Insurtech MGA Equipsme oversubscribed in crowdfunding during pandemic

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The insurtech decided to crowdfund as it wanted control over its own destiny during the pandemic, and it has been oversubscribed in its crowdfunding and seen a surge in customers since March

Insurtech MGA Equipsme has been oversubscribed in its crowdfunding on CrowdCube during the pandemic.

This is because the demand for healthcare insurance and associated products is very high right now. Also the nature of seeing the doctor has changed with many appointments taking place remotely over video or the telephone.

Matthew Reed, founder and managing director at Equipsme, told Insurance Times: “For us, Covid-19 has just accelerated our strategy. We wanted control over our own destiny during this period and crowd funding was a really interesting way [to do this].

“Everything happens for a reason, it was just perfect timing for us. We had more website hits in May and June than we had during the whole of 2019.”

It has enabled the insurtech to bring forward its self-employed product and its platform due to the surge in demand.

Equipsme which is also a founding member of Insurtech UK.

It has seen its customers increase by 90% since March, when the government announced that the UK will be locking down to control the spread of Covid-19.

The insurtech is continuing to roll out its product through various digital distribution channels, which includes Starling Bank as well as Simply Business in October. It will also be exploring various additional means of distribution as the year progresses.

Supporting SMEs

When asked about the spike in website hits, Reed said he believes it is because Equipsme is selling an everyday, affordable health product aimed at SMEs.

“We have always wanted to crowdfund, right from the beginning when we built the business,” he said. ”We felt that it brought a lot of interesting opportunities and was in line with our company values. We are all about making something accessible for everybody, but we wanted to get to a point where we had an easily understandable story.”

Reed was previously the head of global SME at AXA but left to launch his healthcare insurtech back in February 2018.

Elite

“Traditional health insurance tends to be executive or slightly elitist within businesses, whereas we are trying to get smaller, younger businesses into the health insurance market, Reed said.

“If you look at any reasonable sized business when they say they have health insurance, what they normally mean is the top 10% of executive is covered,” he said. ”It is very rare to find a business that gives health insurance to everybody.”

This, he explained, is because employees only get health insurance when they get to a certain level in the business or a certain age, and the premiums are therefore pricier as the risk is higher, so it becomes a perk.