Cuvva scores £15m in funding as it sets sights on competing with the UK’s large insurers

December 3, 2019

Flexible motor insurance platform Cuvva has scored £15m in venture funding as it gears up to tackle the UK’s biggest insurers.

RTP Global, Breega and Digital Horizon all made their first investments into Cuvva and joined seed backers LocalGlobe, Techstars Ventures, Tekton and Seedcamp. Several angel investors from the insurance space also contributed to the Series A including Jardine Lloyd Thompson CEO Dominic Burke and former chief strategy and investments officer Faisal Galaria.

This funding round comes as Cuvva prepares the launch of a pay-monthly insurance product. The new service will launch early 2020 and aims to cut annual bills for car owners.

Cuvva founder Freddy Macnamara (pictured) said, “The way insurance is sold hasn’t kept up with the way people live their lives now. We buy lots of goods and services via flexible subscriptions to suit our on-demand lifestyles. Why shouldn’t you be able to do that for insurance?”

With the new pay-monthly offering, the InsurTech is hoping to cut out all middlemen, including brokers and comparison websites, which it claims add an additional £70 to policies. There will be no fees charged for spreading payments across the year and the same savings deals will be offered to both new and existing customers.

Funds from the Series A will be used to expand its engineering, developer, marketing and customer operation teams. Over the next 18 months, the London-based startup hopes to double to staff numbers.

Cuvva, which launched in 2016, is a mobile-based insurance platform which enables consumers to buy temporary vehicle cover.

Breega, partner Ben Marrel said, “Cuvva has an exciting vision for what a customer-centric insurer will look like and is unafraid to take on the middlemen in this sector and dismantle a raft of ‘traditional’ fees and penalties. Their fundraising also comes at a time when there is real appetite for innovation in insurance.”

The InsurTech recently a travel insurance policy on its mobile app, providing protection for medical expenses, travel disruption and event cancellation. Medical cover can be up to £5m for injuries and £250 for dental emergencies.