Nov 44 min read

Scout InsurTech Interview with ClaimSetter

ClaimSetter is a property insurance claims company. They seek to help carriers, brokers and contractors maintain control over the repair of damage and provide certainty and real-time data. Michael Fiedel sat with CEO, Elnor Rozenrot, to learn more about how ClaimSetter is impacting the industry.

What is ClaimSetter’s client focus?

“ClaimSetter is process-focused more than anything else. We primarily serve the property claims process and ensure that it ends as fast, cheap and painless as possible for every one of the constituencies involved.”

What does your product do?

“We’ve devised a fast way for property owners to receive the money they need for repairs. We swiftly prepare their insurance claims and handle all communications with the insurer. As soon as the claim is approved, we fund the reconstruction. When the work is done, we settle with the insurer.

Without ClaimSetter, the claims approval and payout process can take months. We get your claim funded fast so you don’t need to get a loan to restore your property.”

How much capital have you raised?

“We've raised a credit facility and an equity round. We've also raised a credit facility of $15 million to fund the receivables to fund the claims that we're assisting with.”

Was the company born from within or outside the industry?

“I don't come from insurance, claims or even construction. I have no reason to be here. Before ClaimSetter, I was the Founder and CEO of a consumer credit card company, and I got drawn to this because a friend of mine told me this horror story about the claim experience that he had, and the idiosyncrasies and inefficiencies that were described made me extremely curious.”

What growth metrics have you accomplished over the last 12 months?

“We have over 50 agencies working with us and five or six of the largest insurance networks in the country working with us. We are operational in 14 states and expanding on a weekly basis.”

Within your domain, what is the current challenge that the industry is facing?

“There’s a lack of trust that creates a fairly substantial misalignment in the way that the different sides (insurer, insured, contractor, etc.) treat each other. Instead of everyone focusing on solving the problem, there’s a lot of emphasis on defending themselves against the other side. The insurer wants to defend against bad-faith claims, as is their right, but that becomes a big emphasis of the process. Everybody is laid along these defensive lines instead of focusing on solving the problem. That's what creates the inefficiencies in the claim space, and we knew this needed to be solved. How do we create a structure with all the required elements where no one feels as if someone is trying to take advantage of them?”

How does ClaimSetter take a unique approach to providing value?

“During a claims process, there are many discrete steps, and each one requires a different expertise. Initially, you need to find a contractor who knows how to assess the job properly. They'll do a comprehensive job, and then that needs to get translated. The insurance company and the adjuster for the insurance company take their time adjusting the claim because they need to be thorough. They need to build a file, and then the funding needs to come.

In many cases, the funding comes in the form of a paper check that needs to be endorsed by your mortgage provider, which invariably takes even more time. If you manage to get the contractor to do the repair without waiting for the last check, you're still going to be chasing your carrier and/or your mortgage provider for about six months for the last payment.

We figured we can shorten this entire time frame by assisting in the crucial points. The first thing that we do is help customers find contractors. We have deep networks of contractors, and we can get a contractor on the ground within the same day of the claim.

We then bring a claims concierge. This is not an adjuster; it’s someone who works with the contractor and verifies that everything is accounted for. We then take that information, convert it into an Xactimate file and send it to the adjuster. They don't need to spend time on putting together an Xactimate file. They can immediately look at the details of the case and figure out what the outcome should be. We, for lack of a better term, badger the adjuster to respond as fast as possible. We never tell them what to decide, but we will call them five times a day if needed.

Once there’s a meeting of the minds, we front the entire amount of the project to the contractor. We open a line of credit and ensure they don't need to wait a minute for any dollar of the claim. The control over the payment is given to the customer. They approve that the last week of work has occurred and that they’re happy with the quality. Only then do we release payment for last week's work. The contractor only gets paid after the work is done, but they know they're getting paid immediately.

Overall, we shorten a lot of the waiting time and the hassle for everyone.”

What inspired the team to start this company?

“As I mentioned earlier, I had a friend tell me a horror story about a claim that he had. A truck drove through the side of one of his businesses. The claim was adjusted within seven days, but for some reason he didn't get paid for eight months. As a credit person, it just didn't make any sense to me and I became passionate about it.

Through speaking to many other people, it became clear that there's a lot of pain in the property claims process. There are a lot of humans who are suffering and paying the price because of an inefficient system. That's what got me going.”

Can you share any goals for the next 12 months?

“I plan on expanding into embedding ourselves with as many agencies, contractors and carriers, helping with as many claims as we can. My obsession is about ensuring this product gets to a place where people cannot imagine their lives without it.”