Insurance & Insurtech Investment News – August 2022

August has been a quieter month than previously and while funding has certainly dipped in recent times there are still plenty of exciting new start-ups getting flushed with capital. Probably the most exciting news is that India will soon likely have a new unicorn but Switzerland has taken the majority of the headlines with 3 new deals to take the plaudits in August’s round up.

Global Headlines

Europe

• Grape gets juiced up with €1.7 million
• Convex with the flex as it gets 7.7% stake in Quotech
• Riskwolf gets first external funding round
• Eos leads Jarowa’s Series A

North America 

• Boston’s Ledgebrook scoops $4.2 million
• Consortium leads $4 million seed round for Mulberri
• Axio gets $23 million despite latest cybersecurity downward trends
• Covu plans to write $1 billion in premiums this year with latest raise

Asia Pacific

• Capital 2B gives MetaMorphoSys a fresh cash injection
• Digit Insurance files IPO papers

Middle East & Africa 

• Naspers stays in the game a month on, leading Series A for Naked
• Kenya-based Lami gets $3.7 million
• Hala hits the jackpot to the tune of $5 million

Europe

Grape gets juiced up with €1.7 million

Kicking off this month’s deals is the first of 3 Swiss-based investments. Hoping for a fruitful year ahead is Zurich’s Grape, an insurtech hoping to revamp the way that employee insurance is handled to improve life for HR teams and improve services for employees. Co-founder Gregory Inauen said, “Grape is the first employee insurer built around a full-stack technology platform and a relentless focus on being more than just an insurance”. Swiss VC Wingman Ventures led the €1.7 million raise with participation from Tomahawk. VC and DD Venture Capital.

Source: eu-startups.com

Convex with the flex as it gets 7.7% stake in Quotech

Quotech, an enabler for specialty insurers, brokers and MGAs – and the only non-Swiss insurtech to be included in this month’s deal flows – has raised £1 million from an array of angel investors and Convex Group which has acquired a 7.7% stake in the business. Quotech Chief Executive and former Lloyd’s underwriter Guillaume Bonnissent said: “This funding will enable Quotech to move to the next level of success by increasing our reach and extending our capacity, allowing us to provide a larger number of underwriting and broking firms with truly useful technology. Convex Group CEO Paul Brand said: “We were drawn to Quotech as a supplier because they understand what we, as a London-market underwriter, need technology to do for us. We’ve made a strategic investment in the company because we believe Quotech is on the path to success. There are plenty of insurTech investments out there, but very few tech companies provide the kind of truly useful systems that Quotech has built for us.”

Source: Insurance Edge

Riskwolf gets first external funding round

Swizterland’s SICTIC has led Riskwolf’s first external funding round worth €685,000. The insurtech which enables insurers to use parametric insurance for digital risks will look to introduce new products, improve its tech stack and expand its team. Riskwolf co-founder and CEO Thomas Krapf said, “Riskwolf was founded at the beginning of 2020 to unlock large, innovative insurance markets built on the newly emerging digital economy risks.”

Source: Fintech Global

Eos leads Jarowa’s Series A

Jarowa, a Swiss Blockchain-powered insurtech has big plans for European expansion after a Series A led by Eos Venture Partners in which they’ve bagged CHF 12.4 million. “After successfully implementing the standard of a digital vendor marketplace for B2B clients in our home market Switzerland, we have been able to enter Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy, which underlines the demand for our services abroad. We are excited to further expand our business in Europe and are delighted to have Eos Venture Partners supporting us on this journey,” said CEO, Andreas Akeret. 

Source: FinTech News

North America 

Boston’s Ledgebrook scoops $4.2 million

Boston-located MGA Ledgebrook has raised $4.2 million in seed funding. The company, founded by Gage Caligaris, plans to write its first policies in the final quarter of 2022 after the round led by Brand Foundry Ventures alongside American Family Ventures. “The E&S markets are ripe for disruption as brokers and customers aren’t well served by the slow, unsophisticated quoting processes of legacy players,” said Caligaris. “Our team is thrilled to partner with Ledgebrook. They’re bringing innovation to E&S that the segment hasn’t seen before,” said Mike Mansell, Principal at American Family Ventures. “Team Ledgebrook has a big, bold vision & the tenacity to execute against it,” said Brand Foundry partner and Ledgebrook board member Brian Spaly, “Proud to be an early supporter–the sky’s the limit for how far they’ll go.”

Source: PR Newswire 

Consortium leads $4 million seed round for Mulberri 

Mulberri, a business insurance platform, has raised $4 million in a seed round led by a group of investors including Hanover Technology Management, MS&AD Ventures and Altamont Capital Partners. “For far too long, business insurance has been stuck in the 20th century, and that has had major ramifications for PEOs and brokers who have wanted modern solutions, but lacked access to them,” said Hamesh Chawla, co-founder and CEO of Mulberri. “Business insurance processes have been long overdue for an overhaul,” said Jon Soberg, managing partner at MS&AD Ventures. “Mulberri recognized this problem and has developed an innovative, streamlined solution.”

Source: Insurance Business Mag

Axio gets $23 million despite latest cybersecurity downward trend

Bucking the recent cybersecurity sector’s recent struggles is Axio who have just secured $23 million. The Series B round led by Temasek’s ISTARI brings its total funding to $30 million and will be used to expand the product and engineering teams as well as supporting expansion into new geographies according to CEO Scott Kannry. “Our platform allows security leaders to baseline their existing security controls, quantify their cyber exposure in dollars and stress-test their insurance coverage to understand if they are sufficiently covered. [It moves] beyond legacy and compliance-driven approaches to cybersecurity to more risk-based models that [look] at cybersecurity holistically and in the context of spending,” Kanry claimed.

