*By Conor White* Lemonade, the insurance startup that uses A.I. and chatbots to pay claims within seconds, saw exponential growth in the U.S. in 2018, but the company is setting its sights on Europe for its next phase of expansion. "We've decided that if people in Berlin, and Tokyo, and New York are using Spotify ($SPOT), and Netflix ($NFLX), and Uber, why not Lemonade?" CEO and co-founder Daniel Schreiber asked in an interview on Cheddar. The burgeoning company's tech-driven approach has caught the attention of some of its more traditional competitors. That includes State Farm, which [released an ad in October](https://youtu.be/KIWfc9aI1YI) poking fun at artificial intelligence and robots, a not-so-thinly veiled dig at the startup. But Schreiber said he didn't mind the mockery. "We found it remarkable that ... the largest insurance company in the nation, that \[is\] a thousand times bigger than Lemonade, would spend millions of dollars taking us on," Schreiber said. "I really found that interesting and deeply flattering honestly." The company even took the unusual step of paying to promote the ad online. "They're mocking us," Schreiber explained, "but I really think it's a bit of a boomerang that comes back and hurts them much more than it hurts us." The CEO highlighted some of Lemonade's 2018 accomplishments, including $57 million in sales and increasing the number of homes it insures by more than 300,000. But Schreiber said he is proudest of his company's reputation with customers. "You go now to any of the consumer ratings sites, and you'll find that USAA and Lemonade compete for the number one spot in terms of customer satisfaction," he said. "Growing fast is fabulous," he said, "but if you do it at the expense of customer satisfaction, that's a price not worth paying." For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/lemonade-insurance-plans-european-expansion).

Share:
More In Business
U.S. Stocks Close Sharply Lower Amid Treasury Yield Spike
U.S. stocks closed sharply lower on Monday as investors weighed record-high Treasury yields, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, potential policy moves from the Federal Reserve, and the start of earnings season. Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss. "We expected volatility to continue after this recent rally of the last past few weeks. None of the big headwinds have really changed," he said.
McLaren Parks Its All-Electric Racing Car Odyssey in Front of NYSE
McLaren displayed its all-electric, off-roading racing vehicle, the Odyssey, in from of the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, joined Cheddar News to discuss bringing the heavy-duty vehicle to a new racing series with an emphasis on sustainability — and even gender equity with a male and female team of two drivers required. "This is McLaren's first-ever Odyssey, which is an EV. Looks like an SUV — but not really much of an SUV — that we raced five times around the world in various locations where climate has impacted the world," he said.
What's to Come With Inflation Hitting a 40-Year High in March
Beth Ann Bovino, the U.S. chief economist at S&P Global Ratings, joined Cheddar to break down the March CPI data and outline the bright spots of consumer spending amid rising costs. She noted that with consumers switching more to services coming out of quarantine rather than purchasing goods, it could create a lessening of demand that will help reduce inflationary pressures going forward, but the Fed will still have to move aggressively. "We expect now that the Fed is going to raise rates about 6 to 7 times — a 50-point basis hike is basically baked in the cake right now," Bovino said. "Could there be a second 50-point basis? Certainly, we wouldn't be surprised."
Load More