Specialist travel insurance provider battleface is poised for expansion after securing a $12 million investment.
The funds will be used to support growth and market expansion and establish the company’s global headquarters in Columbus in the US state of Ohio.
The Series A funding follows exponential growth in the past nine months as travellers seek to protect themselves amid the global Covid-19 pandemic.
Columbus-based venture capital firm Drive Capital is making the investment.
Battleface chief executive Sasha Gainullin said that the latest funding round showed growing investor confidence in the brand’s technology and global expansion plans.
“When we started battleface, we set out to make travel insurance relevant to our customers, simple to buy and accessible for everyone in the world,” Gainullin said.
“Our growth since then has significantly surpassed our initial expectations, and this funding will help us bring travel insurance to millions more as we continue to build our traveller focused global insurance platform.
“With this latest investment from Drive Capital, we look forward to accelerating our growth strategy through new product development and expanded market reach.”
Gainullin previously developed global operations for AIG Travel Guard and has worked with battleface since its inception.
Managing director Paul Simmonds is a former Lloyd’s of London underwriter.
Drive Capital partner Molly Bonakdarpour said: “With a focus on investing in the world’s next generation of market-defining companies, partnering with battleface and its highly experienced management team was a natural choice.
“We are confident in battleface’s ability to lead innovation in this category and drive exciting growth.”