Proptech Startup Raises $15M To Expand AI Insurance Tools
New York-based proptech company Jones has closed on a $15M Series B funding round that will be used to launch artificial intelligence tools to bolster its insurance verification platform.
The funding will help the proptech company address rising insurance costs with the upcoming release of GenAI Agents.
These agents would utilize the data the company has gathered from its insurance verification platform to provide clients with recommendations and reduce workloads. They would help with giving clients input on complex insurance problems they may run into, contacting vendors and flagging any exclusions or restrictions that might be costly and take time to find with an in-house team or external consultants.
Jones founder Omri Stern told Bisnow that although artificial intelligence has grown wildly, it has been difficult to scale in areas like insurance verification because the documents are complex and have always involved humans.
"You really need experts in the space in order to understand what to look for. what are the rules? What's the logic when you're reviewing the insurance documents? And then be able to actually make a recommendation about what to do."
Stern said that because his company has collected data from its Insurance Verification tool for years, it is able to use this data to bring forth these agents and scale the AI model. Jones' platform is used in roughly 2B SF of properties and construction projects across the country.
"We have combined traditional machine learning, which is basically computer vision, along with programmatic algorithms and risk specialists, compliance experts that are in the loop, in order to be able to process hundreds of thousands of documents every single year for our clients," he said.
"That model has proven to be able to scale effectively, and that's been key to attracting investment."
The $15M funding round was led by NewSpring and supported by existing investors including Hetz Ventures, JLL Spark, Camber Creek, Khosla Ventures, DivcoWest Ventures, Rudin Ventures, and Ground Up Ventures.
In 2019, Jones closed its seed funding round of $4.6M led by Hetz Ventures with WeWork as an investor. At the time, the company's platform was deployed in 500 properties using its Insurance Verification tool. Two years later, the firm closed its Series A round of $12.5M led by JLL Spark and Khosla Ventures.
The close of the fund is another win for the AI sector that has been growing rapidly in the proptech space.
Last year, artificial intelligence and automation were among the leading sectors for proptech investment, bringing in $3.2B in venture capital funding, according to the Center for Real Estate Technology & Innovation's 2024 proptech venture capital report.
"AI-powered platforms have shifted from being supplementary tools to becoming indispensable for predictive analytics, operational efficiency, and tenant engagement," the report stated. "Proptech startups are increasingly leveraging AI to optimize leasing strategies, streamline maintenance workflows, and deliver actionable insights."
Other sectors of proptech have also seen increased adoption of artificial intelligence, including multifamily property management. More than 1 million apartments are using EliseAI's artificial intelligence platform to push delinquent tenants to pay their rent, Bisnow reported last month.
