Tag Archives: Insurance

AnaCap’s portfolio company MRH Trowe makes 11th bolt-on acquisition in a year with speciality broker Helmig & Partner

Anacap

Acceleration of buy-and-build strategy with 11th add-on acquisition within 12 months making 2021 the most active year in the Group’s history in terms of deal execution

– Expansion of MRH Trowe’s client coverage now complemented by specialty broker Helmig & Partner

– Geographical footprint and sales capabilities strengthened in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany

AnaCap Financial Partners (“AnaCap”), a leading specialist mid-market private equity investor in technology enabled financial services, today announced that its portfolio company MRH Trowe (“MRHT” or “the Group”), a leading owner managed commercial lines insurance broker in Germany,  has successfully signed its 11th bolt-on acquisition of the year with Olfen-based speciality broker Helmig & Partner (“the Company”).

Helmig & Partner is the nationwide leading speciality broker for bakery chains, currently serving more than 300 clients in the sector with 44 employees and a wide range of pension and non-life insurance products. The Company is one of the strongest franchises of North Rhine-Westphalia, having grown its turnover by more than 15% on average over the past 3 years.

This latest acquisition, which is expected to close in January 2022, underpins the strategic roadmap undertaken by the Group aimed at expanding in-house capabilities in specialty lines insurance and strengthening its geographical coverage. In Helmig & Partner, MRHT has identified the right add-on to complement its customer target group and consolidate its presence in Western Germany. This addition allows the Group to fortify its local sales capabilities and better serve its network of saving banks, while generating revenue synergies from cross-selling initiatives.

The acquired company, whose founding managers will remain operationally involved in line with MRHT’s historical M&A approach, is expected to contribute €5 million of revenue to the Group in 2022. As a result of the acquisition, the Group is now on track to deliver more than €80 million of run-rate revenue.

Ralph Rockel, Co-Founder and Board Member at MRH Trowe, commented:

Tassilo Arnhold, Private Equity Partner at AnaCap, added:

Dec 08 2021

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AnaCap’s portfolio company MRH Trowe accelerates growth and secures financing facility with Bain Capital Credit

Anacap

AnaCap Financial Partners (“AnaCap”), a leading specialist mid-market private equity investor in technology enabled financial services, today announced that its portfolio company MRH Trowe (“MRHT” or “the Group”) has closed on a new financing facility in support of its organic and acquisition-driven growth strategy.

MRHT is one of the ten largest German industrial brokers, offering extensive expertise in most insurance lines for both industrial and commercial customers, as well as affluent private customers.

Having been identified by AnaCap as the ideal platform to achieve scale in its market, MRHT has accelerated its buy and build execution in 2021, signing or closing 11 bolt-on acquisitions since December last year. In line with its strategic roadmap, the Group remains well positioned to further grow inorganically in the large and consolidating German market.

Following a competitive process among leading specialist lenders, AnaCap and MRHT opted to partner with Bain Capital Credit, whose expertise in insurance brokerage and strong belief in local consolidation will help the Group unlock its growth potential. Local saving banks that have historically been a key part of MRHT’s development will retain positions in the new financing model, demonstrating important continuity and a strong commitment to MRHT’s ambitions.

This additional funding will be deployed to support the ongoing, targeted buy-and-build approach followed by the Group, while enabling MRHT to diligence and acquire larger target companies than has been the focus to date.

Tassilo Arnhold, Partner at AnaCap, commented:
“We are delighted to announce a working partnership with such a reputable name in the market such as Bain. Securing this funding structure will act as an important catalyst for MRHT to further accelerate its activities on the M&A trail, following what has already been a hugely impressive 2021 to date. The Group felt this strategic financing was important to optimise its financing position and put in place a strong platform that ultimately offers both flexibility and investment capability.”

Ralph Rockel, Co-Founder and Board Member at MRHT, commented:
“We look forward to the future cooperation with Bain Capital Credit with both excitement and confidence. Bain Capital Credit’s insurance brokerage expertise and strategic understanding make it an ideal partner for MRH Trowe to leverage its inorganic potential. The partnership allows us to make even more effective use of the opportunities in the current market consolidation and to further strengthen MRH Trowe’s market position.”

Tom Maughan, Managing Director at Bain Capital Credit, added:
“MRH Trowe is widely recognised as a high-quality operator and we are excited to support the Company in the next phases of its growth trajectory.”

Alessandro Nuti, Vice President at Bain Capital Credit, commented:
“The financing of MRH Trowe builds on our experience in the insurance brokerage sector and we are delighted to support MRHTs consolidation of the attractive and fragmented German market.”

