Nirvana says it's revolutionizing the trucking insurance business.  -  Image: Nirvana website

Nirvana says it's revolutionizing the trucking insurance business.

Image: Nirvana website

A new company promises to use telematics data to “transform” the world of truck insurance.

Nirvana Insurance, a technology-driven platform that modernizes commercial fleet insurance using vast amounts of data from sensors on trucks, is a startup led by key former employees from Samsara, Rubrik, and Root Insurance.

Nirvana Insurance gives up to a 20% discount upfront to the safest fleets and turns an insurance process that often takes months into mere minutes, according to a news release.

“The analog approach to issuing insurance to commercial fleets is fundamentally broken,” said Rushil Goel, CEO and co-founder of Nirvana, who was previously VP Product at Samsara. “The process is confusing, slow, and comes at a high productivity and financial cost.”

Goel said he saw small fleets struggling with insurance during his time at Samsara. “Truckers who were doing all the right things and investing in safety, still saw their rates go up every year to the point where it forced them out of business.”

The Nirvana platform connects billions of data points from telematics and AI-powered dash cams, as well as public sources such as state motor vehicle departments and the Department of Transportation, to provide instantaneous quotes. Location, speed, video, erratic driving, weather, and traffic are all factors that are assessed by Nirvana’s machine-learning algorithms. Nirvana also gives regular recommendations to its clients, including specific coaching for drivers, as well as routes to avoid.

The policies are also usage-based: Customers only pay for how much they drive, supporting the focus on reducing costs and tailoring coverage to a fleet's actual exposure and usage.

“Partnering with Nirvana was a no-brainer for us,” said Nicole McMurtry, president of USI Insurance Services, in a news release. “Their insurance platform has taken applications to quote processing time from 30-45 days to just 48 hours and has nearly eliminated any and all paperwork. On top of that, with commercial auto premiums continually on the rise, we feel like this is the exact product our customers need. Using telematics to underwrite customers accurately is the only way our industry will survive.”

Goel said that fleet insurance is only the beginning for Nirvana.

“One day soon this use of smart data to mitigate risk will spread to factories and warehouses, for a safer and more efficient nationwide supply chain.”

Nirvana has raised more than $25 million in investment funding and will use that money to scale its operations, grow its team, and invest in R&D efforts to expand products and services.

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