I'm not sure what's in it for me as a consumer. I did a quote with them a couple weeks ago, and even with all the "discounts", it came in at almost double the premium with worse coverage.
My understanding is that it is generally considered that renter's insurance is too high at most large carriers. There are historical reasons for this which I won't go into (and I don't understand all of them anyway). The carriers don't change this because:
1) Lowering renter's insurance premiums would require raising premiums elsewhere (e.g. homeowners). Raising rates causes customers to leave.
2) Renter's insurance is fairly cheap as it is and people don't price-shop all that much.
3) Shifting premiums brings regulatory scrutiny and you have to do it right (and legally). It's not worth the hassle.
I think Lemonade started largely with renter's insurance to take advantage of that gap. It's one of the things that put fear into the major carriers.
Before I started working in the business space I knew almost nothing about insurance (and didn't care). It's been fairly interesting and I have more empathy for the carriers than I used to; they aren't quite the blood-sucking maggots that some maintain.
Or maybe Lemonade is like many other "tech" companies, and is selling their product below costs in the hopes of growing into profits. From a consumer standpoint, gambling with your insurance in such a manner is scary.
This is exactly what they're doing. Take a look at their losses from claims. Brilliant marketing though, especially for an insurance company.
(Anecdotally, they are offering me about 95% of what I pay Geico for similar coverage, and without the auto insurance discount.)