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EQT Private Equity and Vitruvian Partners announce significant investment in CFC

eqt

EQT Private Equity has agreed to make a significant investment together with Vitruvian Partners in CFC, a leading technology-driven global insurance business

CFC is a specialist insurance provider, pioneer in emerging risk and market leader in cyber, serving more than 100,000 businesses in over 90 countries.

EQT Private Equity and Vitruvian Partners will support CFC’s investments in innovative and market-leading technology and in continuing to deliver best-in-class products and services to its customers

EQT is pleased to announce that the EQT IX fund (“EQT Private Equity”) has agreed to invest in CFC (the “Company”) alongside management and Vitruvian Partners (“Vitruvian”).

Founded in 1999, CFC was one of the pioneers in the cyber insurance market. Today, it is a technology-driven business that has established itself as a global leader in cyber and provider of cover for a diverse range of emerging risks that sit at the intersection of technology and business. CFC writes 50 products across 20 different classes of specialist insurance focused primarily on SME businesses.

The company has significantly grown its employee count over the past three years and has an established global footprint with more than 500 staff located across the UK, US, Europe and Australia. Earlier in the year CFC also launched its own Lloyd’s Syndicate.

CFC’s continued growth trajectory underlines the depth and quality of its business model: it has an annual premium run rate in excess of GBP 750 million (USD 1 billion) and delivered an organic EBITDA CAGR of 35 percent over the last five years.

Upon completion, following regulatory approval, CFC will nearly double its employee shareholders from 175 to over 300. Employees will remain the largest shareholder in CFC.

Dave Walsh, CFC founder and Group CEO, said, “We’re delighted to welcome EQT as an investor alongside Vitruvian. Both EQT and Vitruvian’s focus on high-growth technology companies and commitment to creating a positive impact through their portfolios is a natural fit with CFC and our ethos as an independent, employee-owned business. EQT’s investment, and Vitruvian’s reinvestment, is testament to CFC’s track record of delivering strong, profitable growth underpinned by the expertise of our people and our history of market-leading technology innovation.

“As we look ahead, we see a risk landscape that is rapidly shifting, with ever-expanding cyber threats, new insurance challenges presented by intangible assets and evolving risks in rapid growth sectors. CFC has a key role to play in helping our growing customer base address these challenges, while the pioneering technology we’ve built over the last two decades is enabling us to deliver at increasing scale. We look forward to partnering with EQT and thank Vitruvian for their continued partnership. It has never been a more exciting time to be at CFC.”

Robert Maclean, Partner within EQT Private Equity’s Advisory Team, commented, “CFC is a truly innovative insurance business with technology at its core and a track record of growth and profitability which surpasses even the most mature Fintech businesses we’ve seen. The accelerating pace of investments in its core platform aligns perfectly with EQT’s approach of future proofing companies.”

Joe O’ Mara, Partner at Vitruvian, commented, “As longstanding partners and investors in CFC, we couldn’t be more enthusiastic about the road ahead. We’ve witnessed first-hand what a remarkable business CFC is – a tribute to the leadership team, the culture they’ve created and the commitment to excellence and innovation that has kept CFC at the forefront of the insurance market.”

Sofia Ahuja, Managing Director within EQT Private Equity’s Advisory Team, added, “CFC’s unrivalled reputation in cyber insurance and focus on emerging risk areas ensures that it is well-placed to capture the significant growth expected in the classes it writes. We’re delighted to invest alongside Vitruvian at this exciting stage in CFC’s journey.”

Stephen Byrne, Partner at Vitruvian, added, “We would like to thank the whole CFC team for a great partnership over the last four years and we are excited to be able to continue to support their ambitions for the future.”

EQT was advised by Morgan Stanley, Kirkland & Ellis, KPMG and Bain & Company on the transaction.

The transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals. With this transaction, EQT IX is expected to be 70-75 percent invested (including closed and/or signed investments, announced public offers, if applicable, and less any expected syndication).

Contact
EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334

About EQT
EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization with more than EUR 70 billion in assets under management across 27 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas with total sales of approximately EUR 29 billion and more than 175,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtgroup.com
Follow EQT on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram

About CFC
CFC is a specialist insurance provider, pioneer in emerging risk and market leader in cyber. Our global insurance platform uses cutting-edge technology and data science to deliver smarter, faster underwriting and protect customers from today’s most critical business risks. Headquartered in London with offices in New York, Austin, Brussels and Brisbane, CFC has over 500 staff and is trusted by more than 100,000 businesses in 90 countries.

