Cover Genius raises funding for further expansion

Cover Genius, the insurance distribution platform provider, is eyeing further growth across the UK, US and into Asia following a $10 million (£7.77 million) funding round.

The round was led by King River Capital, the Sydney- and California-based venture capital firm.

Other participants included London-based, investment professional Jasper Tans, the New York-based Belfer Family, Australia-based pre-IPO fund Regal Funds Management, and Marinya Capital.

Cover Genius’s insurance distribution technology provides regulated insurance policies that integrate into online point of sale and signup paths, in more than 60 countries and 50 US states. 

The insurtech firm pays approved claims via its instant payments platform in more than 90 currencies.

Since 2014, Cover Genius, founded by Angus McDonald and Chris Bayley, has enabled millions of customers worldwide to purchase insurance from their favourite online brands, such as Booking Holdings.

Commenting on the announcement, Cover Genius chief executive officer and co-founder Angus McDonald said: “The insurance industry has been held back by legacy systems and a lack of global coordination and customer-centricity for decades. We sought to change that and create simple, yet useful, policies, streamline the claims process and enable the world’s largest online companies to protect their global customers.”

“Customer needs have evolved and today they want protection for a variety of items like sports equipment, pets, electronics, contracting work, jewellery, flight tickets, and cars. We are evolving the insurance experience to cover all of the things they care about and purchase online.”

Chris Barter, partner at King River Capital, commented: “Their extraordinary growth over the past few years is no surprise when you look at the many friction points for customers that they have resolved and the opportunities they provide for partners to offer protection to all their worldwide customers and increase customer loyalty. We are pleased to support their ongoing growth and continued international expansion.”

Cover Genius has run several funding rounds since its inception in 2014, but its founders “bootstrapped the company and since then have built a highly profitable global insurtech business in just over five years”, according to McDonald.

He added: “This latest round of funding will help us build out our European and Asian operations, bi-coastal US presence, and expand in half a dozen new countries in line with the needs of our global partners and customers.”

Mark Dugdale