InsurTech vlot raises fresh capital

The start-up vlot AG has raised a total of one million Swiss francs from investors. According to a press release issued by the firm, this financing round will allow the InsurTech company to expand its product range, upscale sales activities and increase its B2B client base. This financing round was led by the Zug-based venture capital firm Spicehaus Partners and SixThirty Ventures, which operates out of the USA. In so doing, the latter has also included vlot as one of the six start-ups in its Go-To-Market Program for the fall of 2020.

According to information from the company itself, vlot was founded in 2017 with the mission of putting families and individuals in a position to take well-informed, sound financial decisions. Via B2B partners including insurance companies, brokers, banks and pension funds, vlot helps people to quickly grasp the financial ramifications of death, disability and a lack of adequate retirement funds.

For its part, vlot is convinced that the “distribution of life insurance and savings products works best when they are not sold – but bought”, according to CEO Michael Dritsas. “Bought by the end-client because his or her coverage needs are clearly displayed, easily understandable, and addressed through the right channel at the right point in time”, he adds.

Samarth Shekhar, Regional Manager EMEA at SixThirty Ventures points to an alarming lack of sufficient cover in life-insurance policies, with the average American policyholder 74 percent under-insured. This means that vlot boasts genuine market potential: “that’s 70 billion dollars of annual premiums in missed opportunity in the US alone”, he states in the press release. Amberg is proud to be working with vlot “at scale” in an attempt to avoid gaps in protection and pension provisions.

After being named Venture Leaders Fintech Winners 2019 of the Swiss start-up accelerator Venturelab, vlot formed part of the Swiss national start-up team. Venturelab named vlot one of the “5 Swiss InsurTech start-ups to watch in 2020”. In both 2018 and 2019, the start-up was named one of the 100 best InsurTech firms worldwide by the Digital Insurance Agenda.