German insurtech raises €114m
Who’s involved: German digital insurer, Friday; investors SevenVentures and German Media Pool; and the Baloise Group, Friday’s founder and majority shareholder
What’s happening: SevenVentures and German Media Pool are investing €39m ($44m) in Friday, while the Baloise Group is investing €75m
Significance of development: The investment round will support further development of Friday’s pay-per-mile car insurance proposition. Friday is risk carrier regulated Luxembourg and German authorities, and has acquired 45,000 customers since it was founded in 2017.
Timeline: With immediate effect
China’s Ping An Insurance partners with AI player
Who’s involved: Ping An Insuranceand SingularityNet, which offers an open network of AI services
What’s happening: Ping An is discussing how to integrateSingularityNet infrastructure with Ping An’s IT infrastructure in order to analyse the different types of data available
Significance of development: SingularityNet and Ping An will focus on three main areas: optical character recognition, computer vision and model training.
Ping An said it expected the collaboration to boost the Chinese insurer’s reach and competitiveness
Timeline: With immediate effect
Jewellery startup raises $2m in funding
Who’s involved: BriteCo, a US startupthat partners with jewellers to help consumers insure fine jewellery and watches
What’s happening: BriteCo has announced a $2m seed funding round. Investors include Brian Spaly, the founder of Trunk Club, and Jeff Taylor, the former chairman and CEO at Cole Taylor Bank
Significance of development: BriteCo claims to fill many of the gaps in traditional jewellery insurance market. For example, itautomatically updates protection each year and says it offers a more streamlined claims experience.
Jewellery insurance often covers a static replacement cost, requiring customers to get items reappraised every couple of years. However, BriteCo automatically adjusts replacement values each year to match the market
Timeline: With immediate effect
