Zurich Group looks to fuel growth by investing in startup

Zurich Global has acquired a minority stake in US-based business insurance startup, CoverWallet.

The investment builds on a commercial partnership between CoverWallet and Zurich in Europe that was announced in February.

CoverWallet extended its U.S. platform to Europe, enabling Zurich to provide SMEs with a platform to learn about types of policies, get quotes, purchase insurance, and manage their coverage, online, in minutes.

It is currently live in Spain, but now through Zurich, CoverWallet will grow its international footprint, expanding to other European countries.

Inaki Berenguer, co-founder and chief executive at CoverWallet said: “Following our commercial agreement with Zurich, this investment is a testament to the value Zurich sees in CoverWallet and the work we are doing to make insurance easy and convenient for small businesses in Europe.

“Zurich has been a terrific partner as CoverWallet launched internationally, and we are thrilled they decided to invest in our company.”

The Hanover Group was the first carrier to use the tech platform in the U.S., providing it to agents for its emerging micro-small commercial business, whereas Zurich leverages CoverWallet’s B2B platform to sell its policies directly to small businesses online.

In October 2017, CoverWallet raised $18.5m in its Series B funding round, bringing its total amount raised to more than $30m at that time.

In addition to Zurich, CoverWallet has received funding from renowned investors including Union Square Ventures, Index Ventures, Two Sigma, Foundation Capital, and Starr Companies.