Zurich leads $14.4m insurtech funding to expand in ‘difficult’ SME cyber market

Zurich Insurance Group has led a $14.4 million investment in a Toronto-based global cyber insurtech in line with its plan to build its presence in the SME and retail cyber markets.

Cyber insurance and risk management insurtech BOXX Insurance has secured a Series B funding of $14.4 million, led by Zurich, following an ongoing collaboration between the two companies. Zurich and BOXX first partnered in September 2021, followed by the insurer backing its Series A funding alongside other investors.

The Series B funding round brings the total amount raised by BOXX to $24.5 million in the last 16 months.

BOXX provides fully-integrated cybersecurity and insurance solutions for small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMEs), consumers and families. In October 2022, BOXX acquired cyber security platform Templarbit and has begun the integration of its threat intelligence software into its product suite and underwriting framework. The company also launched its Hackbusters Incident Response, virtual CISO service for businesses, a new mobile app solution for consumers, in addition to testing a number of new security-based initiatives.

"We've seen how difficult it is to build cyber insurance solutions for the small business and consumer segments – it is costly and requires deep technical expertise to stay ahead. BOXX addresses these challenges unambiguously, affordably, and with a genuine understanding of what customers and their risk advisors need," said Jack Howell (pictured), CEO of Zurich Global Ventures.

"Helping customers with innovative digital solutions and embedding them into the customer journey, is critical. It's impressive to see the simplicity in how BOXX is tackling such a complex global challenge."

André João Neiva, head of cyber at Zurich Global Ventures, added: “In a time when we are digitally more connected than ever, it means we are creating a constant flow of data and, as a result, cyber protection and services are more relevant than ever for small businesses and individuals. Since we began our collaboration with BOXX Insurance in 2021, we have gained a deeper understanding of our customers’ needs and developed better capabilities and technical expertise.”

BOXX Co-founder and CEO Vishal Kundi, said: "Our goal was always to help our customers stay ahead of cyber threats in addition to being there to help them respond and recover from an incident. We've been making a lot of headway with this and additional category expansion."

"We're not only seeing more of our existing cyber insurance customers adding our security products, but also seeing new customers coming in attracted by our latest security products and services.”

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