France-based InsurTech Koala has scored €1.6m in a funding round led by UK-based incubator and fund Insurtech Gateway.
Playfair Capital, Techstars Ventures and several unnamed private investors also contributed to the funding round.
This equity infusion will empower Koala to pursue its rapid growth plans, expand its team and increase product development. The InsurTech plans to become the “ultimate travel companion” and will extend its services beyond insurance.
Koala co-founder and CEO Ugo Weyl said, “Every year, hundreds of millions of passengers suffer flight disruptions and face an uphill battle to claim compensation. Travellers face antiquated claims procedures, with only 15% of customers receiving a pay-out. We felt this was unfair, a delay is a delay and customers should be compensated 100% of the time.”
Koala offers a data-driven solution which proactively alerts travellers of disruptions to their flights and offers instant pay-outs with no questions asked.
In three months’ time, Koala will be available on the booking funnel of two airlines and four travel agencies, it claims.
Insurtech Gateway co-Founder Stephen Brittain said, “We had seen several flight disruption startups before Koala. Their positioning to work directly with the airlines was bold, different and clearly learned the hard way. We’re excited to support them as they launch their beta product and to be a part of their future success. They are going to be one to watch.”
Earlier in the year, Insurtech Gateway led the £1.1m seed round of predictive analytics tool Loadsure.
Fellow French InsurTech solution Alan recently collected €50m in its Series C round from Temasek and Index Ventures.
France’s FinTech sector hit record levels of funding last year, with $848.2m being deployed through 53 transactions. Funding has grown year-on-year since 2015, where funding was just $178.7m through 32 transactions.
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