The Heidelberg start-up has received the green light for its property insurer.
(Photo: press photo)
Frankfurt The digital insurer Getsafe has received approval for property and casualty insurance from the financial supervisory authority Bafin. This is the first property insurer in Germany since the Bafin tightened the requirements for new registrations at the turn of the year. “We are all the more pleased that the financial supervisory authority has given its approval,” says Getsafe founder Christian Wiens.
The Heidelberg start-up submitted the application for the insurance license last year. In January, however, the Bafin complained in its monthly journal that young insurers often plan too little money at the start and have problems leaving the red.
It therefore asked future start-ups to reflect their risks more appropriately than before and to have significantly more own funds at their disposal than was the case with comparable predecessors. Many industry observers feared that this could make it much more difficult to set up an independent insurer in Germany.
In this respect, the license for Getsafe can be seen as a success. “It was important to the Bafin that we work profitably in the insurance business and that we can bring new lines into the profit zone promptly,” explains Wiens. “In addition, the supervisory authority wanted to see that we had enough equity capital to invest in the growth and further development of the IT systems.”
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The company was given a boost by the fact that at the beginning of October it was able to announce the expansion of the current financing round by 55 million to now 80 million euros. Investors in Insurtech include the reinsurer Swiss Re, the venture capitalists Earlybird and Commerz Ventures as well as family offices from German-speaking countries.
The first policies from the company’s own property insurer are planned soon
The first products from the company’s own property insurer, which is part of the Getsafe Group, will be liability, household contents and dog liability insurance. In addition, the company, which was started in 2017, will continue to act as an underwriting agent – i.e. develop and sell insurance products for which another insurer is the risk bearer.
Getsafe has 250,000 customers and is active in Germany and the UK. The company’s own license is intended to simplify further European expansion, and products and innovations are to be brought to market more quickly. To this end, the start-up is working with Swiss Re as a reinsurer.
Muhyddin Suleiman, CEO of the new property insurer, says: “In future, we will significantly reduce the processing time for claims and offer more services via app.” Customers also get better prices.
More: Insurance start-up Getsafe collects 55 million euros