Belgian Insurtech WeGroup raises 3 million euro for international expansion
COVID-19 is not causing doomsday scenario’s for every young company, as Belgian Insurtech startup WeGroup proves. In the midst of the chaos of recent months, they managed to raise a 3 million late seed round with Belgian venture capital fund Seederfund and a major Paris-based VC. With these fresh resources, WeGroup hopes to strengthen their market position in Belgium, as well as launch their operation in the French market.
WeGroup is a Belgian Insurtech that is bringing digitisation and automation to the rather conservative insurance industry. With its technology, that comes in the form of ‘Louise, the virtual assistant’, WeGroup helps distributors of insurance products to acquire more business and work more efficient. To accomplish this, the company uses advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence. Today, WeGroup is already serving hundreds of Belgian insurance intermediaries and achieved several successes since it’s founding in 2017 by Arvid De Coster (CEO), Rémi Wildschut (CFO) and Bjorn Vuylsteker (CTO). The company was already awarded over 10 international startup awards and has partnerships with some of the biggest insurance groups in the world.
French-Belgian venture capital on board
In 2018, WeGroup already raised a pre-seed round of 1.5 million euro with the help of accelerator Imec.Istart, Flemish venture fund PMV and the Belgian government. With this late seed round, the Insurtech tops up its total seed round to 4,5 million euro. It also means that WeGroup gets its first VC investors on board. The round is led by prominent Paris-based fund, who brings next to experience a massive network in the French insurance and banking industries, and supported by the Belgian VC’s of Seederfund.
“We consider WeGroup’s solution to be exactly what the insurance industry needs today.” - Benjamin Rieder, Seederfund.
“Unlike various other funds, we didn’t want to hold back on our investments during the COVID-19 crisis. We’ are excited to conclude this deal in the current, challenging environment” specifies Benjamin Rieder, Partner at Seederfund. “We consider WeGroup’s solutions to be exactly what the insurance industry needs today, but also identified the huge potential in other markets as well as for other, related industries”.
International expansion
It’s no coincidence that WeGroup sets eyes on a Parisien fund to raise new capital. “Apart from strengthening our position in Belgium, the new resources will be used for developing of our activities in France” elucidates WeGroup CEO Arvid De Coster. “Not only is France a market that offers great opportunities and potential for growth, it is also very similar to the one we know in Belgium, for example when it comes to distribution channel but also in regard to language and compliance.”, he continues.
WeGroup plans to expand their existing team of 25 people with Belgian and French recruits, mainly focusing on the French-speaking part of Belgium and France. They will be active from both WeGroup’s HQ in Ghent, Flanders, as well as their future office in Paris. This way, the startup hopes to avoid the alienation of new employees from the existing company culture. “We believe that this way, we can achieve a unique cooperation between our team members that, by exchanging knowledge and experience, will lead to success in both our home market and any new markets we wish to enter.” concludes De Coster.
Interested to learn more about WeGroup? Have a look here!
