Insurtech Homelyfe bags £2.4m seed funding to stop buyers getting gazumped

Homelyfe, an insurtech start-up that helps new homeowners manage all of their insurance requirements via one app, has raised £2.4m in seed funding.

Led by Talis Capital and Peterson Ventures, the investment follows Homelyfe’s full launch earlier this month and the offering of its first policy – Home Buyer’s Insurance.

Created in response to the problem of potential buyers getting ‘gazumped’, where someone makes a higher offer for a property after an original bid had been accepted and thus succeeds in acquiring the property, Homelyfe say such a problem will happen to one in 10 homebuyers over the next two years.

Aiming to make managing insurance easier for customers through use of technology that makes the process more intuitive and less jargon heavy, Homelye’s app consolidates data to reduce the question sets consumers have to go through to apply for each policy.

Within the app, consumers can do everything from getting quotes and purchasing, to managing and renewing multiple insurance policies and even initiating a claim.

Pursuing an “aggressive product roadmap”, Homelyfe will use this latest injection of cash to further technical development and increase its headcount in customer success and data management – as the product begins to gain users.

Founded by Peter Goodman and Andrew Craven, the serial entrepreneurs have established a number of startups, most notably Brighter Option (now Social.com) – the world’s largest Facebook management platform, which was sold to Buddy Media and subsequently Salesforce in 2012.

Goodman is also founder of property law firm When You Move.

Peter Goodman, CEO and co-founder of Homelyfe, said:

“Our vision for Homelyfe is to build an insurance solution around the needs of the modern consumer.

“The insurance industry has seriously fallen down on customer centricity, not interacting with people on the technology they want to use, or with the solutions they expect and not being wholly transparent around pricing.

“Homelyfe is giving the insurance industry a much-needed update; making insurance simpler to help consumers get the right policy, at the right price, 24/7.”

Vasile Foca, managing partner of Talis Capital, said:

“At Talis, we believe in combining cutting edge technology with conventional business, and Homelyfe’s modern and consumer-centric approach to insurance fits perfectly with that ideal.

“Insurtech is an area we continue to monitor closely, especially as it’s a sector experiencing monumental shifts in technology.

“Peter and his team have built an extremely scalable solution, and we’re delighted to back a company that promises to change the attitudes and experience of the insurance industry.”