HomeFundingBerlin-based Wefox secures over €398 million for its insurtech platform that’s redefined...

Berlin-based Wefox secures over €398 million for its insurtech platform that’s redefined the industry

Consolidating itself as Europe’s leading insurtech startup, Wefox has just raised over €398 million in a Series D funding round with a valuation of over €4.48 billion. The German startup is soaring, going against recent patterns of lay-offs and growth reductions in other companies. 

While we are surrounded by increasing talk of an economic downturn, it feels like companies are making layoffs and scale-backs left, right and centre. The insurance world is not immune, but, we have seen a lot of big investments in Europe’s Intertech space recently. There was Yulife’s big raise last week, and now, Wefox who has just scooped up an incredible €398 million – consolidating its status as a leading European unicorn. 

The Series D funding round was led by Mubadala Investment Company, with participation from LGT, Horizons Ventures, and Omers Ventures.

Founded in 2015, Wefox is a full-stack digital insurance company driven by a single purpose: to make people safe by reinventing insurance at scale through technology. Born in Berlin, the company has doubled its revenues every year to over €118 million in 2020 and now counts 500 employees serving over 500k customers. To date, Wefox said it has built a network of around 3k independent brokers in its native Germany, while in other markets such as Switzerland, Germany, and Austria, it has trained its own brokers.

What makes Wefox unique is that it bypasses the D2C model typically adopted by insurtechs. The firm instead sells various insurance products through a combination of in-house and external brokers. This means they have been able to scale faster as it becomes easier and more cost-effective to acquire customers as they work to onboard them is essentially outsourced. It also means they can enter new markets much faster. 

As stated by founder and CEO, Julian Teicke: “Wefox’s ‘secret sauce’ is in its business model of indirect distribution, which has enabled the company to scale faster than any other insurtech in the world. Our model is unique in the insurtech space, since all others go direct to consumer. “We can then focus on enabling our brokers, agents, and affinity partners to target the most profitable customers, which improves our loss ratios and customer lifetime value”.

It’s been an exciting year for the startup, which gained its unicorn status last year following an immense Series C raise. The company also began 2022 by becoming the official insurance sponsor for AC Milan, and, we were pleased to welcome co-founder and Group CFO Fabian Wesemann to the stage at this year’s EU-Startups Summit.

Looking forward to what’s next for this exciting startup, the company has said it plans to keep growing and expanding into new European markets in 2022. Then, it wants to take on the US and Asia in 2024. Wefox also plans to add 700 employees by the end of the year.

- Advertisement -
Patricia Allen
Patricia Allen
is the Head of Content at EU-Startups. With a background in politics, Patricia has a real passion for how shared ideas across communities and cultures can bring new initiatives and innovations for the future. She spends her time bringing you the latest news and updates of startups across Europe, and curating our social media.
RELATED ARTICLES

Most Popular