Through Anthemis Baloise Strategic Ventures, Baloise is investing in Stable, a London-based startup.
Stable has created an index insurance product for food and farming businesses around the world that automatically reimburses lost income caused by volatile prices. There are 500 million farmers worldwide and price volatility is one of the biggest problems they face. Agricultural commodities are often volatile, both on the demand and on the supply side, but current financial tools that could help are often complex, expensive and risky for smaller businesses.
Stable’s data science platform enables the company to democratise access to ‘hedging’ for businesses of every sector and every size. The scalable platform is already working with 50 commodity indices that range from coffee to cow’s milk and in over 10 countries. In contrast to traditional insurance, the highly automated index-based solution means the business owner can get a quote in less than 2 minutes and any claims due are paid in less than 48 hours.
With an insurance policy from Stable, farmers and food manufacturers can insure a defined amount of a product over a defined period for a specified price. For example, a farmer chooses a policy that protects 100 tonnes of wheat from March to November 2019 from an average price falling below £150/t. If the average index price for the agreed period is below the agreed value of £150, the farmer receives an automatic payout. If the market price is above the originally agreed price, there is no payout.
The investment in Stable is a further investment by Baloise via Anthemis Baloise Strategic Ventures. The Baloise Group entered into an investment partnership with the investment and consulting firm Anthemis Group in 2017. Baloise is making CHF 50 million available for investing in European and US-based start-ups that have the potential to advance Baloise’s digital development.
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