With no major European player for cycling and e-mobility insurance, London-based Laka is a collective insurer for bike and e-bike owners that lets community members pay a collective pot each month instead of an annual premium.
Raises $12M Series A
In a recent development, the London-based insurtech has raised $12 million in Series A funding. The financing round was led by US mobility investor Autotech Ventures alongside participation from sustainable mobility and energy fund Ponooc; a Dutch sustainable mobility investor with close ties to the world’s largest bike seller Pon, and ABN AMRO Ventures of European bank ABN AMRO.
Also, existing investors including Creandum, LocalGlobe, 1818 Ventures and Elkstone Partners participated in this round. Besides this, angel investment came from Zwift CEO and co-founder, Eric Min.
European expansion plans
Laka will use the proceeds of this round to rapidly expand across Europe by launching in Belgium, France and Germany in the first half of 2022. Already, the company is insuring many leading last-mile delivery companies in the UK including Zapp, Jiffy and Urb-it. Now, it will focus on expanding to cover commercial fleets across Europe. Also, Laka will focus on companies shifting their fleet to greener transport and e-mobility that are underserved by traditional insurers.
To support rapid growth, Laka will double its remote-first workforce and provide collaboration hubs across Europe, scale its award-winning customer experience, place a heavy focus on introducing deeper API and e-commerce integration options and drive innovative pricing through its AI behavioural risk modelling capabilities.
Burak Cendek, Partner at Autotech Ventures said “Autotech Ventures is truly excited to partner with the Laka team. As a transportation focused fund, we’ve been witnessing the explosive growth in personal ownership of two wheelers – especially in light of the pandemic – as well as increased business use cases within logistics.”
Rui Li, Investment Manager at Ponooc said “Our reason to support LAKA is obvious. As an investor specialised in sustainable mobility we see the large and fast growing need for a customer centric, transparent and digital mobility insurance proposition. We are convinced that insurtech will play an important role in accelerating the adoption of sustainable mobility.”
Hugo Bongers, Managing Director at ABN AMRO Ventures said “ABN AMRO Ventures is thoroughly excited to support Laka in its journey to becoming Europe’s leading green mobility insurtech, and become one of the startups contributing to saving the world from climate change. We look forward to partnering with Laka’s outstanding management team and the other investors involved to drive a big outcome together.”
Tobias Taupitz, CEO and co-founder of Laka said, “2021 truly depicted an inflection point for Laka as we moved from a pure direct-to-consumer play towards retail and commercial partnerships. E-mobility is redefining transport globally, and Laka has set out to build the backbone to support the e-mobility segment at a time when “Net Zero Emissions” has rightly become front of mind for consumers, businesses and government policy. To support this shift towards a greener future, we have a bold vision to become the world’s largest e-mobility insurance partner.”
Eric Min, Zwift CEO and co-founder said: “The shift to greener transport is happening fast, and it needs a forward-thinking and highly adaptable insurer to help power that change. That’s why I’m excited to be a part of Laka’s growth across Europe as they leverage tech, data and their in-house claims expertise to lead in the e-mobility insurance space with their unique model”.
What makes Laka unique?
Laka was established by Ben Allen, Jens Hartwig, and Tobias Taupitz in 2017. It is a unique insurance model and intends to expand its product offering to e-scooters, e-mopeds and e-cars to better serve manufacturers, retailers and leasing businesses.
Laka offers insurance for both retail and commercial customers ranging from enthusiast cyclists and commuters, e-cargo bike drivers and delivery fleet riders. Its flexible pay as you go policies cover the bike per day, and pricing based on the actual cost of claims. Its platform delivers a fast and straightforward user experience for businesses and consumers starting from the set up to making a claim.
Also, it has won partnerships with global giant Randstad, iconic cycling brands Raleigh and Le Col, and a leading international consumer bank and the world’s largest sports retailer, Decathlon.
Avoids upfront premiums
The company provides customers and businesses’ with a fairer and collective-driven approach to insurance. Its customers have to pay no upfront premiums and are instead charged based on the cost of claims submitted by the collective the previous month. Fewer claims result in lower charges. Laka customers work together as a collective and share the cost of claims.
Laka handles all claims, divides the cost fairly and limits each customer’s maximum monthly spend with a cap based on the value of the equipment that is insured by each individual member. All members fully benefit from lower costs and are protected, provided there is a high volume of claims in any given month.
