Diesta, a London-based insurtech startup, has announced a €1.8 million seed funding round. The funding will allow Diesta to scale a premium payments platform that could save insurance companies billions every year.
The funding round involved a number of prominent international investors. Participants were Restive, the Bay Area VC firm building the world’s best fintech companies; SixThirty, the global VC firm focused on fintech and insurtech; Antler, the most active early stage investor in Europe; the UK VC firm SystemaNova and the US firm Westerly Ventures.
Founded in 2022, Diesta is a next generation reconciliation engine for the insurance industry. Every year, the insurance industry wastes $32 billion allocating premium payments within the distribution chain. Diesta’s platform streamlines this process through a central engine that will reduce costs for insurance and broking companies by 75%. Endorsed by industry leaders like Mapfre and Generali, our innovative approach was spotlighted in a recent report, highlighting how the problem of payment inefficiencies causes unnecessary expenses across the insurance value chain.
The funding will be used to further product development and building scalability. This step will enable Diesta to fulfil its ambition of capturing a substantial portion of the UK premiums market by onboarding brokers, MGAs, insurers, and potentially even reinsurers.
Julian Schoemig, Co-Founder of Diesta, said: “With Diesta, we are addressing a problem which I experienced first hand and thousands of insurance entities continue to face on a daily basis. This is an example of a legacy industry practice that is costing insurance companies millions every year. Our platform provides a solution which directly addresses this challenge, while setting the foundation for a transformative shift in insurance industries in Europe and around the world.”
Despite the tech downturn, early stage insurtech startups have demonstrated their resilience and continued ability to raise funding. According to a recent report from Dealroom, the industry continues to represent a $7 trillion opportunity and is more focused than ever on enhancing operational efficiency.
Ryan Falvey, Partner at Restive, commented: “We were thrilled to lead Diesta’s early financing. We know how challenging payment reconciliation is in the global insurance industry and were extremely impressed by the expertise, dedication and technological sophistication of the team. Restive invests early in innovative businesses that have the potential to transform financial services so we are proud to work with Julian and the team to scale this business.”
The founders of Diesta met during an Antler residency in London, and bring together a wealth of expertise from insurance, banking and tech startup environments. Julian Schoemig is a German engineer with considerable experience working in the insurance industry in Germany, the US and UK. He has spent a significant part of his career working for Munich Re. Christopher Davis is a South African expert in IT security and databases. As computer scientist, Christopher has experience scaling and exiting two IT companies and working at Discovery Bank.
Ollie Purdue, Partner at Antler, added: “The success of British fintech startups has become the stuff of legend in tech ecosystems around the world and I have every confidence that insurtech will be the next chapter of that growth story. Diesta is at the forefront of a new generation of insurtech talent emerging in London and they have the potential to become one of the most important players in this space. We are delighted to have supported Diesta from day zero of their growth journey and have every confidence in the future growth of this team.”
