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Wefox founder and CEO Julian Teicke
- German insurtech Wefox has raised an additional $110 million in funding from OMERS Ventures, Merian Chrysalis, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and Mundi Ventures.
- The fast-growing startup raised a $125 million Series B in March which it has added to to expand into London.
- "We want to dominate the $5 trillion insurance market on a global basis. A lot of companies disrupt specific niches but we are more holistic," said Wefox's CEO and cofounder Julian Teicke in an interview with Business Insider.
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One of Germany's fastest growing tech startups has raised another bumper tranche of funding to take its 2019 total to $235 million.
Wefox, an insurance tech company based in Berlin, raised $110 million in funding from OMERS Ventures, Merian Chrysalis, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and Mundi Ventures to extend out its $135 million Series B in March.
The company's Series B was led by Abu Dhabi government-owned Mubadala Ventures, alongside Chinese investor CreditEase. Previous investors include Target Global, Salesforce Ventures, Seedcamp, Idinvest and Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher's investment vehicle, Sound Ventures.
Wefox uses a tech and data-driven approach to insurance which it claims has led to lower loss ratios, the percentage of premiums earned which is subsequently paid out in claims, than the industry standard. Part of the reason for the funding has been a bigger-than-anticipated performance from the startup in 2019, with the company's CEO Julian Teicke claiming annual revenue of more than $100 million from an original $80 million projection.
"Investors have been excited by our strong unit economics, efficiency, and low loss ratio," Teicke told Business Insider in an interview. "The role of tech companies is to drive higher returns and better margins, we are striving to be profitable and not use a cash burning model."
Wefox was launched in 2015 and operates in six countries. Further international expansion is on the horizon for 2020 and the company is launching an innovation hub in London. "We want to dominate the $5 trillion insurance market on a global basis. A lot of companies disrupt specific niches but we are more holistic," Teicke added.
The company offers direct to consumer insurance products through One Insurance which has grown substantially i recent years, according to Teicke. Wefox also wants to win the digital distribution battle by combining policies on its platform to become "the Stripe of insurance."
"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," said Henry Gladwyn, principal at OMERS Ventures, in a release. "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."
You can see Wefox's (redacted) deck below: