Neo-insurer Getsafe pushes Series B raise to $93 million, goes after its own insurance license

With its sights squarely set on capturing the millennial market, Heidelberg-based neo-insurer Getsafe has extended its Series B raise to a whopping $93 million. The first announcement back in December wrapped the Christmas presents at $30 million, and almost 10 months to the day, 63 million more presents are now under the tree. The new cadeaux will help Getsafe secure its own insurance license by the end of this year, as well as push further into new European markets. Since 2015, Getsafe has raised approximately $116 million.

Getsafe now serves over 250,000 customers in Germany and the UK, initially offering renters insurance in Germany in late 2017, and at the end of last year moved into the car insurance business. Upping the ante, in 2020 Getsafe expanded into the UK market, presumably replicating the German success with renters insurance. And about that ante? At present, one-quarter of Getsafe’s growth is happening in the UK.

Getsafe is taking the bull by the horns and has applied for its own insurance license via the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin, for short) last year. Part of the reasoning behind this massive raise is to prove to the BaFin that the company means business, and, presumably, has the cash on hand to cover said business. Additionally, by controlling the value chain top to bottom, Getsafe plans on innovating faster, stronger, better.

“We don’t only want to do insurance differently, but we want to make it unconditionally better. The innovations in the insurance market we’ve seen so far are merely the tip of the iceberg. Becoming a full-stack carrier will give us the necessary freedom to take unconventional paths and to realise innovations quicker than before,” commented co-founder and CEO Christian Wiens.

Now, what should be really interesting is how the sure-to-be-brewing Getsafe and Hedvig battle is going to throw down. With Stockholm's Hedvig relaunching in Demark (right next door to Germany) and indicating that they want to expand outside of the Nordics, surely, the UK must be on their radar. Or Germany. Or both. Likewise, Wiens mentions The Netherlands as an expansion target, maybe Hedvig too? Oooorrrrr, if we look at just the funding alone, Getsafe with $116 million and Hedvig at $68 million, maaaaaybe an acquisition? Who's to say, I'm just the observer.

Getsafe’s new funding arrives via Earlybird and Abacon Capital, as well as some of the largest Family Offices in Germany and Switzerland. Existing investors CommerzVentures and Swiss Re also participated.

Never one to snooze, our Andrii Degeler jumped on the phone earlier this week to talk with Christian Wiens. Listen in to this exclusive conversation surrounding the genesis of Getsafe, and details around the extension of the Series B round.