Melbourne-based insurtech Koba Insurance is undertaking a new funding round after successfully reaching a targeted $1 million during an earlier crowdsourcing round in September.

Koba has also previously raised $700,000 from angel investors and insurance specific funds, including Hunter Equity Group and Insurtech Gateway.

“Our last raise was fully-subscribed in just five days. We were overwhelmed by the support and grateful to our 358 shareholders. So we’re excited to welcome everyone in again – our shareholders, customers, EOIs and early adopters – to the cap table,” Founder Andrew Wong said.

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.

Koba says its customer base is growing 70% month-on-month, with drivers paying from 3 cents a kilometre they drive.

“With an increase in working from home, people are driving much less, while still paying higher premiums based on their usage pre-covid,” Mr Wong said. “The rising cost of petrol, food and general cost of living means people are constantly looking for ways to save.”

Koba says it has covered more than 35,000 trips to-date and the latest funding round will help build partnerships with car manufacturers to offer connected insurance and build new data-driven insurance products for new markets.

Koba was the winner of this year’s Excellence in Insurtech category, which is sponsored by IAG Firemark Ventures, at the FinTech Australia Finnie Awards.