Wefox hits $3bn valuation with latest funding round

1 Jun 2021

Julian Teicke. Image: Wefox

The German insurtech company’s $650m capital injection will finance its push into the US and Asian markets.

German insurtech start-up Wefox has raised $650m in a round led by Target Global, marking the investment firm’s latest big ticket funding round in Europe.

The Series C round values the company at $3bn. A slate of investors took part in the round including Horizons Ventures, Eurazeo, Mubadala Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Speedinvest and several others.

Wefox, which was founded in 2015, sells insurance, such as house and motor insurance, through intermediaries on its platform. It has 700 agents.

It plans to use the new funds to expand into the US and Asia over the next two years. It is currently active in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Poland, which it entered in April. It opened a new tech development office in Paris last year as well.

According to the company, it reached profitability in 2020 with $143m in revenue.

Co-founder and CEO Julian Teicke said the intermediary model of selling insurance, rather than going direct to the consumer, is a key part of its revenues.

“This is why Wefox has built a huge network of advisers across Europe. We believe that insurance is all about people, and we believe that technology is an enabler and should not replace the human connection,” Teicke said.

“We have set out to improve the customer experience for both our advisers and our customers through technology to increase customer satisfaction, reduce customer acquisition costs, increase cross-selling and decrease churn.”

Target Global led the bumper funding round in Wefox in its latest investment in a European company. The firm has been very active this year in deploying capital in fintech and delivery companies with more of a focus on Europe than before. Spain’s Travelperk and crypto firm Copper are among some of its recent bets.

“Wefox is unique among the insurtech players with ample room for growth ahead,” Yaron Valler, general partner at Target Global, said of the latest investment.

“Wefox continues to deliver exceptional results backed with demonstrable year-on-year revenue growth, which saw their insurance carrier, Wefox Insurance, report a profit earlier this year, marking them out to be the first insurtech to reach profitability.”

Jonathan Keane is a freelance business and technology journalist based in Dublin

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