Wefox Group, the Berlin-based insurtech startup behind the consumer-facing insurance app and carrier One and the insurance platform Wefox, is disclosing $110 million in a second tranche of Series B funding. Sources tell TechCrunch that this gives the company a pre-money valuation of $1.65 billion. WeFox Group declined to comment on the financials.
The Series B extension is led by Omers Ventures, the venture capital arm of Canadian pension fund Omers. Merian Chrysalis and Samsung Catalyst Fund, also participated, along with existing investors.
It follows an earlier Series B of $125 million in March, led by Abu Dhabi government-owned Mubadala Ventures, with participation from Chinese investor Creditease. Wefox’s other existing investors include Target Global, Salesforce Ventures, Seedcamp, Idinvest and Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher’s investment vehicle Sound Ventures.
In a call, Wefox co-founder and CEO Julian Teicke told me the Wefox Group has grown revenues to over $100 million, and now services more than 500,000 customers, claiming that this makes it Europe’s “leading insurtech”.
He also revealed that the company has grown to 400 employees, which, he says means he can no longer remember every employee’s name. “That sucks,” he tells me, revealing that it was only this summer when the company was smaller that he won a company-wide bet for being able to do just that.
Breaking WeFox Group’s revenue down further, the company’s direct to consumer insurance brand, One Insurance, has increased annual revenues by nearly tenfold this year to $30 million. It also claims to be Germany’s fastest growing provider for household and private liability insurance.
Perhaps more significantly, Teicke says One’s loss ratio (what percentage of premiums earned is subsequently paid out in claims) is below 40%, which is much better than the industry as a whole. He pinned that on WeFox’s use of data, which, he says, enables One to understand risk in a much more technology-driven and granular way.
Meanwhile, Teicke says the new funding will be used to continue ramping up international expansion in 2020. Wefox is active in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Spain, and I understand has quietly launched in Italy.
Adds Henry Gladwyn, principal at OMERS Ventures, in a statement: “We are thrilled to continue our support of Julian and the incredibly ambitious Wefox Group team as they continue to disrupt and re-invent the insurance industry. We believe wefox Group’s approach to revolutionizing insurance – empowering the consumer and prioritizing solutions for secured data-driven experiences – will deliver significant value for the entire trade”.
