Insurance & Insurtech Investment News – May 2022
May has seen a plethora of seed and series A funding fuelling market and regional expansion plans, with the promise of several notable Venture Capitalists adding additional insurtech funds demonstrating a growing commitment to insurtech as a whole. It has also played host to some significant insurance and insurtech investment within Europe, witnessed AMEX moving further in to the insurtech market, along with Qoala – Southeast Asia’s fastest growing insurtech raising $65m to further consolidate its position within Asia.
Global Headlines
Europe:
- Flat-pack insurance: IKEA parent company to invest in insurtech
- Former Facebook data scientist bets big on Alan
- Gig economy insurtech Cachet raises €5.5m for EU expansion
- Singular leads on seed funding for MGA insurtech Getlife
- Quantee’s initial seed round tops out at $700k, led by Nunatek Capital
- Mundi Ventures announces 2nd insurtech fund in European commitment
- Sports retail giant Decathlon to roll-out bike coverage
North America
- AMEX bets big on former Google exec, Daniel Demetri and Trellis
- Emma’s modern approach to insurance nets $6m in series A
- Are Weatherford Capital, HSCM and American Family Ventures closing in on $100m+ investment in Branch?
Asia Pacific
- Eurazeo leads on $65m series B funding of Southeast Asia’s fastest growing insurtech
- ITC founder heads up $15m investment in CoverGo
- Will MedznMore’s pre-series A funding open the door for a move to insurtech?
Middle-East & Africa
- Faye completes on $8m in seed funding, with a renewed focus on talent and technology
- Kissterra takes total funding from local institutional investors to $76m
Central and Latin America
- Smart Doctor continues Latin expansion
- Nayms blockchain insurance marketplace approved by Bermuda Monetary Authority
Europe
Flat-pack insurance: IKEA parent company to invest in insurtech
Urban Jungle, an insurtech company providing UK home insurance for renters and homeowners, has announced £16.5m in series A funding, led by Intact Ventures. What has caught our eye however, is the investment from Ingka Group, IKEA’s parent company, hot on the heels of their recent incubator partnership programme with H&M – the Atelier100
Speaking on the investment, alongside the aforementioned Intact Ventures (and further investment from previous backers, Eka Ventures, Mundi and former Prudential UK CEO, Rob Davey), Krister Mattsson, Managing Director, Ingka Investments, said “they have developed an innovative solution with the potential to complement and disrupt the current insurance market and make insurance affordable for many more people.”
Founded in 2016, with a focus on making insurance cheaper through its online-only services and AI tech for detecting fraud, founders Jimmy Williams and ex-Google developer Greg Smyth have now raised a total of £32m, following on from the £8m funding for the London-based insurtech back in June 2021.
Source: UK Tech
Former Facebook data scientist bets big on Alan
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board VC arm has made a significant bet on French digital healthcare platform Alan. Co-founded by former Facebook data scientist Charles Gorintin, Alan has built its own underwriting capabilities and become a flag bearer for the European insurtech market. The Series E investment from Teachers’ Venture Growth (TVG), comes hot on the heels of Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek supporting its previous fundraising efforts in 2021. Co-investors include Index Ventures, Coatue, Ribbit Capital, Exor, Dragoneer, Lakestar, and value the business in excess of €2.7bn. Benjamin Cichostepski-Lesage and the tech team at Paris-based Orrick advised on the deal, and attention now turns to gearing the business into a cash positive position over the next two-years.
Source: OTPP
Gig economy insurtech Cachet raises €5.5m for EU expansion
Former Estonian MP Kalle Palling and his Cachet insurtech have raised €5.5m as part of their EU expansion efforts. Co-Founded with Hedi Mardisoo, Cachet works with insurers to serve the unique insurance needs of employees operating in the so-called gig economy. Couriers, transportation and food delivery services in particular present unique working models vs. traditional employers. Making up a 20% of all jobs in the EU by some estimates, Cachet works by offering a single view of working behaviours that can be modelled into more flexible insurance policies. Already working with the likes of Allianz, PZU and VIG Group the funding round was led by Paris-based Truffle Capital, co-founded by Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve.
Source: Business Leader
Singular leads on seed funding for MGA insurtech Getlife
Getlife, the Madrid-based life insurance start-up founded by Guillermo Alen Iglésias, secured €6m seed funding led by French VC Singular. Getlife looks to provide a seamless platform for customers to engage multiple carriers, and acts like a managing general agent. Active in Spain, the funds are expected to be partly used to herald expansion into France and Germany.