Source: Tech Crunch 

Covu plans to write $1 billion in premiums this year with latest raise

Covu has big plans for its latest funding boost. Having closed a $10 million seed funding round led by ManchesterStory Group, the company is working towards a major landmark or $1 billion of insurance premiums under contract. Covu, founded by Ali Safavi, Amir Kargar and Amin Zarshenas, offers independent agents and carriers manage risk and make improved business decisions through an AI-powered solution that provides policy recommendations, business services and sales support. 

Source: Coverager

Asia Pacific 

Capital 2B gives MetaMorphoSys a fresh cash injection

MetaMorphoSys has secured $3 million in funding. The seed round, led by Capital 2B is looking to expand its platform, product offerings and sales team across its business. “Insurance companies across the globe are using the MetaMorphoSys to launch their products, empower their sales force, settle claims, identify fraud and optimize the entire value chain from customer acquisition to customer engagement including embedded insurance,” said Amit Naik, CEO and cofounder of MetaMorphoSys Technologies.

Source: Inc42

Digital Insurance files IPO papers

We’re soon likely to have another entry into the pantheon of public insurtechs. Founded by Kamesh Goyal, India-based Digit Insurance has announced that it plans to raise $440 million through an IPO to build up its presence in the general insurance market. While this has been in the public domain for a while, the papers were filed a few weeks ago. Current shareholders will sell up to 109.4 million shares while there will be a new issue of shares worth around $158 million. They’ll likely use the extra cash to shore up its balance sheet and cash reserves. 

Source: Reuters

Middle East & Africa 

Naspers stays in the game a month on, leading Series A for Naked

Insurtech platform, Naked, has raised $11 million in its Series A round. Founded by Alex Thomson, Sumarie Greybe and Ernest North in 2018, Naked covers cars, content, homes and items using AI to improve internal processes and improve customer experience. The round was led by Naspers and comes soon after they helped out fellow insurtech Ctrl in a $3 million round.

Source: Tech Crunch

Kenya-based Lami gets $3.7 million

Harlem Capital has led a $3.7 million seed extension for Kenyan insurtech Lami. The start-up has created an API that allows companies such as banks to distribute insurance products to their customers. Jihan Abass, CEO and Co-founder, said, “On the technology side we want to cater to the entire insurance ecosystem. So, it’s not only the digital platforms that want to sell insurance products, but also to help existing players be more efficient in their distribution of products, allowing them to play a role in increasing the insurance penetration level. This includes agents and brokers — we are looking into how we can empower them to sell more policies.” Gabby Cazeau, Principal at Harlem Capital said, “We believe the next wave of fintech will embed financial products and services like insurance into a customer’s purchase experience. Lami’s approach to serving people through strategic partners in e-commerce and finance is the best way to build trust with users and deliver insurance in a seamless, accessible way to Africans across the continent.”

Source: Yahoo Finance

Hala hits the jackpot to the tune of $5 million

Hala has scooped $5 million in its latest funding round led by Entrée Capital. The Abu Dhabi-based firm also had a helping hand from 500 Startups, EQ2 Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Hambro Perks Oryx Fund and Mubadala Investment Company. Walid Dib, CEO and Co-founder of Hala said, “We believe people would love insurance if insurance loved them back. The region’s insurers have focused too hard on selling a product before understanding the customer’s knowledge and preferences. Hala aims to bridge the gap between insurance misconceptions and people’s needs.” Co-founders and brothers, Walid and Karim Dib, initially used blockchain to streamline remittance between motor insurers but then moved to retail insurance in 2020.  

Source: Pan Finance

Central & Latin America 

Serial insurtech investor Anthemis leads seed round for Raincoat

A relatively new entry into the sustainability market has had a cash injection of $4.5 million in seed funding led by Anthemis. Raincoat creates B2B solutions that help entities of all sectors and size provide quick claims to SMEs affected by natural disasters. “While fully-automated insurance holds the key to insuring the most vulnerable against ever-more frequent climate disasters, the obstacles to fully implement these programs at scale are incredibly complex. Our team hands off an end to end, fully operational, tailor-made solution that can be embedded in our partner’s existing channels, facilitating their claim response to end users,” explained Jonathan González, co-founder and CEO of Raincoat. “Time and again the world has watched vulnerable populations left with little recourse in the wake of climate disasters,” added Ruth Foxe Blader, partner at Anthemis. “We’re excited to support Raincoat’s cutting-edge solution to secure those at risk from disasters that will unfortunately become more and more common.”

Source: Artemis

Business insurance provider Latú Seguros raises pre-seed round 

Latú Seguros, a Brazilian-based business-focused insurtech, has received $6.7 million in a pre-seed round. With this round of funding, led by CRV and Monashees, the company will further develop its underwriting capacity and products alongside hiring more employees into their cyber and engineering teams. Founder Paola Neira said, “Real magic happens when combining the concept of a safety net, which is ultimately what insurance is at its core, with technology. We have an incredible opportunity to replace legacy policies with lifetime risk-mitigating partnerships, which work best to solve the needs for a fast-paced and hyper-connected world.”

Source: Fintech Global