WeGroup closes seed investment round at 1.5 million
Belgian technology company WeGroup successfully closes its first investment round at 1.5 million euro. Earlier this year, the award-winning startup already raised 650.000 in a seed 1.0 round with the support of the Business Angels Network Flanders and the imec.istart fund. By doubling the initial amount, WeGroup now officially closes the round. Remarkable is that over half of the raised funds are coming from government grants and bank support, brought in by the Flemish government and KBC Bank.
WeGroup is a tech startup that helps insurance providers to make a better connection with their growing group of digital customers. By using artificial intelligence, they give risk carriers and intermediaries insights and predictions about the needs and risks of their clients and help them to handle claims more efficient. WeGroup’s innovative technology was already internationally awarded several times.
Finmix
Earlier this year, the Ghent-based startup already drew attention by becoming the first Belgian insurtech to successfully land a crowdfunding campaign. It subsequently strengthened the round by adding funds from the Business Angels Network Flanders and the imec.istart fund. WeGroup manages to make their creative financing mix even more remarkable by over doubling their seed 1.0 with funds coming from government grants and (subordinated) loans. For this, they found the support of the Flemish agency for innovation and entrepreneurship (VLAIO), the Flemish Participation fund (PMV) and KBC Bank. CFO and co-founder Rémi Wildschut: “It’s important for a company to find the right balance between equity funds and debt. Something that we managed to do with our seed round. We now have all the recourses necessary to transform our startup into a scale-up company.”
Rapid growth
Since its founding in september 2017, WeGroup has been growing at a staggering pace. The company currently employs about 25 people to develop technology for clients in various European countries. Earlier this year, WeGroup opened its CEE headquarters in Warsaw, Poland, at Google’s startup campus. “With the fresh funds, we want to continue our European expansion without losing momentum in our Belgian home market”, clarifies CEO Arvid De Coster. By expanding and scaling up early in the game, the insurtech positions itself very appealing towards future investors and partners. These parties will be of vital importance for the company’s series A, scheduled for 2020.
