Digital insurance company wefox raises $650 million at a valuation of $3 billion

After growing its revenues to more than US$140m in the 2020 financial year, wefox closed a record-breaking funding round led by Target Global. The company was launched 2015 in Zurich. Although the team works primarily out of Berlin nowadays, the wefox Holding is still incorporated in Switzerland.

The financing 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.

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.” 

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. The company 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. 

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.”

The company was launched 2015 in Zurich. The wefox Holding, the entity in which the $650 million were invested is still incorporated in Zurich. Several board members of the Holding are working out of Zurich. Wefox cofounder and CRO Dario Fazlic is an active member of the Swiss start-up scene. He is cofounder of Immozins and has invested in Schlaufux, poinz and Yamo.

Impressive list of investors

The Series C funding round was led by Target Global. New investors include FinTLV, EDBI, LGT and its affiliated impact investing platform Lightrock, Partners Group, Jupiter, Decisive Wealth, and Ace & Co. Investment from existing investors included Horizons Ventures, OMERS Ventures, Eurazeo, Mubadala Capital, Mountain Partners, Merian, G Squared, CE Innovation Capital (formerly known as CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund), Salesforce Ventures, Speedinvest, Alma Mundi Ventures, Victory Park Capital, GR Capital, Seedcamp, and Sound Ventures (founded by Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher).

(Press release / SK)Picture: Two of the three wefox cofounders Fabian Wesemann (left) and Julian Teicke.