Australian Business Insurance Provider UpCover Secures $19M in Series A Funding

• UpCover raised a total of $19 million in its Series A round. Where $11 million came from equity investment and $8 million was secured in debt.
• The round was led by RealVC.

UpCover, Australian online business insurance provider has raised $19 million in Series A round, including $11 million in equity and $8 million in debt. The round was led by RealVC, with support from Antler Elevate’s Global Fund, Betterlabs, and Gandel Invest. Notable investors included Brian Hartzer (former Westpac CEO), John Lydon (McKinsey Australia), and Richard Harris (former Afterpay CFO).

Marshall Investments provided the $8 million debt facility. The raise gives UpCover a $45 million valuation, up from $2.7 million in Seed funding in July 2022, which included $2 million in debt.

UpCover has now raised a total of $13.7 million in equity funding. The company was co-founded by Skye Theodorou and Anish Sinha and launched its API-based embedded SMB insurance platform in 2021.

In the past year, UpCover doubled its revenue and halved its costs. The funds will be used for growth, with plans to launch new digital insurance products and expand to more than 60,000 businesses using the platform.

UpCover offers the world’s fastest business insurance quoting experience. Despite the global embrace of online-first insurance, over 95% of commercial insurance in Australia is still negotiated via offline brokers, while 60% of home and motor insurance is done online.

UpCover offers white-labeled (embedded) insurance solutions and insurance APIs, allowing brands to provide B2B insurance. Skye Theodorou, co-founder of UpCover, stated that the company has defied the odds, thriving during one of the toughest years for Australia's startup industry.

UpCover competes against four of Australia's largest companies, which control 80% of the market, yet remains the only startup in this sector of insurance. Theodorou highlighted that one in three businesses that request a quote with UpCover end up purchasing insurance from them. Over $20 billion worth of business insurance is sold annually in Australia.

She says that "It’s one of the rare instances where automation truly outperforms human counterparts,"

Anish Sinha said UpCover has helped 1% of Australian businesses with a fraction of the funding spent by US and UK competitors. He added that UpCover is ready to expand, launch new products, and integrate AI.

RealVC's Paul Saunders noted that Australia’s $20 billion business insurance industry is outdated, with customers unhappy with their coverage. Saunders emphasized this creates an opportunity for UpCover to disrupt the market.