Insurtech Avinew Acquires Betterdrive in California

Insurtech company Avinew has acquired Sunnyvalye, Calif.-based Betterdrive.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Ravindhran Sankar, CEO and founder, will be named director of research and development. Avinew will integrate Betterdrive’s technology into its own proprietary system for predictive risk calculations and related pricing discounts.

Betterdrive develops technology to predict the probability of accidents based on the route, time of day, traffic and weather conditions.

Los Angeles-based Avinew’s insurance offerings, which are expected to go live in early 2020, will be autonomous-usage-based. The company uses machine learning and telematics to detect and measure when consumers engage their vehicle’s semi-autonomous or autonomous capability responsibly, thus determining the premium discount the driver is eligible for.