Riskbook raises £2m to drive win-win-win for reinsurance

Riskbook Ltd, an independent provider of reinsurance technology, announced today that it had received new investment of £2m to further develop its Lloyd’s-recognised digital placement platform. Through Seed funding from leading private venture capital firms Episode 1 Ventures, MMC Ventures and Seedcamp, Riskbook will maintain its industry independence as it scales to meet the needs of a growing global customer base of cedents, brokers and reinsurers.

Homegrown in the reinsurance industry, Riskbook was co-founded by Jerad Leigh (formerly of TigerRisk and Aon), Ben Rose (formerly of Aon and Lloyd’s) and technical co-founder Jezen Thomas (CTO). Their mission, to radically improve the reinsurance placing experience for brokers and underwriters, secured initial funding in 2019 following successful beta testing of the product with the U35s reinsurance group and garnered numerous awards, including additional investment as part of the Norton Rose Fulbright Insurathon.    

The new £2m of funding will see Riskbook establish itself as the leading independent provider of reinsurance placement technology, doubling down on its industry expertise with new hires, such as Chief Actuarial Officer Dr. Paul Bassan (formerly Hokodo, Cytora and Aspen Re) along with making expansions to its in-house engineering team. Further enhancements to its existing broker to reinsurer interface are expected in addition to the launch of a never before seen service for cedents, which will automate the preparation and validation of submission exhibits in collaboration with their brokers.

Jerad Leigh, CEO of Riskbook, said:

“We are excited to be partnering with leading venture capital firms to create the placing experience the reinsurance community has dreamt of for decades. Paired with Riskbook’s win-win-win philosophy, this new funding cements our role as a trusted independent provider to cedents, brokers and reinsurers alike.”

Damien Lane, Partner at Episode 1 Ventures, said:

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Riskbook as they build a market-leading independent reinsurance platform. We loved the team’s combination of deep market insight gained from years of industry experience and their hugely impressive technology capability. In a short space of time, the team has built something that has had an enthusiastic reaction from all sides of the market and all the investors are looking forward to working with Jerad and Ben to continue to deliver game-changing solutions to the industry.”

ENDS

About Riskbook:

Riskbook is an independent reinsurance technology startup, providing a radically better placement experience to cedents, brokers and reinsurers. Our team, combining reinsurance and software expertise, focuses on creating an exceptional user experience for global reinsurance practitioners. Flexible across all non-life products and lines of business, we enable the seamless flow of actuarial-grade data throughout the traditional value chain.

About Episode 1:

Episode 1 is a seed stage investor in UK based, tech-driven companies, working with outstanding founders building high potential companies. The team has previously invested in high profile success stories like Zoopla, Shazam, and Betfair.

About MMC Ventures:

MMC funds and helps scale technology companies that are transforming today’s markets. It has been backing transformative tech companies from the Seed and Series A stage since 2000. MMC commits to a deep understanding of each company’s underlying technology and business model to help make better decisions and be more effective partners.

Transformative technology companies MMC has backed to date include Gousto, Interactive Investor, NewVoiceMedia, Current Health, Signal AI, Bloom & Wild and Peak.

About Seedcamp:

Seedcamp is Europe’s seed fund, identifying and investing early in world-class founders attacking large, global markets and solving real problems using technology. The Seedcamp Nation includes over 350 startups building breakout businesses that change the way people live, interact and buy and includes European decacorn, UiPath, fintech unicorns TransferWise and Revolut and fast-growing businesses such as wefox, Hopin, Pleo and Ezra. Seedcamp fast-tracks a founder’s vision and creates value through immediate access to smart capital, a lifelong community of support and a global network built upon more than a decade’s experience backing exceptional talent.