Zego, the insurtech that bought its begin by providing versatile motorcycle insurance coverage for gig economic system staff however has since expanded with a variety of tech-enabled commercial motor insurance coverage merchandise, has raised $150 million.
Leading the London-based firm’s C spherical — giving it a $1.1 billion valuation and a unicorn standing — is DST Global. Other new backers embrace General Catalyst, whose founder and MD, Joel Cutler, joins Zego’s board.
Notably, I’m informed all present buyers adopted on, together with Wise’s Taavet Hinrikus, who can also be on the Zego board, and Target Global, Balderton Capital and Latitude. Zego has now raised greater than $200 million since launching in 2016.
The insurance coverage firm says it’s going to use the funding to “rapidly expand across Europe and beyond”. It will even double its workforce, which at the moment stands at 265 staff, to over 500 staff by the finish of 2021, and proceed to put money into know-how. Late final yr, Zeho acquired telematics firm Drivit.
Zego presents commercial motor insurance coverage for companies, from self-employed drivers and riders to fleets of autos, spanning pay-as-you-go insurance coverage to annual insurance policies. It combines tech with a number of knowledge sources to supply insurance coverage merchandise that it claims save time and are more cost effective. It earned its personal insurance coverage license in 2019, enabling it to construct and promote its personal insurance policies, along with working alongside different insurers.
Technical/knowledge integrations embrace these with corporations in the ride-hailing house, resembling Uber, Ola and Bolt, and in the supply house, resembling Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat. More just lately, Zego has grow to be a key associate in the U.Ok.’s burgeoning e-scooter rental market, partnering with corporations like Tier, Voi and Dott.
Next up, the insurtech is betting massive on providing insurance coverage for fleets. “Over the past couple of years, Zego’s focus on powering opportunities for businesses has expanded to include not just self-employed drivers and riders, but also entire fleets of vehicles,” Sten Saar, CEO and co-founder of Zego, tells me, noting that 80% of latest autos at the moment are bought to commercial prospects.
“This has been both a natural progression for the company, with the only real difference being distribution, as well as a focused effort, as Zego aims to capitalise on an ever-growing market currently underserved by the insurance sector”.
To date, Zego has offered greater than 17 million insurance coverage insurance policies and coated greater than 200,000 autos in 5 nations.
“While most traditional insurers price their insurance products based purely on factors such as age and vehicle type, and while others may use telematics-based driver behaviour data too, Zego is able to price policies based not only on traditional factors, but also driver behaviour data and working habits data,” provides Saar.
“In fact, overall, the information Zego can collect amounts to five times more data per vehicle than competitors, or 50 data points per second. This means that we have a much more comprehensive understanding of risk than competitors, enabling us to provide best-value insurance coverage, from policies ranging from one hour to one year”.
Cue assertion from Tom Stafford, managing associate of DST Global: “The shift to digital is occurring across multiple industry categories and is increasingly occurring in the insurance industry. We are excited to partner with Sten and the team at Zego as they leverage internet, technology, telematics and data-driven decisions to provide the best insurance products at the best pricing for their customers.”