More info: www.cfcunderwriting.com

About Vitruvian
Vitruvian is an independent growth capital firm headquartered in London with offices across London, Stockholm, Munich, Luxembourg, San Francisco, and Shanghai. Vitruvian focuses on dynamic situations characterized by rapid growth and change across industries spanning information technology, financial services, life sciences & healthcare, media, and business and consumer services. Vitruvian is currently investing from its fourth fund, the €4.0 billion. Vitruvian Investment Partnership IV, which is among the largest pools of capital in Europe supporting innovative and higher growth companies. Vitruvian Funds have backed over 45 companies and have assets under management of approximately €10 billion. Notable investments to date include global market leaders and innovators in their field such as Just Eat, FarFetch, Darktrace, Trustpilot, Marqeta, TransferWise, and Skyscanner.

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EQT CFC
211021_EQT Private Equity and Vitruvian announces significant investment in CFC

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WEFOX CLOSES RECORD SERIES C FUNDING ROUND FOR INSURTECH – US$650m, MARKET VALUE US$3bn

Horizons Ventures

wefox, the Berlin-based digital insurance company has raised a record US$650 million for its Series C funding round led by Target Global, resulting in a post-money valuation of US$3 billion.

This round is the largest for an insurtech globally and one of largest series C rounds ever recorded. wefox intends to invest the proceeds in strengthening its presence in existing markets and expanding globally within the next two years.

wefox, which was launched in 2015, has grown its revenues to more than US$140m in the 2020 financial year and reported a profit for 2020 through its insurance carrier, wefox Insurance.

Julian Teicke, CEO and founder of wefox, said: “We’ve grown our business significantly over the last six years since we launched and we have delivered strong year-on-year growth. This year we took several important steps, such as unifying the business under one wefox brand, expanding into Poland, and setting up a deep tech team in Paris. Within the next few years, we will expand our global footprint, increase our presence in Europe, and move into both the US and Asian markets. wefox will become the leading personal insurance company within the decade.”

“We have set out to improve the customer experience for both our advisors and our customers through technology to increase customer satisfaction, reduce customer acquisition costs, increase cross-selling, and decrease churn.”

“This is why wefox has built a huge network of advisors across Europe. We believe that insurance is all about people, and we believe that technology is an enabler and should not replace the human connection”, added Mr Teicke.

wefox is a fully licensed digital insurance company that sells insurance through intermediaries and not directly to customers, which has resulted in significant growth with a clear path to profitability.

wefox continues to deliver a loss ratio supported in large part by its straight-through- processing (STP) of more than 80%, and a central product factory that swiftly distributes new products to the market due to its full stack insurance technology.

Fabian Wesemann, CFO and founder of wefox, said: “This investment strengthens our growth strategy and moves us closer to realising our vision – to prevent 30% of risks from happening – in order to offer the most advanced service to our customers. As part of this, we want to ensure that we are building the technology to automate our business processes to have a STP ratio consistently above 80%.”

“This investment round is the culmination of six years of hard work and we are still at the very early stage of our business. I want to thank the entire wefox team for their hard work in enabling us to achieve such incredible results.” added Mr. Wesemann.

“The future of insurance service is tech-centric, and we believe Wefox’s data driven platform serving insurance agents and brokers will enable positive changes througout the value chain.” Frances Kang from Horizons Ventures said.

“We are keen to connect Wefox with local partners in South East Asia, their speed and agility could offer transformative changes in innovative fair pricing, cost- efficiency and much more satisfied customers”, added Ms Kang.

Yaron Valler, General Partner at Target Global, said: “wefox continues to deliver exceptional results backed with demonstrable year-on-year revenue growth, which saw their insurance carrier, wefox Insurance, report a profit earlier this year, marking them out to be the first insurtech to reach profitability. We invested in wefox in their series A round in 2016 and we are delighted to be leading this series C round. wefox is unique among the insurtech players with ample room for growth ahead.”

Goldman Sachs International was hired as the private placement agent to wefox for the financing round.

The Series C funding round was led by Target Global. New investors include FinTLV, LGT, Partners Group, Jupiter, Decisive Wealth, and Ace & Co. Investment from existing investors included Horizons Ventures, OMERS Ventures, Eurazeo, Mubadala, Merian, Gsquared, Creditease, Salesforce Ventures, Speedinvest, Alma Mundi Ventures, Victory Park Capital, GR Capital, Mountain Partners, Seedcamp, and Sound Ventures (founded by Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher).

