John Warburton's InsurTech start-up Konsileo is targeting 25 brokers after receiving funding.
InsurTech start-up insurance broker Konsileo has set its sights on recruiting both individuals and teams as it looks to scale up having secured raised £2.7m in Series A Funding from technology investor Committed Capital.
The technology driven commercial intermediary, is seeking brokers, whether on their own or part of teams, that might have become disillusioned with their employer, promising its systems can save up to 60% of the time spent they currently spend on administration whilst also giving them a greater share of the revenue from the business they generate.
Risk hub
Part of the technology offering is mid-market specialist Konsileo’s fact find, operational broking and risk hub that automatically processes a clients’ data to give them a better understanding of their risks.
Co-founder and CEO John Warburton told Insurance Age: “We looked at the market and realised there is an opportunity to create a different type of broking firm, but we could not do it with the prevailing technology that the software houses offer, so we had to build our own.
“And when we started working on it and we soon realised that hitting the ball out of the park in insurance terms is definitely very possible. So we weren’t super scared about building our own broking platform, and what we now have is a fundamentally better - data-enabled – proposition that what is already out there.”
Premiums
Operating for over 12 months now, Konsileo’s software has been used to place £3m in premiums, with most coming through a single broker partner, although it recruited its first two producers in November with discussions ongoing about further recruitment ongoing.
“Assuming the people we recruit are productive, this money gets us to a place where have around 25 brokers in 18-24 months; and when they are up to speed they will be operating at about quarter of a million in fees and commission and one million in premium, Warburton explained.
“So on a run rate basis, that would give us £25m.Now obviously brokers are not all the same. Some are larger, others are smaller; some will have longer to wait before they can join us, others will come in straight away.
“Whether we get to £25m or £15m or even £40m is a question.”
He added: “And there are other consideration for us in terms of our growth plan such as the extent we get support from elsewhere such as insurers to finance that bridge [of revenue coming in]. And if we can unlock that our growth will be higher, so £50m compared to £25m. And if teams come in, then there will again be different economics.”
Insurers
Konsileo is already talking to two insurers about becoming strategic partners, and is looking to attracts “clusters of around five people” to work virtually in a number of targeted hubs in the UK
Committed Capital has experience of investing in fintech firms, and was one of the early investors in Fairstone Group, an IFA consolidator with over £7bn of client assets, which uses a technology platform and centralised back office to maximise the efficiency of its 400 advisers.
“In 18 to 24 months [this funding should] gets us to a point where we are a sustainable business,” Warburton concluded. “And then we will look at options for more funding. And the interesting thing about Committed Capital is that they have a good history of supporting further rounds, so we should be good to go with them and not have to get into the insurtech cycle of going to pitching competitions all the time.”
Committed Capital shareholder and board member Judy Welch, who has joined Konsileo’s board, added: “Konsileo has the opportunity to be a true disrupter and the potential to challenge the major players. I look forward to working closely with John and the team as their growth accelerates.”
The board is completed by co-founder and CTO Peter Henderson and CFO Ben Halfacre, with the business looking to recruit one or two non-executives to complement it.
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