Travel insurtech startup Koala has finalized a €2 million funding round.
Existing investor Insurtech Gateway led the round with new investors, Uneti Ventures, Slimmer AI and Sterling Oak, also participating.
The funding will go toward growing European operations including recruiting for its technology and sales teams and developing further travel protection products.
Founded in 2018, Koala is a B2B2C startup that builds travel insurance products for its customers and has so far developed Koala Flex, a cancellation for any reason product and Koala Trip Disruption, for delays, cancellations and missed connections.
Subscribe to our newsletter below
Léo Tordjman, co-founder of the company says: "COVID-19 was a real eye-opener for the travel market but also for travel protections, which showed many of their limitations with messy exclusions and very long reimbursement processes. Post-COVID, travel agencies and operators are more than ever looking for solutions to allow their users to travel with peace of mind. But traditional insurers have done very little to innovate since then, and that's where Koala comes into its own. All of our products are unique, automated and customizable to enable an unprecedented customer experience. And thanks to our data-driven approach, we enable our partners to generate much more revenue than with their current offers.”
Koala, which says it reached profitability in 2022 and protected 100,000 travelers, aims to cover 500,000 travelers in 2023.
It adds that its data-driven approach has been key to its success so far.
Marion Doucet, chief product officer for Koala, says: “At Koala we continually A/B test our prices, protection details, visuals and even content. A traveler leaving last minute in the South of France and another one preparing their trip in five months for the United States does not have the same expectations or sensibility to protect themselves, that's why our technical solution automatically adapts our product to the travelers. We are convinced that hyper-specification is a golden opportunity in the travel protection market.”
The company announced seed funding of €1.6 million in 2020.