 

About wefox

wefox was founded in 2015 by Julian Teicke, Fabian Wesemann, and Dario Fazlic. wefox is a full-stack digital insurance company driven by a single purpose: to make people safe and prevent risk by reinventing insurance at scale through technology. wefox is the parent company of wefox Insurance, which is the in-house regulated insurance carrier.

Timeline of funding rounds

  • ●  2021: Series C round $650M led by Target Global.
  • ●  2019: Series B round $235M led by Mubadala Ventures.
  • ●  2017: Series A round of $30M led by Horizons Ventures and Target Global.
  • ●  2016: Seed round of $5.5M led by Salesforce Ventures.

For more information contact:

John Shewell

Director of Communications – wefox HQ Ph: +49 (0)1731406796
E: john.shewell@wefox.com

UK / Europe
Sallyanne Heywood
Ph: +44 (0)7884 187 074
E: sallyanne.heywood@ext.wefox.com

US/North America
Michael McMullan / Lori Rhodes
Ph: +1 201-826-6226 / +971 56 455 7105
E: mmcmullan@bcg-pr.com / lrhodes@bcg-pr.com

DACH
Fatih Aydin
Ph: +49 151 64504430 E: mail@fatihaydin.de

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EQT Growth leads investment in Bought By Many, a leading European pet insurance provider

eqt
  • EQT Growth invests in Bought By Many, a leading digital-first provider of pet insurance across the UK, Sweden and the US, as part of its USD 350 million Series D round
  • Bought By Many benefits from secular tailwinds such as increasing “pet humanization” and rising number of pets, while global penetration of pet insurance remains low
  • EQT Growth will support Bought By Many in its accelerated expansion into new geographies, while it also continues to invest in product innovation. Following the investment, Carolina Brochado, Partner in EQT Growth’s advisory team, will join Bought by Many’s board

EQT is pleased to announce that EQT Growth has invested in Bought By Many Ltd (”Bought By Many” or the ”Company”), a leading pet insurance provider. The investment is made through EQT AB’s balance sheet and is part of Bought By Many’s USD 350 million Series D round, which gives the Company a pre-money valuation of over USD 2 billion.

Bought By Many was established in 2012 in London, UK, by CEO Steven Mendel and CTO Guy Farley, with the vision to provide a fairer, more transparent and digital-first insurance experience. It launched exclusively into pet insurance in 2017 and now reaches millions of pet owners across Europe and the US. Over the past few years, Bought By Many has emerged as one of the leading pet insurers in Europe and today covers almost half a million pets globally, including in the US, where it launched earlier in 2021. The Company has doubled gross written premium (GWP) for three consecutive years to more than USD 220 million in the past twelve months, thanks to its customer-centric, digital-first approach that enables better pricing and user experiences.

The pet insurance industry has experienced tremendous growth over the past few years, driven by strong secular tailwinds such as growing pet ownership and pets increasingly being considered as core family members by their owners. Nonetheless, pet insurance penetration is low in markets such as the UK and US, at approximately 25 percent and 2 percent respectively. As a result, while scientific advances are enabling more sophisticated veterinary treatments, many pets are unable to access improved care.

EQT has a long background in the pet industry and its experience from developing IVC Evidensia (the largest veterinary clinic network in Europe) and Musti Group (the largest pet care specialist in the Nordics, listed on Nasdaq Helsinki since 2020) makes EQT a unique partner for Bought By Many to its accelerate growth. In addition, EQT Growth will be able to leverage its global advisory network and extensive local presence in the US and all major European countries to support Bought By Many’s international expansion. Following the investment, Carolina Brochado, Partner in EQT Growth’s advisory team, will join the Company’s board.

Carolina Brochado, Partner in EQT Growth’s advisory team, said, “Bought By Many’s digital-first approach is unrivalled in pet insurance, a market that is large and underpenetrated in most European countries and the US. It benefits from secular tailwinds such as the humanisation of pets and higher spend on pet care, and is also uniquely positioned to benefit as global digitalization continues to gather pace. In less than five years, Steven and the team have built Bought By Many to be one of Europe’s leading insurtechs and we’re delighted to be working with the Company to further accelerate its growth and continue to improve the lives of pets.”

Steven Mendel, CEO and Co-founder at Bought By Many, said, “Our mission is to make the world a better place for pet parents. By creating unique policies, dramatically improving customer experience, and working closely with vets, we have made it possible for pets to be healthier and for them to enjoy longer, happier lives with their owners. We have hit several exciting milestones over the last four years, including our expansion into Sweden and the US, but most importantly we have gained the trust of hundreds of thousands of happy customers. With the support of EQT Growth and existing investors, we are now poised to reach millions more pet parents, as we continue to develop an enhanced pet health offering that takes care of every angle.”

