London insurtech founder: ‘I don’t think there’s anywhere else we could do something like this’
London commands a world-leading position in two sectors: insurance and fintech. And while the city has been a central pillar of the insurance industry for several hundred years, it’s managed to carve out its position in fintech within 20 years.
Now, the city has set its sights on the insurtech space.
London is perfectly positioned to become a world-leading destination for insurtech. Almost every major insurance company in the world has an office in the capital, with the industry gravitating around Lloyd’s of London, the centuries-old insurance market.
It’s this network that’s helping startups in the space to thrive.
London leads the way
“I’m seeing signs London might be one of the best cities on earth for venture,” Ed Leon Klinger, CEO of Flock told CityAM on the day the company announced a new long-term partnership with Admiral Pioneer, which is part of Admiral the UK’s leading motor insurer. “I don’t think there’s anywhere else we could do something like this,” he added.
Flock has become one of London’s fastest-growing insurtechs. From a team of two (the founders) in 2016, the company has over 70 employees today and is still growing. It has received backing from a range of venture capital investors, including Octopus Energy, Anthemis, and Commerz Ventures.
The company uses telematics data to insure commercial vehicles, including black cabs, delivery drivers, and Uber drivers. According to the company, its platform is used to insure one-third of Amazon’s UK delivery fleet.
The partnership with Admiral via the group’s venture arm, Admiral Pioneer, will help it scale up to the next stage of growth, leveraging Admiral’s reputation and expertise to build on its customer-centric approach.
Admiral Pioneer was set up in 2020 as part of Admiral’s ambition to find the next generation of insurance firms and expand its footprint into new markets. In the years since, it’s launched several businesses and taken stakes in others, including Admiral Business (flexible business insurance) and Veygo (flexible insurance for learners and young drivers).
The customer focus
Admiral Pioneer CEO Emma Huntington told CityAM the division’s goal is to “Bring what Admiral does well and merge that with insurtech.” For the most part, what Admiral does well is customer service.
The group has won ‘Best Motor Insurance’ provider nine years in a row at the Personal Finance Awards, was awarded the Commended Home Insurance Provider 2023 rating by Moneyfacts, and its contents cover was awarded Moneyfacts’ highest five-star rating. It has 84,000 reviews on Trustpilot, with an average rating of 4.5.
Admiral has also won multiple awards for employee satisfaction. It has been rated as a ‘Great Place to Work’ for 23 years in a row by the Great Place to Work ® Institute, the global authority on workplace culture.
“It’s about bringing the customer what they want,” Emma said when asked what Admiral saw in Flock. “That’s what we do within Admiral Pioneer. Everything is built with the customer in mind,” she added.
That’s something both Flock and Admiral have in common. “The customer was involved in the process throughout design,” Ed said. The company “bought customers into the process to discuss what they want and how the company could achieve that,” he added.
Even though Admiral is based in Cardiff, Flock has described the collaboration between the two as a “mainstream moment” for insurtech and London’s insurance market.
“Businesses like Admiral Pinioeer are very, very rare,” Ed said, but “We’re getting there.”
‘Very exciting time’
Unlike fintechs, which are mostly capital-light and operate within a light-touch regulatory regime, insurance remains a heavily regulated sector which requires vast amounts of capital.
That’s why collaborations are so important. They allow startups to lean on the balance sheets and reputations of the big players. The good news is the incumbents are starting to change.
“It’s early doors, but big insurers are setting up their own venture arms. They’re starting to build a track record. They each have their own flavour, but there is a fledgling strategic investment industry in the UK,” Ed said.
“There are things these companies realise they can do extremely well, and there are things they realise startups can do really well,” he added. The “coming together of two different skill sets can produce something that’s much better for the customers and build better businesses,” he added.
There could be plenty more tie-ups in the years to come. The insurtech sector is today where the fintech sector was five years ago, according to the Flock founder. “It’s a very exciting time to be working on these types of things,” he concluded.