A lot can happen in a year…
In 2019, Zego celebrated its third birthday - a grand old age in start-up years! It’s been quite the ride so far, with new product offerings, expansion to new European countries, a huge round of fundraising and a licence to write our own insurance products. So, what exactly has Zego achieved this year?
We created our pay-per-mile fleet product
The launch of our brand new fleet insurance product gave us the opportunity to partner with a number of exciting companies including Drover, WeFlex and Splend. Our bespoke pay-per-mile deals - the first of their kind - have allowed our partners to save money by only insuring their vehicles when they’re actually on the road. The data we collect also allows companies to obtain a better understanding of their drivers, reducing the risk of accidents and consequently the cost of insurance. We’re excited to roll out our fleet products to even more new partners in 2020.
We launched in Spain, France and Belgium
As well as launching new products, we launched into new markets too. Our partnership with insurer La Parisienne allowed us to expand into Europe; we now have offices in both Spain and France. Our new e-Scooter inusrance partnership with Dott also allowed us to operate in Belgium. We’re planning further expansion across Europe in 2020, moving into the new and micro-mobility sectors in particular.
We held our first company offsite
At the beginning of September, the Zegons landed on Osea Island, as our entire team took part in a two-day offsite. There were some great activities on offer, including an island-wide laser tag competition, axe-throwing and yoga just to name a few. Click here to watch a video of our time on the island!
We raised $42 million in our Series B fundraise
One of our biggest milestones this year, the Series B fundraise, was a huge moment for the business. We managed to raise $42 million, which is one of the highest amounts for a European insurtech fundraise round. We used it to fuel some exciting new developments within the business, most notably...
We are now a company of 165 people
It takes a lot of great people to build an insurance company for the 21st century, so growing our business is now one of our main priorities. Thanks to the efforts of our People team and a number of other Zegons, we are now a company of 165 people, with many more set to start in January. Of course, we had to scale the number of office dogs to our new headcount, so we have plenty of new furry friends too!
We got a move on…
Shortly after we closed our Series B fundraise, we realised we’d outgrown our beloved old office in Techspace and that we needed somewhere a bit bigger to hold all our brand new Zegons. In July, we completed the treacherous journey from one side of Shoreditch to the other to settle in our stylish new offices in the Tea Building.
We hit an exciting milestone
In September, Zego officially sold more than 100 million hours’ worth of flexible insurance policies - the equivalent of 267,000,000 pizza deliveries, half a billion e-scooter rides or 137,000 months of on-demand car subscriptions. At the end of this year, we’re currently totalling at over 185 million hours, which represents a huge level of growth.
We secured our own insurance licence
In another massive milestone for Zego, we were awarded our licence to underwrite our own insurance products - the first insurtech in the UK to be able to do so. This allows us to innovate with new policies and implement product changes with an unprecedented speed to market. However, we are still working with our network of insurer partners, and are actively looking to expand the Zego partnership family.
We scooped up a bunch of awards
Our efforts and achievements this year have not gone unnoticed, with Zego being awarded some very coveted titles. We were listed as number 7 in the Startups 100, won a spot in the Fintech50 and were named ‘One to Watch’ in the European Business Awards. It’s always great to get some external recognition for all of our hard work.
What’s coming up in 2020?
We don’t want to give away too many spoilers, but we have a lot planned for 2020. We will be continuing to grow and hire at a fast pace and refining and expanding our product offerings of Taxi & Private hire, Fast Food Delivery, and Courrier Van Insurance.
Things can change really quickly when you’re a young company, but we’re confident that 2020 is going to be our best year yet.
