London-based insurtech Collective Benefits has announced that it closed £6 million in funding led by NFX, a leading Silicon Valley venture fund. Also, existing investors, including Stride VC, Delin Ventures, Insurtech Gateway and executives from Uber, Deliveroo and Urban took part in the round.
Growth plans
Collective Benefits plans to use the investment to further expand its reach across Europe, double its team, and develop new products and services for independent workers and the on-demand companies they work with, thereby addressing the growing demand for insurance and benefits in the platform economy. It will also let the company develop even more products to protect gig workers’ physical, mental and financial wellbeing, from public liability insurance to pensions.
Notably, the round came a year after Collective raised a £3.3 million seed funding and the total investment it has raised accounts for £10 million.
Anthony Beilin, CEO and Co-Founder at Collective Benefits said: “We see NFX’s investment in Collective as a major vote of confidence in our ability to solve the protection gap problem for tens of millions of independent workers across the UK and Europe. With its focus on network effect businesses, its technical capabilities in insurance and its well-deserved reputation as a leading early-stage VC, we felt that NFX was an ideal partner to help Collective on the next stage of our growth journey.”
Pete Flint OBE, General Partner at NFX said: “I’m thrilled to have brought Collective Benefits into our portfolio at NFX. We like to partner with the startups that will define their category. Collective is a fantastic fit in that regard: a market leader that’s solving an as-yet unsolved problem – the missing safety net for independent workers – in a way that creates a win-win outcome for both independent workers themselves, and the platform companies they work with.”
Appoints new board member
Alongside the investment, the renowned British entrepreneur Pete Flint OBE, a General Partner at NFX (the founding member of lastminute.com and Trulia), will join Collective’s board. Beilin said, “We look forward to working closely with Pete Flint, who we welcome onto our board with his extensive scaling and investment experience, and the wider NFX team as we support the individuals that until now have been underserved as well as the companies that are propelling our economy forward.”
Solves growing protection gap
Recently, Collective found that only 4% of freelancers or self-employed have protections like sick pay and injury pay to fall back on if needed. Already, it is working on addressing this issue. Also, it is working directly with on-demand platforms such as TaskRabbit, Stuart, and Wolt among others. With the scaleup plans, the company intends to grow its user base to provide protections to ten times more independent workers in 2022.
Collective Benefits builds fully flexible insurance and benefits specifically for independent workers, from sick and injury pay to family and compassionate leave. The company provides insurance and benefits to over 200,000 independent workers across 20 countries.
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