Insurance technology start-up Aqeed.com launches

New insurance technology company Aqeed.com launched in the UAE yesterday after securing $18 million in Series A funding from its corporate shareholders.

The company, which says it will “disrupt” the way insurance is bought and managed in the region, secured the funding from the shareholders behind Barents, an international reinsurance group, and Equitrust, a company member of Choueiri Group, a leading media and advertising conglomerate in the region.

“As an InsureTech veteran myself, Aqeed not only directly addresses problems common to the insurance market, but the concept goes over and beyond insurance aggregators currently in place,” said Rachid Abi Nader, the company’s chief executive.

Aqeed said the funds would boost its penetration into the UAE market and help the company expand its team and invest in the latest insurance technology.

The firm is entering a busy market, with several financial aggregators, such as Souqalmal.com and yallacompare. com, already offering online access to insurance products.

Philip Bahoshy, chief executive of the start-up online community platform Magnitt, said Aqeed’s launch was significant, as it was the “emergence of a player specialising in insurance provision as opposed to financial product comparison.

“It’s another sign of the growing interest in the FinTech space by entrepreneurs and investors alike,” said Mr Bahoshy.

In October, Souqalmal.com raised $10m in Series B funding to expand its regional presence, with leading UK company GoCompare joining the funding round. In February, the company announced that residents buying car insurance from 15 providers via its online platform could now swap their annual premium in favour of monthly instalments.

Hadi Radwan, Aqeed’s chief product officer, said the company had a different model to its competitors’.

“We focus on bringing innovation across the whole insurance value chain such as product development, marketing, distribution, pricing and claims. Our competitors tackle only one area of the insurance market, which is distribution,” he said.

The Aqeed fundraising is the largest round for an insurance technology company in the region.

Mr Bahoshy said the company’s structure was interesting, as “they are an early-stage start-up that is specifically backed by corporate shareholders”.