A startup at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology hopes to replace insurance agents withartificial intelligence and make buying auto insurance as easy astexting a photo of your license plate.

Cambridge, Mass-based startup InsurifyInc. launched an online marketplace last weekthat uses predictive modeling and advanced analytics with the hopeof changing the experience of comparison shopping for carinsurance. The recommendation engine allows drivers to quickly andeasily find and compare the cheapest insurance policies that bestfit their needs, the company said.

"The purpose of Insurify is to create a database to helpconsumers make decisions on their own, based on the data that theyprovide and based on the algorithms and analytics that we havebuilt in our platform to be able to help them make the rightchoices for themselves," said CEO Snejina Zacharia, theperson behind Insurify.

The MIT Sloan fellow and former director of business developmentat Stamford, Conn.-based IT research and advisory company Gartnertold PropertyCasualty360, "We are launching with a car insurancecomparison platform that is augmented with a powerfulrecommendation engine that allows consumers to understand the rightset of coverage for their needs, as well as provide a qualitativeaccess in their consumer experience, by allowing consumers toselect areas that are specific to their personal profile."

She added that the company is building the intelligence behindthe superagent into the platform, so not only does it compareinsurance rates, it recommends the insurance carrier and policythat best fits the consumer.

The company has raised seed funding of $2 million fromRationalwave Capital Partners to fund the limited public betarelease of Evia (short for expert virtual insurance agent), theartificially intelligent virtual insurance agent that runs theplatform.

Here's how it is supposed to work:

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  • By using license plate photo, Evia scours millions ofrecords to verify personal information and driving history in orderto deliver policy quotes and recommendations via text message.
  • If a potential customer doesn't have a license plate to text toEvia, it can use other information, such as the specific make andmodel of the car.
  • Evia verifies a customer's identity from the answers providedto its questions, which include whether the car will be owned orleased, then searches participating insurance carrier sites to comeup with quotes.
  • Evia also simplifies insurance terms for customers and canconnect them to a live person if it can't answer a question.
  • A live agent completes the deal after the best insurance fit isfound. 

"All the major companies are shifting towards buildingartificially intelligent platforms, whether they are tech-based ormessaging-based," said Zacharia. She said the goal is to createtexting platforms that can replace the need for the regular browsersearch.

Insurify spent two years developing RateRank, a proprietarysoftware that analyzes patterns and matches each user's riskprofile with the best and most affordable insurance carriers andpackages for their needs. The company said it recognizes thatalthough price is one the most important drivers for switchinginsurance, people also care about reviews, discounts, customerservice and benefits. Insurify's platform is designed to helpconsumers make qualitative and quantitative insurance decisions,the company said.

Insurify said it currently serves 30 states, and has partneredwith 82 insurance carriers, such as Progressive, Nationwide,MetLife and AAA.

"We are currently negotiating with some of the other remaininglarge call-center operations because our key priority right now isto continue to expand the distribution network, to be able to bringevery area under our roof," said Zacharia.

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