Insurtech firm lost EU funding as a result of Brexit, but filled gap through fintech platform

Last month I wrote a story about a UK insurtech startup Honcho which had to find £650,000 when money due from the EU was put on hold due to Brexit. I can report that the company has succeeded in getting the funding it needs, and a bit more, to move forward.

I told the story of how Honcho was trying to raise the money through crowdfunding platform CrowdCube, with Investors getting shares in the company.

North East England based Honcho is a free mobile app that promises to take on the established price comparison websites for car insurance. Rather than the customer looking for the best deal, they put their details into the app and the insurance providers make bids to the customer. Insurers pay £1 to bid and there are three rounds of bidding, with insurers able to see what prices competitors are offering.

When I first wrote the article in early December the company had received £300,000. The good news is the company exceeded its target and has received £850,000 in investments.

Honcho was originally getting funds from the Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises (Jeremie). This is part of the European Investment bank fund, which is shared by organisations across the UK. But this was put on indefinite hold due to Brexit uncertainty. This came at a critical time in Honcho’s development and it could not afford to wait.

Honcho’s success in acquiring the funds is a reflection of a hot market for this type of platform. Insurtech is one of the growth areas in the UK at the moment as the insurance sector attempts to emulate what is going on in banking through fintech.

I am interested in hearing from any tech companies that are being affected by Brexit. Please share your views i n the blog or email me on [email protected]