Contact
Finn McLaughlan, +44 771 534 1608, finn.mclaughlan@eqtpartners.com
EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334

About EQT
EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization focused on active ownership strategies. With a Nordic heritage and a global mindset, EQT has a track record of almost three decades of delivering consistent and attractive returns across multiple geographies, sectors and strategies. Uniquely, EQT is the only large private markets firm in the world with investment strategies covering all phases of a business’ development, from start-up to maturity. Including Exeter, EQT today has more than EUR 67 billion in assets under management across 26 active funds within two business segments – Private Capital and Real Assets.

With its roots in the Wallenberg family’s entrepreneurial mindset and philosophy of long-term ownership, EQT is guided by a set of strong values and a distinct corporate culture. EQT manages and advises funds and vehicles that invest across the world with the mission to future-proof companies, generate attractive returns and make a positive impact with everything EQT does.

The EQT AB Group comprises EQT AB (publ) and its direct and indirect subsidiaries, which include general partners and fund managers of EQT funds as well as entities advising EQT funds. EQT has offices in 24 countries across Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas and has more than 975 employees.

More info: www.eqtgroup.com
Follow EQT on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram

About EQT Growth
EQT Growth explores thematic growth opportunities at the point companies are ready to scale, investing in a range of technology and technology-enabled businesses.

Follow EQT Growth on Medium, LinkedIn and Twitter

About Many Group Ltd
Many Group, the parent company behind the pet insurance brands Bought By Many in the UK and ManyPets in Sweden and the US, is making the world a better place for pets and their parents. 

Founded in 2012, Many Group Ltd launched its market-leading pet health offering in 2017. It offers advanced easy-to-access pet health insurance and preventive wellness services, delivered through convenient subscription-driven technology, seamless experiences – all with a human connection.

More info: www.boughtbymany.com

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Audax Private Equity Completes the Sale of Corsearch to Astorg

Audax Group

Audax Private Equity (“Audax”) today announced that it has successfully completed the sale of Corsearch to Astorg.

Corsearch provides innovative Brand Risk and Performance™ solutions to law firms and enterprise customers. Corsearch’s suite of software and services supports a brand owners’ creation and protection of intellectual property assets using innovative IP clearance tools and online brand protection including counterfeit and piracy solutions. Corsearch has more than 800 employees across Europe, North America and Asia and serves over 5,000 clients around the world including many of the world’s Fortune 100 companies.

Since being acquired by Audax in 2018, Corsearch has undergone a period of transformation, growth, and success:

Completed the carve-out from Wolters Kluwer, invested in new technology infrastructure and streamlined global operations
Completed eight add-on acquisitions globally which expanded the company’s product offerings, added new customers, and vertically integrated key functions
Invested in technology and research & development capabilities to support new product innovation
Tim Mack, Managing Director at Audax, said, “We’re incredibly proud of our partnership with the Corsearch team, their strategic transformation, and consistent customer focus. Over the course of our investment, Corsearch further expanded in online brand protection with cutting-edge solutions that are transforming how companies commercialize and protect their growth. We’re excited to retain a minority investment in Corsearch, and wish the team continued success with Astorg’s support.”

Tobias Hartmann, Chief Executive Officer of Corsearch, commented, “Audax has been an instrumental partner over the last three years, especially following Corsearch’s spin off from Wolters Kluwer into an independent, standalone company. The Audax team leveraged their deep investment expertise, global resources, and operational experience to accelerate our growth plans while enhancing our ability to meet the evolving needs of our global customer base. We thank them for their partnership and look forward to embarking on our next phase of growth with Astorg.”

Harris Williams & Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC served as financial advisors and Kirkland & Ellis served as legal advisor to Corsearch.

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CVC Capital Partners’ Fund VII reaches agreement with National Bank of Greece regarding Ethniki Insurance

CVC Capital Partners

CVC Capital Partners’ Fund VII announces that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 90.01% of Ethniki Insurance (“Ethniki”) from National Bank of Greece (“NBG”).

The equivalent nominal consideration corresponding to 100% of Ethniki would be €505m, including an “earn-out” payment of up to €120m, which will be subject to meeting agreed upon performance targets for the bancassurance channel of NBG by 2026. The transaction includes a 15-year Bancassurance partnership.

The closing is subject to standard conditions precedent, the approval by the antitrust and regulatory authorities and the approval of an Extraordinary General Meeting of NBG shareholders.

