Last week, Israeli InsurTech company, Lemonade, announced its entrance into the car insurance market. This week, Lemonade makes a big move to cement its status with a half-of-a-billion all stock acquisition of an publicly traded American company.

Lemonade hits the gas pedal

The company being acquired by Lemonade -- Metromile, offers U.S. drivers insurance policies based on their driving volume habits. Meaning, if you drive more -- you pay more, and vice versa. For this purpose, the company installs sensors in the insured's vehicles, which report the mileage they've traveled. In addition, the system analyzes its customers’ driving habits, to more accurately adjust pricing and policies.

The new Lemonade car insurance product, like its other products, will be accessible via its app, which is run by AI algorithms that examine the way customers drive, and generate a policy accordingly. Lemonade, additionally, offers its insured users towing and roadside assistance services, and even claims to help reduce its carbon footprint.

Based on the Metromile acquisition announcement, Lemonade plans to transform from a bench player in the car insurance game, to one of its key players -- mostly guided by implementing in its own system the entire Metromile toolkit, most notably its algorithm work. Currently, Lemonade’s car insurance is available only in Illinois, with the Metromile acquisition expected to significantly boost its expansion in the other 49 states.

In a blog posted by Lemonade, CEO and co-founder, Daniel Schrieber, talked about the reasoning behind the Metromile acquisition, writing that “ our companies enjoy a near-perfect overlap of vision and culture—yet have almost zero overlap in products and licenses. Those are the building blocks of a rewarding union.” Schreiber also mentions Metromile’s 49 state licenses, over $100 million of seasoned in-force premium (IFP), and over $250 million of total cash, as immensely valuable for Lemonade.

Speaking of M&As: Anodot acquires  Pileus

Staying within the Israeli M&A sector -- Anodot, an expert in Autonomous Business Monitoring, announced early this week that it would acquire Pileus, an Israeli startup developing a cloud cost management platform. The companies didn’t offer up any dollar numbers on the deals, but according to reports should be more than a couple million dollars changing hands. Surprising, considering Pileus had only raised a $1 million Seed round about two years ago.

Anodot rosters more than 100 employees and is headquartered in the U.S., with its R&D based in Israel. “We have witnessed first-hand the many challenges organizations face while attempting to manage their cloud costs,” said David Drai, CEO, Anodot. “Historically, cloud pricing and billing has been a complicated undertaking for many organizations - until now. Today, Anodot joins forces with Pileus to combat this growing problem. Pileus is the only technology on the market able to provide granular intelligence, visibility, and control over cloud billing.”