Case Study
Corvus
Built tools for a safer, more productive world through technology-enabled commercial insurance.
Sector
- Data + AI
- Cybersecurity
Status
Acquired by Travelers
The Opportunity
Founded by insurance industry veteran and long time .406 advisor, Phil Edmundson, Corvus was the first pure-play company to emerge as a leader in the newly established and rapidly growing cybersecurity insurance underwriting category.
Liam and Graham had co-invested with Corvus’s founder for more than a decade before he started Corvus. Through that relationship, .406 was very early in working with Phil as he began to conceive of Corvus and was pleased to have the exclusive opportunity to lead the Series A.
What immediately set Corvus apart from other start-ups focused on cybersecurity insurance was the company’s innovative approach to underwriting, which leverages unique data, data science, and automation to better understand risk. As a result, Corvus has consistently beat industry-leading loss ratio by 15-20%. The company was also a quintessential ‘intersection play’ for .406, leveraging our strength—in both data & AI and cybersecurity. With visibility and reach into both fields, the .406 team saw the groundbreaking potential of Corvus’ platform long before meaningful revenue had materialized. From the time of our initial investment, Corvus’ gross premium written grew from a few hundred thousand dollars to over $275M.
The .406 / Corvus
Partnership
As Corvus’ largest shareholder, .406 played an active role in growing the company. In addition to sitting on Corvus’ board for five years, .406’s key contributions to Corvus’ success included:
- Introducing and helping recruit key executives including the Chief Information Security Officer and founding Chief Technology Officer
- Providing strategic guidance around technology stack and data science infrastructure
- Providing .406’s deep cybersecurity expertise to help map Corvus’ approach to the market
- Chairing compensation committee
The Outcome
Corvus’s exit to Traveler’s–one of the top three insurance companies in the world–was the largest insurance exit of the year and 5th largest in the last decade. More importantly, we are proud that Corvus will become Traveler’s platform for entry into the critically important cybersecurity space.
Since .406 led Corvus’ Series A financing, the company grew from nothing to writing over $275M of premium annually.
Liam and Graham remain two of Phil’s closest advisors.
From the Corvus Team
My relationship with Liam and Graham spans over a decade, and .406 Ventures has a well-deserved reputation for its expertise at the intersection of technology and insurance. Their strategic guidance, including referring our Chief Technology Officer and helping us with key decisions around our tech stack, has been invaluable to our success.”