Berlin-based insurtech firm simplesurance has raised an addition USD11.5 million taking total investment in the firm to date to USD60 million.
Investors in this latest fundraising round include the multinational insurance company TMHD and the Franco-German financial group ODDO BHF.
TMHD who is a multinational insurance holding company and the largest insurance group in Japan will support simplesurance’s market entry into Japan. The Asian expansion is also planned.
“We are confident that through our collaboration with simplesurance, a world leading insurtech company that provides an insurance platform utilising innovative technology, we will be able to bring innovation to the Japanese and Asian insurance markets,” says Osamu Kanda, Managing Executive Officer and Chief Commercial Company Officer at TMHD.
simplesurance founder Robin von Hein sats: “Six years after the founding we are already active in 28 European countries and are now capture the Japanese market.”
Chief Insurance Officer Dominik Bark adds: “The Japanese market is very attractive. However, digital change hasn’t arrived yet in the industry although the people are very tech-savvy. By using our first mover advantage for digital insurance solutions we will be able to build an entirely new insurtech market in Japan.”
The second investor is ODDO BHF, an independent Franco-German financial services group, with a history stretching back over 160 years. It was created from the alliance of a French family-owned business built up by five generations of stockbrokers and a German bank specialising in Mittelstand companies.
With 2,300 employees (1,300 in Germany and 1,000 in France and Tunisia), and more than EUR100 billion in assets under management, ODDO BHF operates in three main businesses, based on significant investment in market expertise: private banking, asset management and corporate and investment banking.
The Group has a specific ownership structure as 60 per cent of its capital is held by the Oddo family and 30 per cent by employees. This “partnership” ethos guarantees the long-term involvement of its teams. In 2017, ODDO BHF generated net banking income of EUR591 million, and at 31 December 2017, the Group had over EUR 844 million of shareholders’ equity.
Phillipe Oddo, Managing Partner at ODDO BHF, says: “In our innovation process, we have decided to invest in Fintechs. We have already invested in two Fintechs in France – Lydia and Bankin. simplesurance is our first investment in the German FinTech market. We are convinced by its management and its unique business model.”
“Winning ODDO BHF – the family-owned unique Franco-German financial group – as an investment partner strengthens our competitive position as a leading insurance service provider around the world and facilitates our diversification and expansion strategy,” says von Hein.
