Because the U.S. trucking business gears up for the unfavorable impacts of U.S. President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on items imported from Mexico and Canada, a startup constructing a brand new form of trucking insurance coverage has raised some cash to develop and assist truckers climate the adjustments.
Nirvana, an AI-based insurance coverage platform that makes use of real-time driving telematics and 20 billion miles of truck driving knowledge to construct and handle insurance coverage insurance policies for truckers, has raised $80 million in a Sequence C spherical of funding. The contemporary money might be used to construct extra companies for fleets and particular person drivers.
The funding values Nirvana at $830 million post-money, greater than double its earlier valuation of $350 million in October 2023.
Rushil Goel, Nirvana’s CEO and co-founder, described the spherical as “pre-emptive” — it was raised following inbound curiosity somewhat than the startup needing the money.
The funding comes from three earlier backers. Normal Catalyst is main the spherical, and Lightspeed Enterprise Companions and Valor Fairness Companions are taking part.
The buyers are doubling down following respectable development on the San Francisco-based startup. Nirvana mentioned it has premiums beneath administration price greater than $100 million, double from final 12 months.
This development is coming on the nexus of some traits.
The trucking business is doubtlessly an infinite marketplace for Nirvana and others prefer it. General, the U.S. trucking business generated income of greater than $900 billion in 2024, and accounted for 77% of the freight market within the nation, in line with the American Trucking Affiliation. It employs round 8.5. million folks, 3.5 million of whom are drivers, and has some 14.3 million single-axle and mixture vans registered, which makes up about 5% of all motor autos within the nation.
The business grew 1.6% in 2025, and its income is projected to extend to $1.46 trillion by 2035.
That was, nonetheless, earlier than Trump final month outlined his broader financial insurance policies, particularly his push to institute import taxes on items from Canada and Mexico to boost federal income and drive home manufacturing.
“Imposing border taxes on our two largest and most necessary buying and selling companions will undo […] progress and lift prices for customers,” the American Trucking Affiliation mentioned earlier this month. “The 100,000 full-time hardworking truckers hauling 85% of the floor commerce in items with Mexico and 67% of the products traded with Canada will bear a direct and disproportionate influence.”
Not solely will tariffs cut back cross-border freight, the affiliation added, they may even enhance operational prices. The value of a brand new truck may rise by as much as $35,000, it estimated, “amounting to a $2 billion annual tax and placing new tools out of attain for small carriers.”
All of this implies trucking companies now must be extra conscious of prices than ever earlier than. That’s the place Nirvana is hoping to play a component. It’s additionally the place Nirvana wants to play a component lest it discover itself going through the identical issues as its clients.
“The tariffs and associated provide chain are disruptions which can be actually arising,” Goel mentioned in an interview. “And naturally, in an business like trucking, which drives 70% of the freight within the U.S., there’s actually some influence of that to be anticipated. It’s our new actuality.”
The corporate’s platform covers insurance coverage each for fleets (teams of greater than 10 ‘energy models’) and non-fleets (1-9 models). Like different new gamers in insurance coverage, it expenses charges based mostly on utilization, on a “pay as you drive” foundation that additionally incorporates security knowledge utilizing telematics from the autos plus knowledge logged by the Federal Motor Provider Security Administration, the trucking regulator.
That security knowledge can also be a part of the corporate’s security analytics product. Along with this and the underwriting tech that Nirvana claims produces quotes 15 instances quicker than a conventional insurer, it has additionally constructed AI instruments that supposedly automate and pace up claims processing.
Just like different legacy markets like industrial expertise, trucking has been a ripe space for tech startups during the last a number of years.
Tapping into improvements in areas like cloud computing, AI, fintech and related autos, startups are spinning up new SaaS-based merchandise to assist drivers construct their companies and allow trucking firms to run their fleets extra seamlessly. Different firms within the area embody Lula, SmartHop, Fairmatic and CloudTrucks.
Startups are taking formidable swings on the vans themselves, engaged on electrical and autonomous autos for the following technology of transportation.
Equally, insurance coverage is in the course of an evolution. One thing just like the idea of “neobanks” that create a extra dynamic consumer expertise on high of legacy infrastructure has performed out amongst insurance coverage startups. They’re additionally tapping into improvements round large knowledge and AI to rethink how companies are priced and provisioned.
Normal Catalyst declined to be interviewed for this story, however it’s notable that its greatest bigwig, CEO Hemant Taneja, is main this spherical for the agency.
“Insurance coverage is historically a technologically bereft market, ripe for change. Nirvana is proving a disruptive mannequin, discovering wealthy knowledge at scale and constructing AI across the complicated steps of offering industrial insurance coverage from quote via claims,” Taneja mentioned in an announcement. “We’ve been excited to be a accomplice of their unbelievable outcomes, and this funding will speed up Nirvana even additional.”
