Driver-Monitoring App for Insurers Censio Rolls into $10M Series A

Censio, the Boston startup that recently announced a connected car app for insurance provider Progressive, has raised a $10 million Series A funding round to further develop its technology and fulfill the needs of its first partner.

Founded in 2012 by a group that includes former Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith, Censio gathers data through its app that tracks various details about how its users drive. It uses the smartphone app, not a hardware device in the car, to distinguish between safe and risky drivers. That information is then used to reward safe drivers with discounts on their premiums, the company said in a statement.

Progressive (NYSE: [[ticker:PGR]]) selected Censio as the provider of its mobile usage-based insurance platform in September, after an 18-month competition among 11 companies, Censio said.

General Catalyst Partners, the Cambridge, MA-based venture firm, led the Series A round, along with participation from Bain Capital Ventures and Lakestar. Censio has raised $13 million to date.

Author: David Holley

David is the national correspondent at Xconomy. He has spent most of his career covering business of every kind, from breweries in Oregon to investment banks in New York. A native of the Pacific Northwest, David started his career reporting at weekly and daily newspapers, covering murder trials, city council meetings, the expanding startup tech industry in the region, and everything between. He left the West Coast to pursue business journalism in New York, first writing about biotech and then private equity at The Deal. After a stint at Bloomberg News writing about high-yield bonds and leveraged loans, David relocated from New York to Austin, TX. He graduated from Portland State University.