CVC Capital Partners (“CVC”) is a leading private equity and investment advisory firm with a network of 23 offices throughout Europe, Asia and the US. Since its founding in 1981, CVC has secured commitments in excess of US$160 billion from some of the world’s leading institutional investors across its private equity and credit strategies. CVC currently manages approximately US$118 billion of assets. Funds managed or advised by CVC (“CVC Funds”) are invested in over 90 companies worldwide, employing more than 450,000 people.

CVC has a dedicated Financial Services team and CVC Funds have extensive experience of investing in insurance through investments in Brit (UK), Fidelis (US), Domestic & General (UK), Pension Insurance Corporation (UK), April Group (France), Riverstone (UK) and others. CVC Funds have been approved by more than 15 financial regulators including BaFin (Germany), PRA (UK), FCA (UK), BMA (Bermuda), and FINMA (Switzerland).

CVC Funds are also one of the most active investors in Greece with a dedicated team in Athens which has invested more than €750m of equity since 2017, including in Hellenic Healthcare Group, e-Travel, Skroutz, D-Marin and Vivartia.

Deutsche Bank AG acted as sole financial adviser to CVC, Latham Watkins LLP and Bernitsas Law Firm as international and local external legal counsels and BCG as commercial advisor.

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Activa Capital signs the sale of Active Assurances Groupe to Meilleurtaux

Activa Capital

Active Assurances Groupe, a native digital broker of car and health insurance products, joins the Meilleurtaux group after three years of strong growth alongside Activa Capital.
Founded in 2011 by Thomas Riottot, Denis Salmoiraghi and Didier Naccache, Active Assurances has enjoyed uninterrupted growth since its launch. The company has quickly established itself as the leading independent online car insurance broker. With management centres in France and Madagascar, the Active Assurances group is set to generate 120,000 new policies during the 2020/2021 financial year (ending in June) and double its turnover.

The acquisition of Active Assurances will enable Meilleurtaux to support its customers across the entire value chain, from comparison to the sale and management of car and health insurance policies. The final completion of the transaction is expected in the coming weeks.
This new operation, scheduled for the end of April 2021, comes only three years after Activa Capital and Bpifrance joined the Group. During this period, Active Assurances has developed a wholesale division, completed the transforming acquisition of AFI Assurances created by Frédéric Bacmann, enabling it to duplicate its health insurance model, and acquired a portfolio of complementary health policies.

Alexandre Masson and Christophe Parier, Managing Partners of Activa Capital, said: “Since we took a stake in the capital with Bpifrance in May 2018, Active Assurances has experienced exceptional growth under the impetus of its managers. After two acquisitions, including a structural one in the health sector, the Group has achieved its initial 5 year roadmap in less than 3 years. We are very proud and happy to have supported the Group in this strong growth. This transaction demonstrates once again the relevance of Activa Capital’s positioning since 2015, focused on supporting founding entrepreneurs in transforming primary LBO transactions.”

Thomas Riottot, Chairman of Active Assurances Groupe, added: “We were immediately attracted to the DNA of the Meilleurtaux Group because of its strong presence on the web, its brand awareness and its know-how in digital acquisition and digital paths. After three years of structuring our operations and strong growth in all our businesses alongside Activa Capital, joining Meilleurtaux is a new development opportunity for Active Assurances.”

Participants
Buyers Silverlake: Christian Lucas Meilleurtaux: Guillaume Autier
Vendors
Active Assurances: Thomas Riottot, Didier Naccache, Denis Salmoiraghi, Frédéric Bacmann, Nolwenn oreal
Activa Capital: Alexandre Masson, Christophe Parier, David Quatrepoint, Timothée Héron
Bpifrance: Ménelé Chesnot, Adonis Arnaud Management Advisors Investor advisors / financing Lawyer: Degroux Brugere Financial Due Diligence: Deloitte
Vendors Advisors Corporate Lawyer: White & Case (Marc Petitier, Maud Fillon) Management Tax Lawyer: Arsene Taxand (Franck Chaminade)
M&A : Cambon Partners (Guillaume Eymar, Vincent Ruffat, Côme Mullie)
Financial, legal, tax and social Due Diligence: Deloitte (Vincent Rapiau, Christophe Mazaud)
Strategic Due Diligence: Roland Berger (Jean-Michel Cagin, Christophe Angoulvant, Ronan de Bellecombe)

