AXA Strategic Ventures, the strategic investment arm of global insurance company AXA, has led a US$20 million series B funding round in One Inc., a California-based insurance software development start-up.
Mass Mutual Ventures and existing investor Asian private equity firm H&Q Asia Pacific also participated in the round.
H&Q led a US$16.7 million series A financing in One Inc. in September 2014. H&Q and its affiliates invested approximately US$13 million back then, and injected US$5 million in the latest series B round, the firm announced today.
The company says it will use the proceeds to build up its research and development capabilities, as well as driving up sales and expanding globally.
One Inc. develops streamlined operating systems for the property and casualty insurance market. Its cloud-based insurance software brings together core functions combined with data and analytics, payment processing and agency management in one solution.
With the addition of the new investors, One Inc. plans to make fundamental changes to the insurance industry, in the U.S. first and in Asia Pacific down the road.
"The shift happening in the insurance industry is still in its early stages," said One, Inc. CEO and founder Christopher W. Ewing.
"H&Q was One Inc.’s first institutional investor in 2014 and right away we could see the potential the company had," said Dr. Ta-lin Hsu, chairman of H&Q Asia Pacific. "The global insurance industry is huge and growing but its systems are often lagging behind customer needs."
H&Q is an Asian private equity firm that has managed an aggregate of US$3.5 billion in committed capital through 28 funds since its inception in 1985.
Founded by Dr. Ta-Lin Hsu as a division of U.S. investment banking firm Hambrecht & Quist, H&Q is now an independent firm making growth capital and buyout investments in technology, consumer products and services, financial services, healthcare and real estate sectors.