Source: Tech Crunch
Quantee’s initial seed round tops out at $700k, led by Nunatek Capital
Quantee, the SaaS platform that leverages the power of AI and start-up agility to P&C/health insurance pricing, have announced an initial seed round investment of $700k, led by Nunatek Capital. Based in Poland, it is hoped that this will allow them to continue their expansion to new markets, with Spain and the UK as likely destinations, alongside driving improvements to their software. In discussing the investment Piotr Ciżkowicz, Managing Partner Nunatak Capital and Professor at the Warsaw School of Economics, said, “We chose to invest in Quantee because we see a unique opportunity to create value through data analytics in dynamic pricing models. Already, large amounts of market and customer data allow for more flexible and personalized offers, resulting in reduced risk and improved margin model efficiency. This trend will continue with the ability to capture and process more and more data, to the benefit of insurers and their customers.”
Source: Tech Startups
Mundi Ventures announces 2nd insurtech fund in European commitment
The VC behind early investments in the likes of Wefox, Skyscanner and Klarna has opened its second insurtech fund. Mundi Ventures is looking to target Series A and Series B inflows between €5m and €10m. Mundi is looking to close the fund out €250m, having already reached over half that number. Around 80% of current capital is committed to the European market, and with a track record of multiple unicorns it will provide an attractive partner to many potential insurtech suitors.
Source: Tech EU
Sports retail giant Decathlon to roll-out bike coverage
Finally, whilst it’s not related to a recent investment, new market entrants are always something we’re interested in, none more so this month than Sports retail giant Decathlon, who have partnered with Questzone.co.uk to provide an online comparison tool for bike coverage – whether you buy your bike there or not. In explaining this move, Decathlon have announced that “The policies will be available to anyone, anytime – not just at the point of purchase, this means that all bikes, new or old, can be insured via the Decathlon.co.uk website.”
Source: Road.cc
North America
AMEX bets big on former Google exec, Daniel Demetri and Trellis
AMEX moves further into insurtech via its ventures arm with their strategic investment in Trellis, who operate an API that allows customers to compare and contrast car insurance within an app or through third-party partnering sites. Founded by former Google executive Daniel Demetri, Trellis has previously secured investments from General Catalyst, QED Investors and NYCA Partner.
Source: Pyments
Emma’s modern approach to insurance nets $6m in series A
Montreal-based insurtech Emma, who have grown 500% in just one year, have successfully raised $6m in its series A funding round, led by Luge Capital, Investissement Québec and Tactico, which should help fuel their continued expansion in to the Canadian market. They are also partnered with Humania Assurance, allowing them to build their own products with a renewed focus on inclusivity and accessibility. The mood is certainly buoyant from the investors. Luge Capital’s General Partner David Nault – “We love Emma’s modern approach to insurance and so do their customers. Their growth and reviews convinced us that they are onto something big.”
This was in keeping with Liam Cheung, Tactico Founder who stated “The life insurance industry has been in need of disruption as the inefficient processes have not evolved in the same way as other financial services.” Rounding out the recent investment optimism was Guy LeBlanc, President and CEO of Investissement Québec. “Investissement Québec is proud to support Emma in this round of financing, which will allow the company to pursue its growth. This investment reflects our commitment to contribute to the development of promising young Québec companies in all regions by facilitating their access to capital and providing them with the assistance they need to achieve their objectives,”.
Source: Globe Newswire
Are Weatherford Capital, HSCM and American Family Ventures closing in on $100m+ investment in Branch?
Whilst it’s not yet confirmed, it appears that insurtech Branch, is close to securing £100m+ in series C funding. Tongues are wagging that the next instalment is to be led by Tampa-based investment firm Weatherford Capital, with existing backers Hudson Structured Capital Management (HSCM) and American Family Ventures also set to contribute to the round. Look out for updates in the coming weeks.
Source: The Insurer
Asia Pacific
Eurazeo leads on $65m series B funding of Southeast Asia’s fastest growing insurtech
In becoming Southeast Asia’s fastest growing insurtech, with licences across Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, Qoala has recently raised $65m in series B funding, led by Eurazeo with participation from several existing investors including Flourish Ventures, KB Investment, MassMutual Ventures, MDI Ventures, SeedPlus and Sequoia Capital India. In addition, BRI Ventures, Daiwa PI Partners, Indogen Capital, Mandiri Capital Indonesia and Salt Ventures also joined the investment round as new investors. Only established four years ago, Qoala distributes retail insurance products, including home, health and vehicle coverage, as well as providing micro-insurance products through an expanding range of partnerships.
Co-founder of peer-to-peer car sharing app Turo, Tara Reeves, now Managing Director of Eurazeo, who led this round and previously funded WeFox, added, “Qoala stands out amongst the insurtech companies due to its diverse team which has been able to deliver rapid growth with promising unit economics despite the pandemic. With regional presence and fast growth forecasted for the region, we are excited to lead this round and join Qoala in its journey.”
