Luko -- one of the fastest-growing European insurtech leaders that prioritises social responsibility when protecting homes -- today announces it has raised €50 million in Series B funding led by EQT Ventures to deliver the best experience in home insurance, putting transparency and technology at its core.
Existing investors Accel, Founders Fund, Speedinvest, and Orange Ventures also participated in the round, alongside angels with insurance and technology backgrounds, including Assaf Wand (CEO and co-founder of US unicorn Hippo Insurance).
The new funding will be used to further invest in Luko’s proprietary technology, product development, and growing the team. Since launching in 2018, the founders have assembled a team of 85 people with diverse skills and experiences from leading organisations such as Airbnb, Facebook, Admiral, Uber, Doctolib, Axa and Withings.
Founded in Paris, France, Luko provides a refreshing take on property insurance for renters and homeowners alike. By placing social responsibility and prevention at its core, Luko has struck a chord with a growing base of users looking to align their values with purpose-driven businesses. Luko is now the leading French neo-insurer with more than 100,000 policyholders and pan-European expansion plans. Despite the COVID-19 crisis, Luko has grown more than 6x since its last funding round, making it one of the fastest-growing insurtech companies in Europe.
Co-founders Raphaël Vullierme (CEO) and Benoit Bourdel (CTO) created Luko with the ambition to have a positive impact on society. The company is B-Corp-certified and aligns its growth with a novel insurance model centered around its Giveback program. Since its inception, 70% of Luko’s premiums are pooled with other customers’ and this pool is used to pay compensation; 30% go towards Luko’s management costs. At the end of the year, any premiums left in the pool that haven’t been used to refund claims are donated to charities chosen by policyholders.
Cementing its position as an innovative homecare leader, Luko has been pioneering multiple services to help customers, partnering with the likes of Munich Re and Swiss Re. Starting with proprietary hardware technology & AI, the team has been focusing on their preventive offering by providing sensors to track water leakage and electrical consumption. The latest innovation, Doctor House, is a world-first video consultation service that provides expert knowledge on how to take care of one’s home and delay wear and tear. More than 1,000 policyholders signed up to this offer in less than two weeks, a further step towards the ambitious vision of proactive insurance that Luko stands for.
With this new funding, the company wants to go even further, as Raphaël Vullierme, CEO and co-founder of Luko, explains: "Luko's ambition has always gone beyond insurance. Our long-term vision is to help build and democratize the sustainable homes of tomorrow, enabling everyone to live at home with peace-of-mind. Our transparent and communal model has already helped more than 100,000 French people and we are very proud today to work with EQT Ventures to accelerate this vision in Europe".
Rania Belkahia, Deal Partner at EQT Ventures, who joins Luko’s board, added: “We were incredibly impressed by Luko’s stellar team, united in their singular focus on changing people’s perception of insurance from something arduous to truly positive, thanks to their unique technology. As EQT Ventures’ first investment since opening our French office, Luko is a flagship company in which we are proud to play a part. Their mission to transform the future of homecare and protection through transformative technology, powered by a social conscience, really caught our eye and we are looking forward to their continued growth into a European powerhouse.”