20 Things You Didn’t Know About Wefox
Wefox is the fastest growing insurance company in the country of Germany. Also known as Wefox Group, the organization uses technology to connect customers, distributors, and insurance providers. Wefox Group is considered to be an insurtech company and it operates throughout Europe. Through the technology employed by Wefox, stakeholders within the insurance arena gain easy access to insurance contracts as well as entering new contracts, or making revisions as needed with a single click. The services provided are available online. Wefox is Europe’s first digital insurance carrier with full integration into the Wefox wallet, which has helped the company to grow and establish a solid reputation within the industry. To help you become better acquainted with this phenomenal new insurtech company, here are 20 things you didn’t know about Wefox.
1. Wefox has five founders
The Wefox digital insurance technology firm was established in 2015. It has only been in operation for just over four years. While it’s a fairly new company, its growth has been impressive. The company was founded by a team of five professionals including Dario Fazlic, Fabian Wesemann, Teodoro Martino, Jonathan Seoane, and Julian Teicke. The headquarters are located in Berlin, Germany.
2. Wefox is a service platform
The insurance industry is a big business throughout the world. Due to stiff regulations, massive amounts of documentation, releases, agreements, forms, and contracts are required. The Wefox group has developed an innovative approach to creating a space that stores and grants access to stakeholders to all of the contracts and forms needed with a single click. All services are available online at any time of the day or night. This significantly streamlines the insurance process for agents, customers, providers, and all parties involved.
3. Julian Teicke is the co-founder and CEO of Wefox
Julian Teicke is an entrepreneur and the leader of Wefox. In addition to his duties as chief executive officer, he is also a member of the board of Wefox and ONE. He has served in this capacity since the company first launched in October of 2015. He is credited with aiding the reinvention of insurance distribution at scale.
4. Teicke has launched several companies
Wefox is in good hands under the leadership of Teicke. He has years of experience in business startups and as an entrepreneur, he has founded several businesses prior to Wefox. In 2014 he founded Empaua, a firm that aids in the personal and professional growth of employees, and remained as chairman for just over 5 years. He was also the founder and chairman of doctorly, assisting healthcare professionals, for just over two years. Teicke established the Global Citizen Foundation and served as a member of the board of trustees in December of 2019 and is presently involved with the organization. He also founded and chaired the HeartSpace Platform for a Progressive Live in April of 2017 and is still presently involved with the company.
5. Wefox is an independent insurance broker
The Wefox firm maintains a database of insurance carriers and provides information for people who are in the market for insurance coverage. Through the Wefox platform, professionals make data available to prospective customers with no hassle or pressure so decisions can be made from the privacy of their own homes. Skilled professionals are available to help answer questions.
6. The firm uses AI technology
Wefox is different from most other insurance brokerages because they implement the use of Artificial Intelligence to provide consumers with an overview of their entire insurance coverage portfolios. This includes status analyses, best offers from carriers offering the fairest conditions, and a free insurance check that is automated.
7. Wefox is revolutionizing the insurance industry
Wefox customers enjoy easy use and convenience with a simple platform that provides accessible data for the individual. Each step is digitized and personalized information is available with your current or new insurance broker there for you to answer complicated questions. You can update or change your policy online without the need to go into an office or have a representative come to your home. You can have your site personalized to meet your preferences and you can receive documented consultation services.
8. Wefox covers most insurance types
Anyone interested in insurance can ask for insurance quotes and they are provided upon request. You can specify how to want to receive the information as Wefox provides quotes through their app, over the telephone or over the web. Requests are customized and personalized and the processing time is quick. The firm offers information about all kinds of insurance types including health, auto, legal, and pension.
9. Wefox has been successful in funding rounds
Wefox was the recipient of $125 million that was raised in a round of Series B funding. Mubadala Ventures, owned by the Abu Dhabi government led the round and was joined by Creditease, a Chinese investor. This followed a previous round of Series A funding that raised $28 million in 2016. Other investors for Wefox include Salesforce Ventures, Target Global, Idinvest, Seedcamp, and Sound Ventures which is the investment vehicle owned by American actor Ashton Kutcher.
10. Wefox has a steady revenue stream
This firm is doing very well for the short amount of time that it has been in operation. The revenues of the company have grown to approximately $40 million annually. Wefox serves over 400,000 customers currently, along with over 1,500 insurance brokers and this makes it the number one insurtech platform in all of Europe, according to the Wefox Group’s CEO and co-founder Julian Teicke. Wefox is a company that is on its way to unicorn status.