About Active Assurances
Active Assurances is an insurance broker specialised in the on-line sale of automotive insurance policies. Based in Boulogne-Billancourt, in autonomous partnership with leading insurance companies, Active Assurances develops, distributes, and manages automotive insurance policies. For further information, visit activeassurances.fr

About Activa Capital
Activa Capital is an independent private equity firm, owned by its partners, characterized by a proactive build-up strategy. It currently manages more than €300 million on behalf of institutional investors by investing in French SMEs and ETIs with high growth potential and an enterprise value of between €20 and €100 million. Activa Capital assists them to accelerate their development and international presence. To find
out more about Activa Capital, visit www.activacapital.com

Press contacts
Alexandre Masson                                     Christophe Parier                                                            Christelle Piatto
Managing Partner                                      Managing Partner                                                          Communications Manager
+33 1 43 12 50 12                                     +33 1 43 12 50 12                                                          +33 1 43 12 50 12
alexandre.masson@activacapital.com      christophe.parier@activacapital.com                              christelle.piatto@activacapital.com

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Coalition Raises $175M to Build the Future of Commercial Insurance

General Atlantic

March 17, 2021

Coalition, a leading cyber insurance and security company, today announced it has raised $175 million to accelerate its rapid growth and global expansion. Index Ventures led the funding with participation from General Atlantic and the company’s existing investors, valuing Coalition at $1.75 billion.

“We founded Coalition four years ago with a mission to solve cyber risk, introducing a technology-led approach to risk management and insurance underwriting, pricing, and distribution,” said Joshua Motta, CEO and co-founder of Coalition. “Our ambitions now extend beyond cyber insurance. Nearly one in ten Fortune 500 companies is an insurance company, yet most were founded before World War II. With this funding, we plan to bring our technology-driven approach to other lines of commercial insurance as we seek to build the digital insurance company of the future.”

With this funding, Coalition plans to invest in three key areas:

Build the digital insurance company of the future. “We believe the future of insurance will be defined by technology, and we will continue to invest in building a leading technology company focused on innovation across all aspects of the insurance value chain,” said Motta.

Expand to new product lines. Following its strong growth in cyber and technology insurance, Coalition plans to imminently launch new insurance products to address a range of risks facing the modern enterprise — many of which are not well covered by standard business insurance policies.

International expansion. Following its expansion into Canada in 2020, Coalition plans to expand its offerings into multiple new international markets.

“Coalition is a clear leader in this space and we’re excited to support their vision to reimagine commercial insurance,” said Shardul Shah, Partner at Index Ventures. “Not only does Coalition provide peace of mind after a loss, but also peace from mind: their risk management platform, predictive analytics, and incident response services help organizations decisively and affirmatively remain resilient to risk.”

“Despite a surge in cyber attacks and ransomware, Coalition has delivered industry-leading loss performance by leveraging differentiated technology across the policy lifecycle,” said Paul Stamas, Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Financial Services at General Atlantic. “We’re excited by the innovation that Coalition is driving in cyber insurance.”

Coalition has raised $300 million in equity funding from leading global technology investors including Index Ventures, General Atlantic, Ribbit Capital, Vy Capital, Hillhouse Capital, and Valor Equity Partners, among others. Founded in 2017 by Joshua Motta and John Hering, Coalition is one of the largest providers of cyber insurance and security in the United States and Canada. Today, Coalition serves over 42,000 customers, providing no-cost cybersecurity tools to prevent losses, security and incident response services to contain them, and comprehensive insurance to help organizations recover from failures and breaches. The investment follows long-term capacity commitments from leading global insurers Swiss Re and Arch Insurance.

To learn more about Coalition, visit coalitioninc.com.

About Coalition

Coalition is a leading provider of cyber insurance and security, combining comprehensive insurance and proactive cybersecurity tools to help businesses manage and mitigate cyber risk. Backed by leading global insurers Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, Arch Insurance, Lloyd’s of London, and Argo Group, Coalition provides companies with up to USD $15 million of cyber and technology insurance coverage in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as CAD $20M of coverage across 9 provinces and 3 territories in Canada. Coalition’s cyber risk management platform provides automated security alerts, threat intelligence, expert guidance, and cybersecurity tools to help businesses remain resilient in the face of cyber attacks. Headquartered in San Francisco, Coalition has presences in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Washington DC, Miami, Atlanta, Denver, Austin, Vancouver, and Toronto.

