Zego becomes first UK insurtech to secure unicorn status
Motor insurance startup Zego has secured unicorn status with a valuation of more than $1bn after its latest funding round.
The London-based company provides insurance to gig economy workers and claims to be the UK’s first insurtech unicorn.
It follows a $150m round led by DST Global with backing from General Catalyst, whose founder and managing director Joel Cutler will join Zego’s board. It brings total funding raised to more than $200m since its launch in 2016.
All of Zego’s existing investors including Transferwise founder Taavet Hinrikus also participated in the round.
“This latest round of funding is a huge milestone for Zego. In the five years since we started Zego, we’ve covered hundreds of thousands of businesses across Europe, whether they be self-employed drivers or riders or whole fleets of vehicles, and this is just the start for us,” co-founder and chief executive Sten Saar said.
The company offers commercial motor insurance for businesses, from self-employed drivers to fleets of vehicles and offers everything from pay-as-you-go insurance to annual policies. It has provided more than 17m insurance policies and covered more than 200,000 vehicles in 17 countries.
Zego said it will use the funding to “rapidly expand across Europe and beyond” and plans to double its headcount to over 500 employees by the end of the year.
“The shift to digital is occurring across multiple industry categories and is increasingly occurring in the insurance industry,” Tom Stafford, DST Global’s managing partner said. “We are excited to partner with Sten and the team at Zego as they leverage internet, technology, telematics and data-driven decisions to provide the best insurance products at the best pricing for their customers.”