AI-driven insurtech Getsafe draws $17m funding for international expansion

Germany-based insurtech start-up  Getsafe has raised $17 million (€15 million) Series A funding for its artificial intelligence (AI) powered insurance business.

The funding round was led by Earlybird, a venture capital firm focused on European technology companies, with participation from CommerzVentures and other existing investors.

The investment will help the start-up in its planned European expansion. By the end of 2019, Getsafe plans to enter the British market, with other markets scheduled to follow in 2020.

The company expects to raise more funds over the next twelve months, and also plans to double its workforce with a focus on customer care, software development and data science.

"We want to become the go-to insurance brand for a whole generation of young customers in Europe," said co-founder and CEO Christian Wiens. "To achieve this, we rely on technological solutions that simplify the lives of our customers and have built one of the most powerful insurance platforms in the world. Now it's time to expand our activities at home and abroad."

Wiens added: "While US start-ups often tend to first scale and fix infrastructure later, we Germans like to do it the other way round.” Getsafe’s platform already supports several insurance lines and creates the basis for the company to operate an exceptionally efficient business model."

Christian Nagel, partner at Earlybird, commented: "At Earlybird, we invest in innovative and scalable technology companies that have the potential to revolutionize entire industries. The disruption of the insurance industry is in full swing and offers large growth potential. Getsafe's app provides the simplest and most flexible access to affordable insurance products, especially for young people - a clientele that has remained hard to reach for the insurance industry."

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