Media Contacts

Mary Armstrong & Emily Japlon
General Atlantic media@generalatlantic.com

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Allianz X invests USD 75 million in fintech WeLab

AllianzX
  • WeLab has close to 50 million private and business clients in key growth markets for Allianz: Hong Kong and China
  • Allianz X investment to enable business expansion and tech platform development
  • Beginning of WeLab-Allianz partnership on insurance and investment products: WeLab Bank and AllianzGI plan strategic cooperation on digital wealth management solutions

Munich/Hong Kong, March 8, 2021

Allianz X, the digital investment unit of Allianz, is participating in the Series C financing round of Hong Kong-based fintech WeLab with an investment of USD 75 million, thus adding another promising company to its existing portfolio of Asian growth companies.

Allianz X’s investment will be instrumental in financing WeLab’s further expansion and, in particular, enabling the ongoing development of its technological platform. Allianz X’s commitment also marks the start of a deeper strategic cooperation between Allianz and WeLab. Within the framework of this cooperation, both partners plan to jointly develop digital products and solutions for wealth management, among other things. The geographical starting point of the cooperation is Hong Kong. A later expansion to the rest of the Greater Bay Area with its 72 million total inhabitants is planned, potentially also to Indonesia and the Southeast Asian markets at a later stage.

Since its founding in 2013, WeLab has established itself as one of the leading digital financial service providers in Asia. Its services include digital banking services and loans for private customers, a digital lending platform to connect lenders and borrowers, as well as a number of technology-driven services to support financial institutions in their lending processes. WeLab currently operates in Hong Kong, mainland China, and Indonesia. In total, WeLab has close to 50 million retail customers and 600 corporate customers. Based in Hong Kong, the company operates WeLab Bank, one of the first fully-licensed digital banks in Asia, which received its licence in early 2019. WeLab operates with a high-performance technology platform based on many innovations developed in-house – such as a proprietary risk management system based on Artificial Intelligence and a patented privacy computing solution that ensures the secure transfer of sensitive data.

In line with Allianz’s growth strategy in Asia, Allianz X has already made several investments in the region. These include investments in telemedicine company Halodoc; 99.co, Southeast Asia’s fastest growing digital real estate brokerage; and GoJek, a digital company that offers a wide range of services on its platform, from taxi rides to food delivery and mobile payments. BIMA, a digital insurance provider in emerging and developing markets, is another Allianz X portfolio company with extensive business in Asia. The fintech WeLab will further strengthen this portfolio.

Nazim Cetin, CEO of Allianz X: “In a relatively short amount of time, WeLab has built up a powerful platform for digital financial services and achieved excellent access to private and business customers in Asia, a region of strategic importance for Allianz. WeLab’s high-performance technology platform, in particular, makes it a unique fintech in the Asian markets. The investment in WeLab is a promising one for Allianz both economically and strategically. Together with our partners within Allianz, we look forward to leveraging our strategic partnership with WeLab and the business potential in the region.”

Simon Loong, Founder & Group CEO of WeLab: “We are thrilled to welcome Allianz as an investor and strategic partner to the WeLab Group. This is a natural partnership where we see a lot of synergies between the whole WeLab Group and Allianz as a leading insurer and asset manager, particularly as we share a focus on delivering advanced technology solutions to customers in Asia. Today, we announce both the new round of funding and a strategic partnership in wealthtech and financial services with WeLab Bank. We look forward to expanding WeLab’s geographical presence and bringing our technology into these new markets with Allianz. We will be expediting our hiring this year, aiming to add around 100 hires, as investing in people and culture will be key to support future growth.”

Desmond Ng, Head of Asia Pacific at Allianz Global Investors: “Asia is home to some of the most dynamic wealth management and banking markets of the world. Hong Kong, in particular, is a significant market for us. With the second-highest bank deposits per capita in the world, it is a very attractive wealth management market. The potential strategic cooperation with WeLab presents an exciting opportunity for Allianz Global Investors as an integral part of our growth strategy in Asia.”

Media contacts:

Allianz X

Gregor Wills

+49.89.3800-61313

gregor.wills@allianz.com

 

WeLab

WeLab Communications Team

+852.6214-4734

pr@welab.co

 

AllianzGI Asia-Pacific

Kimsten Law

+852.6506-8370

kimsten.law@allianzgi.com

ABOUT ALLIANZ X

Allianz X invests in digital frontrunners in ecosystems relevant to insurance and wealth management. As one of the pillars of Allianz Group’s digital transformation strategy, Allianz X provides an interface between Allianz Operating Entities and the broader digital ecosystem, enabling collaborative partnerships in insurtech, fintech, and beyond.

For more information, please visit: https://www.allianzx.com.

Allianz-X_Press-Release_Allianz-X-invests-USD-75-million-in-fintech-WeLab

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