The first UK insurtech unicorn, Zego, completes the next step in its European expansion as its setups in the Netherlands and ramps up operations significantly in France.
The commercial motor insuer will target the +£20billion European fleet insurance market by offering a product that rewards better, safer driving, empowering customers to save up to 20 per cent on premiums at renewal through proactive risk management. By adopting Zego’s insight-driven approach, fleet companies can also cut the number of insurance claims they make annually by up to ten per cent.
The international expansion follows an exciting 12 months for Zego, where the company grew its headcount from around 300 in January 2020, to 637 today, and was recognised by Deloitte as one of the UK’s fastest-growing tech companies in their tech Fast 50 Awards.
News of the European launch comes as many traditional insurers on the continent consolidate, with a 9 per cent reduction of insurers in the Dutch market between 2019 and 2020 alone. This has left fleet managers with fewer viable insurance options than ever before, with many of the remaining providers still working off older, outdated rating models and time-consuming manual processes.
Comparatively, Zego’s tech-led proposition centres around a fully-automated fleet portal, harnessing telematics to unearth behavioural insights that empower fleet managers to improve performance and take control of the price of their premiums. As well as offering fleet managers the ability to save up to 20 per cent on premiums at renewal, Zego’s fleet portal saves fleet customers up to 40 per cent on admin time, while also helping to improve route efficiency, minimise vehicle and driver downtime, reduce fuel costs, reduce wear and tear, slash maintenance bills, and ease road congestion.
Like the UK, both France and the Netherlands have seen operating costs covering fuel, wages and maintenance rocket in recent months, meaning Zego’s more efficient approach could be a lifeline for many businesses on the continent. Zego believes that aligning insurance premiums to the driving behaviour of fleets can lead to a dramatic drop in road collisions by commercial vehicles. Its data suggest that its fleet offering precipitates up to a ten per cent reduction in claims, due in part to the greater oversight of driver behaviour.
Sten Saar, CEO of Zego commented, “Commercial vehicles now account for over 13 per cent of the vehicles on our roads, the highest proportion ever recorded, and this number is rising, as technology continues to decentralise our shopping and travel habits. For the people and businesses managing these fleets, flexibility and control are both highly sought after, but driver behaviour remains a huge variable that is notoriously difficult to influence.
“Telematics and data science have proven that they can improve driving behaviour, and when combined with a financial incentive, they have great potential to make fleets safer and cheaper to run. At Zego we are using this data to understand risk better than traditional insurers and other insurtechs, so we can offer more accurate pricing and more control; both of which have halo effects that improve life for everyone.”
Zego was founded in 2016 by ex-Deliveroo directors, Sten Saar and Harry Franks, and enjoyed immediate success after pioneering flexible price-per-mile insurance. This product enables fleet managers and self-employed drivers and riders to pay only when their vehicles are in use. Since its foundation, Zego has gone on to revolutionise its commercial insurance products and now supports fleets and drivers working for companies like Amazon, Uber, BP and Deliveroo.
