Swiss FinanceFox is moving insurance brokerage and policy management process onto users’ mobile phones. The startup has recently raised US$5.5 million to boost growth in Switzerland and Germany, and fuel its global expansion.
The round, led by Salesforce Venture, with participation from AngelList, Idinvest, Seedcamp and Speedinvest, will help FinanceFox expand its marketing and sales activities in Switzerland and Germany and enter new markets.
FinanceFox, which currently has offices in Zurich, Berlin and Barcelona, provides users with a single point of access for all insurance matters, letting them manage all existing insurances and get personal advice.
FinanceFox intends to move the insurance brokerage process online through a simple app providing an easy overview of all insurance information, independent and free consultancy and the best offers from hundreds of partnering insurers.
“FinanceFox is the symbiosis between classical insurance brokerage and the startup scene,” Michael John, CEO of FinanceFox Switzerland, toldMoneyCab in a recent interview. “We enable our customers to understand their insurance matters and to manage these matters independently.”
Prior to FinanceFox, John spent 20 years working in the insurance sector. What excites him about working for FinanceFox is “the linking of classic brokerage business with modern technological possibilities.”
But FinanceFox isn’t digitalizing the entire process as it still relies on a team of experts. The company is officially registered as an insurance consultancy and claims that its main objective is to provide “personal, made-to-measure consultancy.”
“Communicate directly with your support team in our service center – digitally or in person, whichever you prefer,” it said. “We’re there to guide you along every step of the way, from insurance enquiries to claims, all the way to a new insurance plan or provider.”
FinanceFox, which is entirely free of charge for users, gets paid by insurance companies in return for handling administrative work and managing insurance contracts on their behalf.
FinanceFox and its recent round of funding, is just another sign that Switzerland is quickly becoming a world-renowned incubator for digital insurance brokerage.
In October 2015, Knip, the country’s very first insurance broker, raised US$15.7 million in a series B funding round led by leading US-based fintech investment firm Route 66 Ventures.
In the summer 2015, Knip started serving the German market where the company managed to boost strong growth and quickly become a market leader, according to Dennis Just, the company’s founder and CEO. Prior to Knip, Just was the co-founder and COO of Numbrs, a mobile banking app.
As of late October 2015, the Knip app had been downloaded by over 330,000 users, ranking as a top-five free finance app for iOS and Android in both Germany and Switzerland. The company claims to be managing over US$28 million in policy volume.
In Germany, services offering a similar product include Clark and GetSafe.
Watch the video presentation of FinanceFox:
