Lemonade leans on Aviva to carry its next-gen insurance coverage platform to the UK • TechCrunch

New York-based insurance coverage large Lemonade is formally launching within the U.Okay., its fourth market in Europe and fifth total, with a bit assist from one of many oldest and largest insurance coverage suppliers within the U.Okay.

Lemonade, for the uninitiated, emerged into the trillion-dollar insurance coverage house again in 2015, with a brand new tackle how shoppers ought to be capable to purchase insurance coverage. Cell-first, and AI-powered automation for registering and submitting claims was the secret, versus dusty previous brokers and forms.

On prime of that, the corporate has all the time been vocal about its ethics, positioning itself because the antithesis of a conventional insurance coverage firm — the corporate is a licensed B Corp, which means that it’s independently assessed for its social and environmental efficiency. Its marketing strategy primarily entails charging a set price, after which donating a few of its underwriting earnings to a charity as chosen by every buyer after they enroll.

However Lemonade continues to be very a lot a for-profit insurance coverage juggernaut, having secured almost $500 million in funding as a startup, from big-name backers together with SoftBank, Alphabet’s GV, Sequoia Capital, and Allianz. The corporate hit the general public markets within the midst of the pandemic two years in the past, and as with many digital-first cloud corporations throughout the lockdown years its shares soared, with the corporate hitting a market cap of greater than $10 billion at one level — greater than triple its early public valuation — earlier than falling again all the way down to Earth with a crash. The corporate’s valuation right this moment is lower than $1.5 billion, reflecting a broader insurtech downturn that has hit a number of corporations arduous. 

Extra lately Lemonade closed its first acquisition when it purchased auto insurance coverage startup Metromile, earlier than promptly shedding round 20% of its workers. An indication of the occasions, maybe. 

Lemonade lands within the U.Okay.

And all this hullaballoo takes us to right this moment, the place Lemonade is now formally open for enterprise within the U.Okay., the place it’s going to market with a barely extra trimmed down providing in comparison with what it affords within the U.S. Certainly, in its home market, Lemonade affords insurance coverage spanning contents (renters), owners, pet, automotive, and life, whereas in Germany, the Netherlands, and France the place it’s expanded into over the previous few years, it’s restricted to contents insurance coverage. 

For the U.Okay. market, Lemonade is providing contents insurance coverage beginning at £4 per thirty days, and consists of world protection for private gadgets of as much as £2,000 in worth every as much as a complete worth of £100,000. Clients will pay further charges for added protection, corresponding to unintended injury to cellular units.

Though Lemonade is a fully-licensed insurance coverage provider in its personal proper, the corporate has fashioned a strategic partnership with Aviva, one of many largest basic insurers within the U.Okay. At first, this would possibly look like an odd coupling on condition that they’re primarily rivals, but it surely does really make sense. Lemonade is the younger tech-driven upstart in search of assist scaling in a profitable new market, whereas Aviva is the $11 billion incumbent with roots working again greater than 300 years, searching for to faucet a youthful demographic. And the primary fruits of this partnership will see Aviva function Lemonade’s reinsurance associate.

“We share a typical outlook for a way digital, AI and knowledge can rework buyer experiences, and the position insurers can play in constructing stronger communities,” mentioned Adam Winslow, CEO of Aviva UK and Eire basic insurance coverage, in an announcement. “In our 325 12 months historical past we’ve got tailored and thrived in a altering world, and our partnership with Lemonade is a marker of our intent to proceed simply this.”