London-based insurtech Zego raises $150 million, joins the unicorn ranks with $1.1 billion valuation

It’s been a pretty good week for unicorns in the UK. Insurtech company Zego closed a $150 million funding round, the largest ever by a UK-founded insurtech, which now places them at a $1.1 billion valuation. This on the back of Starling achieving unicorn status on Monday.

The Series-C funding round was led by DST Global and included participation from new investor General Catalyst, as well as all of Zego’s existing investors including TransferWise founder, Taavet Hinrikus, Target Global, Balderton Capital and Latitude. As part of the deal, General Catalyst founder and MD, Joel Cutler will join Zego’s board.

As with just about every funding deal, Zego is reporting that the funding will be used to accelerate it’s expansion, namely across Europe (and beyond), and the insurtech firm plans on doubling its workforce to a healthy 500 employees.

Zego is a commercial motor insurance company that provides opportunities for businesses; everything from self-employed drivers and riders to entire fleets of vehicles. And as we’ve all seen over the course of the past year, the delivery business has exploded. All the drivers and riders need insurance. Et voilà! To date, Zego has provided more than 17 million insurance policies and covered more than 200,000 vehicles in five countries.

“It is clear that the way people use vehicles is undoubtedly changing, and what’s become ever more apparent is that the traditional, rigid model of insurance is no longer fit for purpose. We founded Zego to offer a more effective solution for customers, and with the support of our amazing backers and the work of our team, we are in the best possible position to expand this offering on a global scale,” comments Zego co-founder and CEO Sten Saar.