2023 has arrived and ITC DIA Europe is still here to bring you up to speed with the most exciting insurtech investments from around the world. Understandably, with the holiday season having taken up most of the last month, we’ve seen fewer deals than previously but the US was still a hotbed of activity. So, if you need a break from taking down your Christmas decorations or a distraction from the fact that the days are still pretty darn short, take a look at what’s happened while everyone else was guzzling mulled wine and turkey.

Global Headlines

Europe

• BondAval seeks expansion with Series A round

North America

• Blue skies and open seas for Starfish as new funding announced
• Toss $15 million into Fountain Life for good luck?
• Investors hoping to crack Walnut with seed funding
• The sky’s the limit for Vertical
• Oyster expects to find the insurtech pearl
• Evertas gets in on crypto instability
• Cybercube raises big growth fund

APAC

• Butter looking to spread the word with pre-seed round

Europe

1). BondAval, a London-based insurtech, has followed up its seed round from 2021 with a $15 million Series A. The startup has now raised $25 million since it was founded in 2020 by Tom Powell and Sam Damoussi. The company, which protects credit teams in case customers don’t pay on time was led by Talis Capital and will look to expand further, having launched in 31 countries across Europe and North America. Talis Capital General Manager Tom Williams, who will join the board, said, “We are impressed by the opportunity for MicroBonds which can be applied in so many different ways, and the sheer size of the opportunity is mindblowing, to the point where it could transform credit. We see limitless potential for BondAval and are delighted to be part of the journey.”

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/14/bondaval-series-a/

North America

1). Starfish Specialty Insurance has raised $2.5 million in new equity capital and $500,000 in debt so it can expand further. The round was led by founders Jeremy Hitzig, Tom Lane, Margaret McBurney, Michael Thabet, Brooks Chase and James Flynn with the company having written over 1,500 policies since launching in 2021. Hitzig said, “The additional funding positions us to add several new programs, invest in additional underwriting talent and continue to expand the capabilities of our technology platform.”

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2). Perennial insurtech investors Eos Venture Partners, a frequent feature in ITC’s deal flow round-up, has led a $15 million raise for Fountain Life alongside Newcross. Founded in 2020 by Tony Robbins, Peter Diamandis and Bob Hariri, the insurtech uses a data-driven approach to allow customers to make improved lifestyle and healthcare decisions so they can live happier lives.

Source: https://www.finsmes.com/2022/12/fountain-life-raises-15m-in-funding.html

3). Another player in the embedded insurance game, Walnut, has raised a $4 million seed round. The raise was led by ATB Financial and NAventures alongside a number of others and follows a partnership with Neo Financial to aid their incursion into the Canadian insurance market. Derek Szeto, Co-Founder and CEO of Walnut said, “Our seed raise is a testament to the continuing revolution inside the insurance industry. We are empowering partners to be able to offer innovative insurance products to millions of customers without the need for years of heavy investment or diversion of significant resources from other ongoing priorities. Embedded insurance is predicted to be a $3 trillion-dollar market and Walnut is well positioned to be a leader in this industry.”

Source: https://ffnews.com/newsarticle/walnut-insurance-raises-4m-to-power-embedded-insurance-for-enterprise-brands-and-accelerate-growth/

4). More news in the embedded space as Vertical Insure has raised $4 million in seed funding led by Rally Ventures and Dundee VC. Founded by Brock Noland, the company builds white-label insurance solutions for vertical SaaS platforms to roll out to their customers. “Embedded insurance is a huge opportunity. In numerous industries, the addition of embedded insurance has been shown to double the revenue of a vertical SaaS company. These platforms know the needs of their customers, and Vertical Insure leverages their existing data to recommend, underwrite and price customized coverage to ultimately create a more valuable product,” said Greg Beaufait, Partner at Dundee Venture Capital.

Source: https://menafn.com/1105310164/Vertical-Insure-The-Embedded-Insurance-Platform-For-Platforms-Secures-4M-In-Seed-Funding-To-Simplify-Insurance

5). Oyster has received $3.6 million in financing led by New Stack Ventures. Founded by former employees of Blend, Stripe and Strategy&, the insurtech is looking to reimagine personal insurance by creating a more seamless and contemporary insurance experience by leveraging improved data use to improve the end-to-end insurance process. “The property and casualty insurance industry has historically been highly fragmented with low customer satisfaction and beyond this, getting insurance is still a tedious, manual process that’s overdue for change. Consumers expect simple, transparent, and digitally-led experiences when interacting with everyday facets of their lives,” said Vic Yeh, CEO and co-founder of Oyster. 

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6). In rather poignant news, crypto asset insurance start-up Evertas has raised a $14 million Series A round led by Polychain Capital. The company, led by CEO J. Gdanski, which now has $19.8 million in total funding, can now help the overall insurance market as specialist insurance professionals in the crypto space are few and far between.

Source: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/12/12/crypto-insurance-firm-evertas-bucks-bear-market-with-14m-raise/

7). In December’s biggest raise, CyberCube has raised $50 million from funds managed by Morgan Stanley Tactical Value bringing the total raised funds to over $100 million. CEO Pascal Millaire, said, “This is an exciting milestone in our mission to empower modern industry and society with world-leading cyber risk analytics so everyone can make better decisions,”

Source: https://www.reinsurancene.ws/cybercube-gets-50m-growth-funding-from-investors-incl-morgan-stanley/

APAC

1). Sydney-based Butter Insurance, which has garnered much interest in recent times, has raised $1.3 million in pre-seed funding. The insurtech is also the first embedded insurance solution for Australia’s payment systems with a partnership with Australian Payments Plus. Founded by former lawyers Steph Skevington and Cassie Bell, the insurtech offers subscription-style insurance policies with flexible payment plans with easy tracking for consumers in one central web app.

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