CIT GAP Funds Makes Follow-On Investment in Fenris

Herndon, VA, May 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) today announced that CIT GAP Funds has made a follow-on investment in Richmond, Va.-based Fenris. GAP Funds first invested in Fenris, a software and analytics company focused on streamlining and modernizing the process of quoting insurance and financial insurance products by leveraging proprietary data and technologies, in May 2019. Over the last 12 months, Fenris has expanded their sales operations and enhanced their data delivery and analytics platform. The company plans to use this additional funding to further build out their product suite to meet demand from current and prospective clients.

Insurance carriers and agencies spend billions to attract and retain customers. However, for many companies, only a small fraction of initial applicants become customers. Fenris offers a suite of API-delivered pre-fill data and technology products to optimize and enable a friction-free process of applying for and obtaining an accurate quote. The newest product, LicenseSnap, is easily embedded into any company’s existing online form to remove the risk of poor data entry or mid-application abandonment by starting the process from a photo of the driver's license.

“Now more than ever, financial services providers and insurers need to remove the barriers of entry for consumers who want to do business with them. Consumers need a simple and fast way to engage with what we call an “all swipe, no type” experience,” said Jennifer Linton, CEO and Founder, Fenris. “With millions of applications scored, Fenris has demonstrated its impact on increased conversion rates, decreased cost of acquisition, and reduced manual entry for a better customer journey at point of quote. We greatly appreciate CIT’s continued support of insurtech funding in the form of this follow-on investment and access to their network of resources.”

Fenris maintains one of the largest insurance data repositories in the industry, including over 400 million records on adults, households and small businesses, delivered instantly into the workflow. Additionally, Fenris has created a suite of predictive scores that inform financial service providers on how to engage potential customers based on propensity to buy, lifetime value and risk of churn, cross-sell potential, and financial responsibility.

“Fenris clients are seeing real results, including an increase in conversions accompanied by a 25% decrease in cost of acquisition due to smarter ordering of downstream reports, and up to 80% reduction in manual effort,” said Jennifer O’Daniel, Investment Director, CIT GAP Funds. “CIT is pleased to expand our relationship with Fenris through this follow-on investment, and we look forward to the company’s continued growth in 2020.”

About Fenris
Fenris was born in 2016 to enable its clients, the financial institutions and insurance companies, to streamline the process of applying for a policy while preserving underwriting integrity and accuracy. Fenris demonstrates its impact on increased conversion rates, decreased cost of acquisition, and reduced manual entry for a better customer journey. For more information, please visit www.FenrisD.com.

About CIT GAP Funds
CIT GAP Funds makes seed-stage equity investments in Virginia-based technology, clean tech and life science companies with a high potential for achieving rapid growth and generating significant economic return for entrepreneurs, co-investors and the Commonwealth of Virginia. CIT GAP Funds’ investments are overseen by the CIT GAP Funds Investment Advisory Board (IAB). This independent, third-party panel consists of leading regional entrepreneurs, angel and strategic investors, and venture capital firms such as New Enterprise Associates, Grotech Ventures, Valhalla Partners, Harbert Venture Partners HIG Ventures, Edison Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Intersouth Partners, SJF Ventures, Carilion Health Systems, Johnson & Johnson, General Electric, and Alpha Natural Resources. For more information, please visit www.citgapfunds.org.

About the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT)
Investing in Virginia's Growth | CIT concentrates on the early commercialization and seed funding stages of innovation, helping innovators and tech entrepreneurs launch and grow new companies, create high paying jobs and accelerate economic growth throughout the entire state of Virginia. Founded in 1985, CIT accelerates next generation technologies and technology companies through commercialization, capital formation, market development initiatives, and expansion of broadband throughout Virginia. Our programs include | CIT GAP Funds | Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF) | Virginia Founders Fund | Broadband/Rural Broadband | Smart Communities | Cybersecurity | Unmanned Systems | SBIR/STTR Support (Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) & Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs) | University Partnerships | Startup Company Mentoring & Engagement. CIT’s CAGE Code is 1UP71. Contact: 2214 Rock Hill Road #600, Herndon, VA 20170 | 703.689.3000 | www.cit.org | You can also follow CIT on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.