German startup Getsafe has made its first step towards launching a life insurance offering and reveals how the coronavirus has helped the InsurTech boost the number of policies sold.
The German startup has essentially created a smartphone app where customers can buy a policy, make a claim or otherwise manage their coverage.
The new digital accident insurance product is poised to pave the way for Getsafe being able to offer life insurance. The company hailed the latest step in its product suite that proves that insurance, despite being complicated, can be digitalised.
“Skeptics believe that people are only buying insurance policies online that are exchangeable and quite cheap, i. e. only basic products in the property and casualty sector,” said Christian Wiens, founder and CEO of Getsafe. “With our digital accident insurance, we are proving the opposite. Insurance should be fun – this also applies to products that require explanation, such as accident insurance.”
The company also revealed that it has seemingly benefited from the COVID-19 pandemic. After launching in the UK in January 2020, it seems as if the rest of the quarter has been good for the venture. It sold over 10,000 policies sold in March, making it the strongest month in the company’s history. Getsafe estimated that April could be even more successful.
“The current circumstances require us to do as much from home as possible,” Wiens said. “Taking out insurance via smartphone was convenient before the crisis; now it has almost become a necessity.”
He noted that the virus may have also opened up a whole new customer base for Getsafe, which has previously enjoyed most of its success among people between the ages of 20 and 35.
“People of all ages are now learning that they can buy insurance online – just as they order goods or food online,” Wiens said. “This shift on the insurance business towards the digital space will likely remain.”
The sentiment echoes one previously noted by several InsurTech stakeholders FinTech Global has been talking to. Many industry leaders have speculated that the coronavirus could lead to the insurers becoming more prone to adopt new digital products like the ones offered by InsurTech startups. This would mark a huge change in a sector that has so far been quite reluctant to innovate.
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