11. Wefox customers come from 2 sectors
People who are searching for the best possible insurance coverage are discovering that Wefox is a brokerage firm that provides them with easy to access information that helps them in the decision-making process. The firm gains customers in two ways. People contact them directly via the website, mobile app or telephone for direct to consumer service, and insurance brokers direct their clients to the Wefox platform. In addition to providing the necessary data and forms, Wefox is a platform that is designed as a digital wallet where details of the different insurance coverages that customers have subscribed to are stored.This makes it a one-stop-shop granting complete and total access. Most recently, 20 percent of Wefox customers sign up directly with the company and 80 percent find them through other insurance brokers.
12. Wefox is a resource for insurance brokers
In addition to servicing people who subscribe to the various kinds of health insurance available, as a brokerage, Wefox also provides resources for insurance brokers and agents as well. The company generates leads for brokers who find customers. This makes Wefox a valuable resource for all stakeholders in the insurance industry from brokers, to agents, to teh ned consumer. This is a part of the reason why the company is enjoying such tremendous success. It simplifies everyone’s life to a degree and in this day and age, consumers demand to have digital services that make their lives less complicated.
13. Wefox is invested in the Internet of Things
The Internet of Things, also known as the IoT, is a data revolution by which all things are interconnected. Wefox is modeling this trend through the use of advanced technology that helps to create pathways to interconnect relevant data that people need to access and to make everything related to insurance accessible in one convenient hub or platform. Wefox has hypothesized that the insurance industry is not far from being “massively impacted by the IoT data revolution,” according to Teicke. This includes access to real-time variables for accurate pricing of insurance products
14. The Wefox team is preparing for the future
Wefox is already the fastest growing insurtech company in Europe, but the firm has a vision of where it needs to go in the near and distant future. Executives have an eye on the trends in consumer demands and the ways that technology is integrated into the provision of services and goods. Wefox plans to not only provide an insurance brokerage platform, but also offer a service that offers advisement for the reduction of risk in an add on to the core business model of the firm.
15. Wefox was threated with a lawsuit
Recently, Wefox was the recipient of threats by Lemonade, which is an insurance platform based in New York, USA. The company claimed that Wefox created its subsidiary One from a reverse-engineered model of Lemonade, infringing upon the intellectual property of the US-based company. Threats were made and a complaint was filed in the state’s US District Court, but the suit was eventually dropped. Apparently, Lemonade had made a big deal about their belief that Wefox was stealing concepts adn ideas but as it turns out, the complaints were not founded on solid legal ground.
16. Wefox has an interesting executive team
The executive team leading Wefox is made of up an interesting group with a unique interrelatedness. Julian Teicke who is the co-founder is also the co-chief executive officer and managing director. He is also a member of the board of directors of the firm. Teicke shares the CEO position with Tasos Chatzmichailidis who is also the co-chief executive officer.Amir Suissa is a co-founder who serves as President adn board member. Fabian Wesermann, also a co-founder in teh group chief financial officer and managing director and Dario Fazlic, also a co-founder is a managing director.
17. Wefox has made one acquisition
Wefox acquired the insurance company ONE. This is its sole acquisition so far but the selling price of the company has not yet been disclosed. It has increased the valuation of the firm and expanded the services that are provided for customers in the insurance sector that provides Wefox with an app. This is a part of Wefox’s strategic plan to grow in the core markets.
18. One of the Wefox execs is based in Spain
Sergi Banos Lara is the chief technology officer for Wefox. He is based in Barcelona, Spain, but flies to Berlin weekly to conduct business. Lara was a member of the 30 under 30 list which points to the fact that he has achieved significant accomplishments in the business world prior to reaching the age of 30, according to Forbes. He doesn’t seem to mind making the weekly pilgrimage to work.
19. Wefox recently expanded into Italy
Wefox started its business operations in Germany but has continued to expand the services that it offers to other countries. Lara heads the operations from the base in Spain, and there are operations conducted in the countries of Switzerland, Austria, and the most recent addition was made in Italy. It has been indicated that the strategic plan for Wefox is to continue to expand operations throughout Europe. There has been no mention of expanding the enterprise to North American markets at this point in time.
20. Wefox is privately owned and held
Those who are considering an investment in Wefox need to know that this is a privately owned company that is backed by investment firms and it is privately held. It has not yet made the decision to go public. The company is just under 6 years old and it is barely out of the startup stage, and beginning to gain in maturity. So far, Wefox has sufficient financial backing and there is no indication that there would be a benefit from a public offering. There are plenty of venture capital firms willing to make further investments to back expansion and future progress of the firm. Although we’re not sure what the future holds for the insurtech company, at this time, the plan is to continue with their plans to remain a privately held firm and forego filing for an IPO.