(Image source: INSTANDA homepage.)
INSTANDA (London), creator of a no-code customer and policy management platform for the insurance industry, has announced the close of a $45 million fundraising led by Toscafund, a London-based growth equity investment firm for financial services companies, with the participation of existing investor Dale Ventures.
Tim Hardcastle, CEO, Instanda.
INSTANDA says the funds will be used to enhance the platform’s capabilities, with a focus on billing, claims and product accelerators, especially for the U.S. and Canadian markets. This will enable the platform to serve a wider range of insurers and further transform customer experience by dramatically reducing claims processing costs, digitizing all aspects of the insurance value chain, and building full product aggregation capabilities, according to an INSTANDA statement.
INSTANDA says it also aims to expand its product presence, building ISO, NCCI, and AAIS product templates. With these accelerators, INSTANDA reports that it will expand its support of personal, commercial, and specialty products for both admitted and non-admitted insurers, further cementing its value proposition as a core platform for carriers, brokers and MGAs.
INSTANDA describes its technology as digitizing the complex insurance value chain with its core digital policy administration system, along with an interface that allows business users to innovate, manage and distribute insurance products across all lines within property/casualty and life and health insurance. Insurers can deploy and orchestrate their product portfolios locally and globally within days and weeks—ten times faster than the industry norm, according to the vendor. INSTANDA asserts that combination of “no code” freedom with pre-built product libraries provides unmatched advantages to help grow clients’ competitive advantage and market share.
Greg Murphy, EVP, North America, INSTANDA.
Following a $19.5 million raise at the beginning of 2020, INSTANDA reports that its growth momentum continued through the lock-down period and increased further in 2021 as it added 21 new clients across the US, UK, Europe, and Japan, reaching over 70 clients globally by Q1 2022. INSTANDA’s U.S. clients include Markel, National General and Brokkrr Inc. The company predicts future revenue growth, as insurers digitize customer interactions and core operations and turn to the INSTANDA platform to meet a wide range of changing needs.
“INSTANDA’s no-code insurance core platform was built by insurers for insurers based on the belief that technology should be used to accelerate change and innovation at low cost,” comments Tim Hardcastle, CEO & Co-founder, INSTANDA.“This is what sets INSTANDA apart from the crowd. No other platform allows carriers and MGAs across all lines of insurance to fully embrace the diversity of insurance and respond to the anticipated change in consumer needs and behavior.”
“As a true disruptor we are restless by nature, constantly striving to stay ahead of the curve, to not only meet our clients’ needs but pre-empt them,” Hardcastle continues. “The funding from Toscafund is a significant milestone and will provide added impetus to aim higher in delivering exceptional client and user interactions. Being able to digitize all aspects of the insurance value chain will allow insurance providers to transform the customer experience even further, while dramatically reducing processing costs, thus enabling them to bring a better insurance experience to more people and businesses around the world.”
“Insurers are beginning to change their expectations about costs and timelines for core system transformations, comments Greg Murphy, EVP, North America, INSTANDA. “When they realize digital transformation no longer requires millions of dollars and multiple years, the lightbulb goes on and they start to embrace the power of our platform.”
George Koulouris, Partner, Toscafund.
Unique Design Thinking
Fabrizio Cesario, Partner, Toscafund, notes that the company’s investment in INSTANDA fits with its strategy of partnering up with exciting, founder-led, disruptive financial services businesses across Europe. “We have a strong track record in selecting high growth technology-driven businesses and look forward to working with INSTANDA’s management team to successfully develop the business further,” Cesario says.
George Koulouris, Partner, Toscafund, observes that INSTANDA attracted the investor through its unique design thinking, strength of management and execution across a wide range of insurance lines, products and geographies. “There is widespread belief that the insurance industry is ripe for change and disruption, yet very few companies prove they can really deliver significant improvements with a compelling value proposition,” Koulouris says. “INSTANDA is one of those, so the potential is unlimited. We are delighted to be their financial partner and support them in changing the world of insurance for the better.”
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