Stockholm-based insurance startup Hedvig announced that it has raised $45M (approx €38.5M) in its Series B round of funding. Prior to this round, the company raised a total of $23M (approx €19.68M) and secured partnerships with SCOR and Hannover Re, two of the world’s largest reinsurers.
Investors
The investment was led by Anthemis Partner Ruth Foxe Blader, and Managing Director, Matthew Jones. The round also saw participation from existing investors including Cherry Ventures, Obvious Ventures, CommerzVentures, along with Swedish Novax, Nineyards Equity, Jonas Kamprad, and Mathias Kamprad.
With this development, Matthew Jones, Managing Director at Anthemis will be joining the Hedvig Board of Directors.
Capital utilisation
The proceeds from this round will help the company to accelerate its European expansion and plans to launch its fourth market in the coming months; this time outside of the Nordics.
Lucas Carlsén, CEO & co-founder of Hedvig, describes the fundraise saying, “We have created an insurance experience based on the younger generation’s on-demand expectations. Integrated into our home insurance is something we call “clumsiness” insurance. We’ve got your back, even if the damage was caused by your own blundering. And when you need us, you only need to submit a simple voice message to receive assistance within minutes. We love to spoil our members and to see how the word is spreading. Anthemis’ deep understanding and experience of both financial technology and insurance make them the perfect ally as we scale this proposition across Europe.”
About Hedvig
Founded in 2017 by Lucas Carlsen, Fredrik Fors, and John Ardelius, Hedvig claims to be a new approach to insurance. It’s about freedom and being ok with your life, no matter what happens to you. Recently launched in Denmark and currently present in all Scandinavian countries, Hedvig is an EU-licensed carrier providing home, travel, contents, and clumsiness insurance.
The company aims to set new standards for the insurance industry. Its business model is built to avoid conflict-of-interest. Hedvig actually wants to pay claims; 25 per cent of the premium goes to the company, while 75 per cent of the monthly fee goes to covering claims, any money that’s leftover at the end of the year is donated to children’s charities (a different kind of corporate social responsibility).
Besides, the insurance plan doesn’t have a fixed period and can be terminated at any time by the user. Users need to make monthly payments for insurance, and they can also report any damage through the mobile app.
With a brand campaign tagline of “go get in trouble”, the company claims to have succeeded in creating an experience that is shaped around the needs of homeowners and renters as well as younger generations.
Hedvig has witnessed growth in the Nordics among the younger generation. Currently, 40 per cent of Hedvig’s growth is organic and mainly through word-of-mouth. As of now, Hedvig insures 70,000 people across three markets, the majority of whom are under the age of 30.
In 2020, the company grew its gross written premium by 200 per cent and retained an NPS score ten times higher than the industry average.
Previous fundings
In October 2020, Hedvig raised SEK 80M (approx €7.84M) in its Series A round of funding from existing investors, including Obvious Ventures, Novax, CommerzVentures, and Cherry Ventures. Prior to that, in August 2019, it had raised €9.3M in funding.
In September 2018, the company had raised $3.5M (approx €M) in its Seed round of funding from Cherry Ventures and six other investors.
