New York-based insurance startup to beta-test home-share product in Iowa
Slice Labs Inc., a New York-based insurance technology startup that connected with Iowa through the Global Insurance Symposium, plans to beta-test its on-demand home-share insurance product in Des Moines and Iowa City beginning this month.
Two of the company’s co-founders, Tim Attia and Ernest Hursh, met Iowa Insurance Commissioner Nick Gerhart while attending the symposium last year in Des Moines and subsequently worked with Gerhart in developing and licensing the product, said Emily Mertz, the company’s marketing director.
Funded earlier this year, the startup offers on-demand policies tailored to home-share hosts who rent their homes for short-term periods through platforms such as Airbnb, HomeAway, OneFineStay and FlipKey. After testing the product for about a month with selected hosts in Iowa, the company plans to begin offering the policies in other states as well, Mertz said.
Users can add coverage automatically or with a tap on the Slice mobile application. The Slice insurance policy covers only the time period the host is renting his or her home.
“Many people working in the on-demand economy do not realize their risk and the fact that they’re simply not covered through conventional means,” said Hursh, Slice’s head of sales and marketing. “It is our mission to mitigate that risk and to provide the appropriate trust, safety and protection for these folks.”
The commercial policies provide liability coverage of up to $2 million and offer full replacement cost coverage, with no limit to the number of covered properties.
Slice is backed by Horizons Ventures, XL Innovate, and Munich Re, and is based in New York City. The startup is currently licensed to sell insurance in 49 states.
For more information about Slice meetup events that will be held next week in Des Moines, click here.
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