landlord their deposit and/or last month’s lease and the renter pays a small monthly fee for the policy, e.g. $10 per month for a $1,500 security deposit.
There are a number of startups in the space, including Obligo, Jetty and TheGuarantors and, but we are focusing on Rhino here due to their recent traction. The company closed $21M Series A in October (2019) and at the time said they are available at more than 300,000 rental units. More recently (Feb 2020), the number has increased to 400,000. For more on how it works, watch the video below for a Q&A with Rhino’s Marie Vlad.
In June the startup was one of 3 companies to win an Ivory Prize for achievements in housing affordability (see the 3-minute video above).
NYC-based Rhino was founded in 2017 has 55 employees (per company, June 2020) and has 55 employees and total funding of $23M per Crunchbase ($2M seed in 2017 and the $21M in October 2019). Cofounders include: Paraag Sarva, CEO; Bryan Woods, CTO; Benjamin Lantos, COO; Ankur Jain, Chairman.
