Sfara’s mobile FNOL that requires no hardware offers new opportunities to insurance companies and automotive OEMs.
Much of the excitement surrounding Sfara’s recent completion of its $11.5M financing was over the opportunity for Sfara’s technology to penetrate and re-invent FNOL processes in several key industries.
FNOL is the term used for First Notice of Loss, where after a vehicular collision, an organization is the first commercial entity to be notified of that collision. The most valuable—and least achieved—form of FNOL is on-scene FNOL, where the entity is notified at the scene of the incident. The second most valuable form is automatic notification, which requires no action from the end user.
Sfara’s existing technologies provide the two most valuable forms of FNOL, on-scene and automatic. It’s also mobile-based, providing ubiquitous coverage without additional hardware. Sfara’s crash detection is industry-leading, with an extra layer of AI to reduce false positives that plague the industry. In addition, Sfara’s leading-edge technology catches incidents at lower severities that TCUs miss, which often still have high claims costs.
On-scene FNOL gives an organization brand-building, customer relationship advantages and significant economic opportunities in the post-collision response and repair industries, valued globally at over $600B. Once a vehicle has left the scene those opportunities are lost and even often result in second towing costs.
“These investments in Sfara validate the need for many industries to re-invent FNOL processes stuck in outdated constructs, constricted by severe challenges to overcome with current technologies provided in other solutions,” said Rocco Tricarico, Sfara’s CMO.
Insurance
The most obvious industry to re-invent their FNOL processes is the insurance industry, which has been struggling for years to modernize its outdated claims and processing procedures, which includes FNOL.
On-scene FNOL currently occurs in only 12% of incidents. Considering that insurers stand to gain up to $800 for each on-scene response that provides emergency services and in-network towing to Direct Repair Shops (DRPs), the potential for economic growth to insurers is enormous.
Automotive OEMs
Sfara also offers significant opportunities for growth to automotive OEMs by revolutionizing their incident response with mobile-based, on-scene FNOL. Having on-scene FNOL means that OEMs can contact individuals in a collision to offer brand-building, white-glove service, as well as incentives to get the vehicle repaired using manufacturer parts, in dealer-owned or factory-certified shops.
Filling repair-shop bays is a top priority for dealers, who make a significant amount of their profit from these shops. This is a job made more difficult in recent years because today’s vehicles require less service than in the past.
“The strong support from investors adds credence to the wealth of our talent and endorses our mission of making the world a safer place, while also increasing business opportunities,” said Erik Goldman, CEO of Sfara. “We continue to execute on our vision for revolutionizing the mobile safety industry. Look for more announcements in the coming months by following Sfara on LinkedIn.”
Founded in 2012, Sfara is recognized, by partners such as Bosch Service Solutions, Mercedes-Benz, Worley, Syneos Health, Cultivation Capital, OurCrowd, Applied Driving Techniques, eDriving by Mentor, and Verizon, as one of the most innovative companies in the safety and mobility sector. Its unique features include patented technologies like Sfara Triple-Tap® and Triggered TrainingTM, plus unmatched crash detection technology with a specialized layer of AI to reduce false positives.
About Sfara, Inc.:
Sfara is enabling a mobile revolution in safety and control. Sfara’s patented AI technology and global platform transforms the smartphone into a secure mobile safety and analytics solution, available as a GDPR-compliant SaaS offering to our partners in the mobility space, including automakers and mobile network operators.
Capable of running on 4.6B smartphones sold worldwide since 2013, Sfara technology represents a paradigm shift for the telematics industry and our partners—offering unprecedented detection capabilities, without incremental hardware or data transport costs. Sfara provides a highly scalable, cloud-based data analytics and assurance solution designed to assist companies navigating the challenges of shifting transportation models, such as transportation-as-a-service, semi and fully autonomous vehicles, as well as fleet management and ride-sharing services.
Sfara is led by a deeply experienced executive team with over 150 billion miles driven on their leading-edge, embedded and aftermarket telematics solutions for consumer and fleet applications, including UBI and MPERs, operated throughout North America, Europe and China. Headquartered in Hoboken, NJ, Sfara also is expanding in Silicon Valley, Finland and in Germany via Sfara GmbH.
PRESS CONTACT:
Sfara, Inc.
Rocco Tricarico
Chief Marketing Officer
[email protected]