Estonian-based tech startup, DriveX, which aims at saving Billions for car insurance and mobility companies, is announcing that it has closed a $1M investment round. The funding was led by DEPO Ventures and brought together an outstanding number of angel investors including Silicon Valley’s notable VC fund Plug and Play Ventures.
Of the 37 angel investors who participated in the round, notable mentions include Fund Fellow Founders, Startup Wise Guys, Oliver Ahlberg and Taavi Madiberk, co-founders of Skeleton Technologies; Arti Kütt, CEO of Cleveron; Kristjan Vilosius, co-founder of Katana MRP and Marko Virkebau, co-founder of MeetFrank. Among the startup’s existing investors was Estonia’s former Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas and Mikko Silventola, Bolt’s first investor.
“As a stamp of Estonia’s outstanding angel investor community, this funding round brought a total of 37 angel investors into one syndicate. DriveX is now well equipped with unprecedented versatility in its efforts to build a scalable global company,” said Akim Arhipov, the founder of Fund Fellow Founders.
Insurtech in driving
DriveX acts as a tech partner for insurers. Utilising its proprietary AI-assisted verification, companies can inspect vehicles remotely. The image recognition technology of the DriveX platform ensures the quality and reliability of the provided input by the insurance applicants about their vehicle’s condition. The product was developed by a team experienced in driving innovation for Cleveron and Swedbank. DriveX stands out in the inspection technology space owing to its ease of use, as heralded by its fast-growing user base.
Companies can implement the DriveX web-based solution without writing even a single line of code, whereas customers can easily take real-time photos through the platform. The digitised process is enabling insurers to give immediate feedback to customers, automatically activating or denying the insurance policy. Insurers have consequently saved on costs, reduced fraud & risk and provided a better digital customer experience. Whether selling motor insurance policies or managing claims, DriveX solutions exist to help employees and customers.
Established in the Baltics
DriveX was founded in 2019 by Rauno Sigur, Kentti Koppel, and Valter Läll. The company is presently focused on the auto insurance industry, which is estimated to be worth more than $880B worldwide. By automating the pre-inspection processes, insurers save up to 90% of inspection costs.
DriveX is currently working with the largest international insurance providers across the Baltics, Croatia, and Romania. Some of its customers include BTA from the Vienna Insurance Group, BALTA from the PZU Group and ERGO from Munich Re. The new investment will catalyse DriveX’s expansion efforts across Europe and beyond. The funding will also support the emergence of new use cases in vehicle rental, leasing, and sales processes.
Having gathered a cohort of advisers from Estonia’s unicorns and soonicorns, DriveX is well on its way to launching the next phase of its technology, an automated visual damage detection solution. This new feature will help to eradicate fraud from vehicle inspections and accident recovery. It also has the potential to significantly transform all processes around changing vehicle ownership.
Alireza Masrour, the General Partner at Plug and Play Ventures said, “When a valuable asset changes user or ownership, both parties seek to understand the history of its maintenance and use, as well as its current condition, as confirmed by a third party they can trust and seek advice from. We at Plug and Play think that DriveX can be the company that people and the automotive industry trust. We are excited to be part of their journey as an investor and see how they innovate and bring more transparency to this market at both the B2B and B2C levels.”
