SPAC Spinnaker Acquisitions Plc has today announced a reverse merger with LeakBot, a B2B Insurtech business and formerly wholly-owned subsidiary of HomeServe PLC. The newly formed entity is called Ondo InsurTech Plc and has become the first insurtech to list on the public market.
The reverse merger saw Ondo gather £3.4M from investors, with shares valued at 12p per share and a market cap of approximately £8.2M. Ondo intends to use the acquired financing for partner development, onboarding and the enhancement of delivery and IT systems.
Solving home insurance biggest nightmare
According to the Association of British Insurers, water damage is presently the biggest driver of home insurance claims in the UK, often causing huge destruction and losses for homeowners who may spot them too late.
This correlates to a larger than the desired payout in claims, with conditions ever-worsening owing to increased housing and ageing of the broader housing market. Insurers claim to pay £1.8M to escape-of-water claims every day in the UK and $17B per year in both the UK and the US.
An award-winning solution
Ondo pioneered LeakBot, a device that is specifically designed to monitor any potential escape of water in homes and provide a ‘find and fix’ solution, once the device has been alerted to the presence of a leak. Leakbot is a patented system designed for insurers to reduce the risk of escape-of-water claims.
Leakbot serves as an end-to-end claims mitigation system, that aims at preventing excessive water wastage and damage to building materials as well as household equipment. The technology consequently bears a strong customer advocacy score on Trustpilot, of 4.8. This consequently led to LeakBot’s winning of the DIAmond Award at this year’s Digital Insurance Agenda in Amsterdam.
Leakbot the past, Ondo the future
In what is being referred to as a British tech company success story, Ondo carved out its niche, dominated it and opted to go it alone with the IPO, ending its relationship with British heritage company HomeServe.
Leakbot was founded in 2016 by Craig Foster and designed its patented Thermi-Q technology to detect water leaks in homes, without the need for professional installation. It connects to the home wireless network and, in case of leaks, alerts the customer via the LeakBot mobile app, providing access to a team of expert LeakBot engineers to find and fix the problem.
Since its launch, LeakBot has partnered with a number of the UK’s major home insurers to supply LeakBots to their customers to aid reduce the risk of claims caused by water damage. These companies include Direct Line Group, Hiscox, Eaton Gate and Covéa Insurance. In February 2020, Hiscox was the first UK insurer offering a free LeakBot as standard to all new and existing home insurance customers.
LeakBot is also available in Denmark via TopDanmark, and through Länsförsäkringar in Sweden, and has also recently launched in the United States with SageSure and Mapfre. LeakBot can also be purchased online for £149.
“We have reached the milestone of trading as an independent public company at a time when sustainability, business and consumer financial pressures have never been greater. We have always worked with one mission in mind – to help drive sustainable risk reduction – and are excited to now scaling our existing solution while working with our home insurance industry partners to continue to drive risk reduction through innovations in InsurTech,” remarked Craig Foster, CEO of Ondo.
