Why we invested in Hedvig
Frankfurt, October 13, 2020 - How would you imagine a €25 bn market that has been dominated by the same small handful of players for decades? The attributes “dynamic”, “competitive”, and “customer-focused” probably do not come to mind.
In 2017, Lucas Carlsén together with his co-founders Fredrik Fors and John Ardelius realized that P&C insurance in the Nordics was firmly stuck in the 20th century. Having experienced the inner workings of the industry as consultants, they saw an opportunity to change the status quo.
Hedvig launched its home insurance in Sweden in 2018. Fast forward to 2020, and Hedvig is at the same eye level with some of the largest Nordic insurers in new business market share.
Its rapid success in the marketplace is no accident, of course. It is grounded in an important insight: Given the highly intangible nature of insurance, what matters more than anything else is the customer experience.
Hedvig indeed provides a superior experience to consumers at all touchpoints: from purchase, policy management, and service interactions, to claims.
Consequently, 85% of customers rate their experience with Hedvig as “Excellent”, and most customers are won either organically or through referrals. In insurance, this is unheard of!
While the Hedvig app is at the center of its customer experience, the Hedvig team firmly believes that the human element is just as crucial.
The best insurance experience is digital and human at the same time. Most incumbents fail at both.
And Hedvig?
Take a look at Hedvig’s “Claims rating” Slack channel. Initially this was an internal channel only, showing in real time the ratings and comments customers give to the Hedvig claims team, after a claims process closes.
Earlier this year, Hedvig gave the whole world access to this channel, showing the unfiltered truth about their service. Few other companies would show such feedback publically and in real-time, and it is a good example of how Hedvig builds trust with consumers through a digital and human experience.
The ethos of any young company is shaped by its founders. Lucas, John and Fredrik have built an organization that enables all team members to provide the best possible experience to customers, and to fundamentally reset consumer expectations of insurance.
The Nordics are home to a good number of startups that became global success stories and fundamentally impacted their respective industries. We believe that Hedvig’s approach to insurance can travel very well across borders and indeed has a global appeal.
We at CommerzVentures couldn’t be more excited to be joining them in their mission!
Originally posted on LinkedIn by Paul Morgenthaler.
