Fast-growing online insurance marketplace EverQuote has tacked on $13 million to its previously announced Series B funding round, bringing the total amount to $36 million.
The additional money comes from new investor Second Alpha and earlier backer Stratim Capital, a spokesman said in an e-mail to Xconomy.
The funding update was included in a press release announcing the appointment of Mira Wilczek to Cambridge, MA-based EverQuote’s board. She has taken the board seat previously occupied by Jonathan Shapiro, who recently joined EverQuote as chief scientific officer.
Wilczek is president and CEO of startup incubator Cogo Labs, and a senior partner at Link Ventures, which is affiliated with Cogo. EverQuote was incubated at Cogo, and Link is one of the company’s investors. Wilczek previously founded and led Red Panda Security, was an IBM security analyst, and was director of business development at Lyric Semiconductor, which was sold to Analog Devices.
Now, she’ll help guide EverQuote as it ramps up growth. The company has expanded from 185 employees to more than 200 in the past four months, with plans to hire another 80 people this year, according to the press release. EverQuote recently opened a second office in nearby Woburn.
The company expected to generate around $130 million in revenue last year, CEO and co-founder Seth Birnbaum told Xconomy in October. EverQuote did $100 million in revenue in 2015, he said.
The company’s insurance marketplace focuses mainly on auto insurance policies, but it has been expanding its home and life insurance offerings.
Consumers can use EverQuote to shop for policies, although sometimes the best deals are only available offline after connecting with insurers, Birnbaum has said. Rather, EverQuote’s pitch is it eases the matchmaking process for insurance buyers and sellers.
The service is free for consumers. EverQuote makes money through referral fees from insurers, who are looking for more effective (and cheaper) ways to win customers than traditional methods, such as media advertising campaigns.
Other providers of online insurance tools include Cambridge-based Insurify and The Zebra, based in Austin, TX.
