Nirvana Insurancean AI-powered commercial insurance platform for the trucking industry, has raised a $100 million Series D round at a valuation of $1.5 billion, it exclusively told Crunchbase News. The raise comes just over nine months after the startup raised $80 million in a Series C funding round at a valuation of $830 million.
Valor Equity Partners led the latest financing, which the company called “pre-emptive.” Previous major donors Lightspeed Venture Partners And General catalyst also doubled “significantly”.
Simply put, Nirvana’s goal is to create “the world’s first AI-powered insurance operating system.” The startup uses real-time driving telematics and 30 billion miles of truck driving data to create and manage insurance policies for truckers.
CEO Rushil Goel launched Nirvana in 2021 after spending years managing products at samsaraan AI-powered fleet management and safety platform. There, he said, he saw firsthand how safe and responsible trucking fleets “were being hurt by the rising costs of universal insurance rates based on old industry data.”
“It was a question of survival,” he recalls. “Costly policies have literally driven some fleets out of business. »
His goal with Nirvana is to use the telematics data these fleets already generate “to build a fairer and more transparent model.” Nirvana has trained its models on more than 30 billion miles traveled and on vehicle telematics that display details such as speed, selected routes and driver behavior.
“This allows us to reward safe fleets with more accurate and often lower premiums, helping them save money and make the roads safer,” Goel told Crunchbase News. He also claims the company is able to underwrite “with speed and accuracy” and “real-time price risk.”
In addition to providing insurance, Nirvana says it gives fleets the tools to reduce accidents before they happen.
The increase comes at a time when Insurtech financing is generally decliningand the number of transactions is at a multi-year high. So far in 2025, global insurance-related startups have raised about $4 billion in growth-stage seed funding, according to Crunchbase. data – less than a quarter of the peak dollars raised in 2021 – and deals are also counting on a decline.
Venture capitalists are betting Nirvana can transform ‘a multi-billion dollar industry stuck in the past’
Nirvana raised its $3.2 million seed round in January 2021, co-led by General Catalyst and Lightspeed. In total, more than $260 million was raised.
Although Goel declined to reveal specific revenue figures, he said Nirvana had doubled its premium growth year-over-year. The workforce has also doubled compared to last year, to around 200 people.
Nirvana claims to serve “thousands” of motor carriers. Its customers range from single owner-operated carriers to fleets of more than 500 trucks.
The startup’s revenue model involves charging an annual insurance term with upfront discounts based on historical telematics data that it analyzes with its proprietary models.
Interestingly, Nirvana is not Goel’s first startup. In addition to being VP/GM of Fleet at Samsara, he also co-founded Air carea digital health startup.
Vivek Pattipatipartner at Valor Equity Partners, said in a statement that this round was not only about strengthening Nirvana’s approach to proprietary telematics data, deep machine learning expertise and underwriting and claims execution.
“This is an opportunity for us to claim the redefinition of an industry and explore how Nirvana will apply its ‘N of 1’ AI capabilities to benefit customers beyond market-leading insurance products,” he said.
Lightspeed Partner Raviraj Jain believes that Nirvana has “performed perfectly” since the company first invested in its seed round. He said: “Commercial insurance is a trillion-dollar industry stuck in the past, and it has been incredible to see how quickly Nirvana’s AI models have been able to deliver material benefits to customers. »
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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