Source: PR Newswire
ITC founder heads up $15m investment in CoverGo
Following the recent run on P&C, health and life insurance companies and insurtechs adopting their no-code SaaS insurance platform, Singapore-based CoverGo has secured $15m in series A funding. The funding round was led by California-based SemperVirens VC, with participation from US venture capital firms SixThirty, Tribeca Early Stage Partners and Fresco Capital. Given this funding is earmarked to help fuel its global expansion, it seems only fitting that strategic investors included Pan-African insurance group Old Mutual, Asia-based insurance group Asia Financial Holdings, US-based XB Worldwide Insurance, and Middle East and Africa insurance fund Noria Capital.
In discussing the funding, Caribou Honig, general partner of SemperVirens and founder of ITC stated, “There are only a handful of technologies that are significantly transforming the insurance industry, and no-code is clearly on the shortlist. As carriers lean into enabling innovation, CoverGo is uniquely positioned to accelerate their digital transformation and drive efficiencies across the insurance value chain. CoverGo’s next-generation platform is providing carriers an unbeatable mix of speed to market, cost savings and security to succeed both now and in the future. We are excited to support CoverGo on its growth journey and expansion in the US market.”
Source: Insurance Business Mag
Will MedznMore’s pre-series A funding open the door for a move to insurtech?
Another interesting investment, which caught our eye is the $11.5m in pre-series A funding for MedznMore, the Pakistan based healthcare start-up, offering accessible and affordable healthcare for the masses using its digital platform. Investors included Integra Partners, Nunc Gestion, Sturgeon Capital, and Alta Semper.
Although currently outside the realm of insurtech, Co-founder Asad Khan is aiming to bring in personalised healthcare products soon, “customers should get a personalized and seamless experience of interconnected services. The same goes for health insurance, the customer should have the option of buying insurance and then cover telehealth, lab, or medicine as part of that insurance cover seamlessly with a few clicks”. Watch this space.
Middle East & Africa
Faye completes on $8m in seed funding, with a renewed focus on talent and technology
Following the announcement last month of travel insurtech Faye’s launch in to the US market, they have followed up with the news that it has raised US$8 million in seed funding, which it will use to recruit ‘new talent’ and strengthen its technology. At the heart of this investment are Viola Ventures and F2 Venture Capital, with other investors including Portage Ventures, Global Founders Capital (GFC) and Israeli former basketball player Omri Casspi. Omry Ben David, General Partner at Viola Ventures, said one of the primary reasons for the investment was the “favourable growth characteristics and unit economics’ with the potential to ‘reinvent’ consumer travel insurance in the US with more ‘bespoke, price-optimised coverage”.
Source: ITIJ
Kissterra takes total funding from local institutional investors to $76m
Remaining with Israeli start-ups, Kissterra who recently grew revenues above $100m, took its total funding to $76m, following the recent completion of $10m from Poalim Equity, the investment arm of Bank Hapoalim. In the previous round, announced in July 2021, it completed on $66m from Menora Mivtachim. It also opted to take a more unlikely route to investment, opting to raise funds from local institutional investors, “We have been profitable from the start and this investment was strategic for us. We reached a conclusion that we shouldn’t be connected to any specific American insurance company as they are all our clients”, said Co-Founder and President Iftach (Ifty) Kerzner.
Eran Gersht, Director of Direct Investments at Poalim Equity, said “Kissterra offers insurance companies a unique and innovative tool that addresses the significant challenge of increasing profitability in the digital marketing channels of policies.”
Source: Calcalistech
Central & Latin America
Smart Doctor continues Latin expansion
Founded in 2020, Peruvian health-tech platform Smart Doctor has announced its plans to expand in to Brazil following a $1.5m seed round, which includes investment from the likes of Fresh Ventures, Green Egg Ventures and Pareto20. Offering individual health-care and low-cost virtual care for companies’ employees, it’s already planning to raise again soon to tackle the Argentinian market, it’s fifth market in Latin America.
Source: Sonr
Nayms blockchain insurance marketplace approved by Bermuda Monetary Authority
Inspired by the Lloyd’s insurance marketplace, Aon partner Nayms gets regulatory approval for their public blockchain insurance marketplace alongside their announcement of crypto-native captives. In discussing the marketplace, Bermuda Premier, David Burt said, “We are thrilled to see the announcement that Nayms has graduated from the Bermuda Monetary Authority’s (BMA) sandbox in not one, but two licence classes. Their Class F (Full) Digital Asset Business licence, and an Innovative Insurer General Business (IIGB) licence will allow Nayms to continue to expand their presence on Island, and demonstrate Bermuda’s capacity to serve as the jurisdiction of choice for innovative digital asset businesses”.
Source: Ledger Insights