Berlin-based WeFox set to launch app in UK

German startup WeFox is set to launch a UK version of its app next year, The Telegraph reported.

The app, which provides details on customer policies and claims as well as helps to find new rates, is coming to the UK as part of a new London-based technology hub being set up by WeFox after the company secured an additional $110m (£84m) of funding from investors.

Chief executive Julian Teicke said the organisation would launch in the UK regardless of the outcome of Brexit and the general election, but added it would not immediately launch its One Insurance business to UK customers due to regulatory hurdles if Britain leaves the European Union (EU).

“We are going to set up a hub in London and launch WeFox,” he said. “But the election is a big thing. It is difficult to understand the implications. People who want to change products or industries are not going to the UK because of this insecurity, and Brexit is making this more difficult.” 

UK focus

The decision to launch in the UK was, Teicke said, because both Germany and the UK “have some of the worst customer experiences [of insurance]” as well as a strong history in the insurance market. 

Teicke added that insurers have had “a difficult time innovating” but that “a massive shift is coming under the surface”.

WeFox’s announcement of the new funding, which is supported by Omers Ventures, the venture arm of Canadian pension fund Omers, UK listed fund Merian Chrysalis and Samsung, follows on from the $125m investment raised earlier this year, led by Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates.