Nationwide has bought a stake in an Israeli company that's on a mission to eliminate car crashes.
The insurer's investment in the company, Nexar, is part of a $100 million commitment Nationwide made last summer to invest in young companies in insurance and financial services.
The move is designed to keep Nationwide relevant at a time of great technological change and to continue to meet the insurance and financial needs of policyholders.
For Nexar, Nationwide's investment — it won't say how much — is part of a new $30 million round of funding that the Tel Aviv-based company received.
Nexar provides drivers, insurers and automakers with safe-driving tools that detect, record and warn drivers of real-time road hazards.
The company offers a free dashcam app that's connected to a network that can provide alerts to drivers about impending dangers and communicate with other vehicles in the network about dangers beyond their field of view. Insurers can benefit because the technology can prevent accidents — and claims — and should there be a crash, can help with accident reconstruction, expedite legitimate claims and prevent fraudulent ones.
Since the app was launched in 2016, drivers in 740 cities across 160 countries have driven more than 100 million miles with Nexar, with 10 million miles driven in December alone. After activating its network in New York City in 2016, Nexar said there was a 30 percent reduction in collisions among its users.
Other companies, including Columbus-based State Auto Financial, have made similar commitments to invest in technology in recent years.
"It fits squarely into the innovation themes that we've announced," said Erik Ross, leader of Nationwide's venture capital business, of Nationwide's investment in Nexar.
"What they've built is the leading edge, next generation of technology with the whole idea of protecting everyone on the road from a pedestrian to a driver. That is near and dear to our heart."
So far, Nationwide has made eight investments in technology and expects to eventually make a total of 30 to 40.
"We think about risks changing and evolving. We're still in the business of insuring risk," he said.
Nationwide has also bought a stake in California-based startup Matic, which has developed technology that allows borrowers to buy homeowners insurance while getting a mortgage.
The technology reduces the time to obtain insurance and gives homeowners quotes from several companies. The company has provided more than 300,000 quotes to customers.
The investment recognizes the shift away from traditional models of buying coverage through an agent, Nationwide said.
Matic recently opened an operations center in Columbus.
Matt Armstead, executive director of Fintech71, a nonprofit that launched last year which makes investments in young financial-services companies, said he is glad to see insurers such as Nationwide make these kinds of investments.
"What you're talking about these investments, it may end up taking five to seven years to come to maturation. That's a big bet for a company that lives quarter to quarter," he said. "I think it's really smart to make these bets, testing the waters and exploring the strengths of these partnerships."