You can now shop for car insurance by chatting with a bot on Facebook Messenger

By Albert Khoury Published March 21, 2017

As Facebook continues to push and update its Messenger service to a growing audience, other companies are hopping on to see where the road goes. Insurify, which uses virtual agents for car insurance shopping, recently announced the launch of the first insurance comparison service on Messenger in the U.S.

With the closing of a $4.6 million funding round, led by MassMutual Ventures and Nationwide Ventures, in addition to existing investors, Insurify is introducing a new insurance shopping experience. The company’s patent-pending virtual agent, which is powered by artificial intelligence and natural language processing, lets you compare quotes through messages. The bot also gives advice for discounts and coverage that suit each driver’s needs.

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“Our Facebook Messenger virtual agent experience is faster than any website or mobile app, and easier to use than any online form, said Snejina Zacharia, Insurify’s founder and CEO. “It’s a powerful example of how our technology will work on all other messaging services. Our vision is to continue to enhance the artificial intelligence and data integrations behind our virtual agent and train the algorithms to pass the insurance licensing exam.”

Insurify launched in January 2016 and, according to a press release, has serviced over 1.5 million consumers seeking to compare insurance quotes. The company’s growth has increased exponentially and is expected to continue this year. Insurify is led by a team of MIT alumni, as well as veterans from TripAdvisor and KAYAK.

Insurify users are provided with data-driven recommendations, which enables them to compare personalized side-by-side quotes. The best matches take premium costs, reviews, discounts, customer service, and benefits into account.

The quotes can be viewed online and via Facebook Messenger. Changes in premium costs can be set to alert you through email or Messenger notifications. Insurify used 20,000 car insurance chat conversations to build its artificial intelligence platform.

Facebook users can upload a picture of their license plates, answer some questions, and receive multiple quotes in minutes.

Former Weekend Editor

Al started his career at a downtown Manhattan publisher, and has since worked with digital and print publications. He's…

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