Otonomo Technologies Ltd., the mobility intelligence company, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire The Floow, the SaaS provider of connected insurance technology. The acquisition is a cash and stock deal valued at approximately $69 million, including a performance-based earnout of up to $37.5 million. The acquisition is subject to approval by U.K. regulators and is expected to close within the second quarter of 2022.

The Floow is a leading telematics service provider. Their data refinery platform enables world-leading insurance carriers to introduce connectivity to their products. They differentiate their offerings through a more precise understanding of risk in the context of personalized products and services and improve road safety through driver coaching and timely, accurate roadside assistance. Essentially, The Floow offers motor insurers the ability to improve their risk assessment through a suite of behavioural scores that are highly predictive of claims propensity and improve risk differentiation compared to traditional risk models. The Floow reduces operating costs by engaging drivers to help them improve their performance, thus turning them into partners in risk prevention, preventing fraud and delivering on timely First Notice of Loss. Moreover, they collect data from smartphones as well as most other sensing devices in an agnostic fashion.

Otonomo on the other hand is building a mobility intelligence platform for powering the next generation of automotive, fleet, insurance, transportation, and mobility services. Otonomo’s cloud-native platform uses artificial intelligence, sensor data, and behavioural pattern mapping from more than 50 million accessible connected vehicles and more than 430 million accessible mobility end devices to provide the critical insights needed to optimize vehicle insurance, emergency services, mapping, traffic management, EV management, micro-mobility, predictive maintenance, and dozens of smart city solutions.

Safer and smarter mobility for all

The combination of the two companies will allow for the integration of The Floow’s vehicle insurance tools and built-in partnership with insurance companies into Otonomo’s mobility intelligence platform; The Floow provides Otonomo with the technical underpinnings necessary to create superior, data-driven products, while Otonomo’s adds considerable data science to The Floow’s robust insurance telematics technology. So, the blending of vehicle and mobile data from both Otonomo and The Floow will be crucial to enabling innovative, usage-based, and behavioural-based insurance products; they will offer connected insurance solutions powered by the full spectrum of data sources. It will allow the industry to move from “detect and repair” to “predict and prevent” models to create safer, greener, and smarter driving experiences for policyholders. With the acquisition, Otonomo will be equipped to be the leader in the innovative auto insurance space.

As Matteo Carbone, founder of the IoT Insurance Observatory stated, “Insurers have recognized telematics as a necessary capability to compete in the auto business. The future of the industry lies in data-driven and proactive offerings where risk transfer and services are integrated. The combination of Otonomo and The Floow is a smart move. Together, they can provide insurers with a vision and mobility data assets capable of supporting their innovation journey.”