Melbourne-based insurtech Koba Insurance has raised half its $1 million target so far in its latest funding round.

Koba successfully raised $1 million during an earlier crowdsourcing round in September, as well as $700,000 from angel investors and insurance specific funds, including Hunter Equity Group and Insurtech Gateway.

“Once again we’re being overwhelmed by the support and grateful to our new shareholders,” Founder Andrew Wong said.

“The window is closing and now is the time to invest so you don’t miss out.

“Australia is starting to catch up with the rest of the world when it comes to embracing telematic-based insurance and user-based insurance, and now is the perfect time for investors to jump on board.”

Koba, which launched in November, splits premium payments into two: a fixed premium to cover drivers while parked, and a per-kilometre rate, typically between 3-10 cents, while driving.

In real-time, Koba measures the distance driven and only charges drivers by their use via a usage matchbox-sized device called KOBA Rider that attaches to a car’s On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) port, connected with the KOBA smartphone app to automatically calculate driving distances and charge a per-kilometre rate for each trip.

The new funds will help Koba build partnerships with car manufacturers to offer connected insurance, evolve the app and build new data-driven insurance products to open doors to new markets.

Koba, which says its customer base is growing over 50% month on month, was the winner of this year’s Excellence in Insurtech category, which is sponsored by IAG Firemark Ventures, at the FinTech Australia Finnie Awards.