Sola Insurance, a startup based in Atlanta, is disrupting the home insurance market with its innovative approach to addressing challenges that arise after natural disasters.
The company, led by CEO Wesley Pergament, aims to reduce fraudulent claims, which have driven up premiums and deductibles for homeowners.
Sola’s strategy is centered on utilizing objective, immutable weather data to enhance the insurance landscape.
By triggering payouts based on verified weather conditions, Sola aims to minimize instances of false claims and ensure that payouts are timely and fair.
Following a storm, policyholders are required to submit photos detailing any damage.
The company then analyzes data from the National Weather Service to confirm the storm’s intensity and the damage incurred.
These timely payouts can assist homeowners with deductibles or cover other costs associated with the damage.
Sola caters to a diverse clientele, ranging from homeowners with properties valued at $200,000 to those with multi-million dollar residences.
Currently operational in 15 states across the U.S., the startup is in the process of raising additional venture capital to facilitate its expansion.
The latest funding round saw Sola secure $8 million in a Series A round that closed in August.
The round was spearheaded by FINTOP Capital and JAM FINTOP from Nashville, with participation from 10vc based in Menlo Park, California, and Georgia Tech from Atlanta.
With this Series A, Sola has raised a total of $11.7 million since its inception.
Following the successful $3.7 million seed round in December 2024, also led by FINTOP Capital, the company has experienced a remarkable 7x growth in revenue.
Pergament explained the significance of this funding by sharing that it will primarily be funneled towards hiring new talent and to enhance Sola’s market strategy.
He emphasized that Sola has uniquely positioned itself within the InsurTech sector by focusing on vertical integration rather than simply improving the purchasing experience for traditional insurance products.
He noted that many existing InsurTech firms merely replicate traditional insurance policies under a new facade, leaving them vulnerable to the same pitfalls as their predecessors.
In contrast, Sola is dedicated to innovating a fundamentally different and more effective insurance product.
Pergament, originally hailing from Long Island, New York, developed a substantial interest in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which sparked his curiosity toward natural disasters and their community impacts.
His investigations led him to recognize that existing insurance policies were not adequately harnessing available data to make more informed decisions.
“The data was telling us exactly where the damaged areas are,” he remarked, criticizing the tradition of dispatching adjusters to assess losses as outdated in light of contemporary technology.
In 2022, Sola’s team was recognized when they won Georgia Tech’s InVenture Prize, claiming $20,000 as part of a student innovation contest.
This achievement was followed by participation in Create-X’s summer program, and the company became part of Lloyd’s Lab, an InsurTech accelerator managed by the London-based insurance giant.
Sola launched its tornado insurance policy in 2023 and recently expanded into wind and hail coverage.
Pergament revealed his reasoning behind focusing on hail damage coverage, stating, “Tornadoes are devastating events.
But in reality, they only affect a few thousand homeowners per year, whereas hail events impact millions of homeowners every single year.”
The startup operates from its Midtown Atlanta office with a team that includes experts from both the insurance and non-insurance sectors, all committed to improving the customer experience through innovative solutions.
image source from：hypepotamus
