Meet the insurtech: MiKargo247

MiKargo247’s co-founders, Michelle McGinnis and Kat Siegel, saw that smaller trucking companies and individual truck owner-operators had an unmet need for spot cargo insurance.

“Larger trucking companies have their own shippers’ interest policies, already set up,” McGinnis said. “When a large carrier wants to diversify and carry general merchandise or higher value freight equipment, they already have insurance in place to do that.”

Freight brokers working with smaller trucking companies to place shipments, or the smaller trucking companies themselves, often need to insure a variety of products as freight, in a variety of amounts and declared values. A spot cargo insurance marketplace allows shippers to cover a specifically defined shipment that may be unique or not regularly sent – and get higher coverage limits for cargo.

“The smaller carriers, it doesn’t behoove them to carry that coverage all year round for something they may use four times a year,” McGinnis said. “For a one-off, the carrier that wants to carry some heavy equipment, finding coverage to cover that one load is a very awkward, inconvenient transaction. This is designed to fill that need.”

Carriers can book coverage online or call MiKargo247. “Freight brokers and carriers [trucking carriers] are excited about how easy it is to use,” McGinnis said. “They can get back on the road and have their crate insured in seconds. The ease of use that we were so excited about when we created it is being recognized, and people keep coming back.”

The Portland, Oregon-based startup began developing its technology at the start of 2020 and launched in the first half of 2022, with underwriting from Roanoke Insurance Group, a unit of Munich Re. The start-up is an example of new technology companies that are innovating in the trucking insurance industry. More recently, MiKargo247 expanded its distribution by partnering with Loadlink and Trucker Path trucking services marketplaces – where truckers accept freight assignments – so they can insure the goods at the same time they book an assignment.

The startup now has about 75 regular users. Trucker Path has about 1 million users of its marketplace each month. However, the trucking industry has had a downturn, and cargo thefts have increased, which heightens the need for freight coverage for shipments available to owner-operator truckers or trucking companies, as McGinnis said.

“I see the need increasing as we get education out there about how important that it is, not only spot cargo insurance, but all risk spot cargo insurance, which is what we offer, which is covered against theft and driver error,” she said.

MiKargo247 hopes to expand if the trucking industry rebounds. “As far as where we are a year from now, I’d like to monitor the growth of our new partnerships and make the most of them,” McGinnis said. “We’d like to focus also on our organic growth, by social media and attending freight conferences.”