Digital insurance broker CLARK’s purchase of Allianz portfolio company finanzen Group makes it a German unicorn startup—also thanks to government-backed venture capital fund coparion.
Once upon a time, Christopher Oster decided to review all his insurance policies, only to realise he needed help in order to get an overview on what insurances he really needed. When his search for an online insurance broker who could help came out blank, he decided to take matters into his own hands. “I wanted to address a specific pain-point,” says Oster. “I wanted to make my insurances easier to manage. When I couldn’t find anything that worked for me, I decided to found CLARK.” And that’s where this story about a unicorn begins.
Oster is chief executive of the digital insurance broker, created in 2015 ready to develop a solution with a personalised, user-friendly process and digital interface to better manage personal insurance. “We weren’t under the illusion that we could make insurance a fun topic,” says Oster, “but we could make it easier and more effective by gathering all our client’s insurance policies in one place, instead of having them going through different carriers, apps and platforms.”
In November, CLARK bought Allianz’s portfolio company finanzen Group. Allianz will receive predominantly equity in CLARK as part of the deal, making it a minority shareholder. With the purchase completed, CLARK is valued above $1 billion, making it a unicorn (a venture capital industry term for a startup whose value surpasses $1 billion.) To reach that status, CLARK needed a good product—and financial support from institutional venture capital investors like coparion, amongst others. This German venture capital fund is, in turn, backed by the European Investment Bank, whose aim is to close the gap in the European venture capital market and market for start-up finance.
A unique entry-point to manage all insurance policies
CLARK’s service starts when the client registers with the company and has a quick interview about all their current insurance policies and family situation. After signing the broker contract, CLARK accesses all the policy documents by requesting them directly from the carriers.
Through its interface, the insurance broker provides an overview of the client’s insurance contracts, rating them by price, reliability and coverage, depending on the client’s risk profile and family status. The client is then able to follow-up on their choices through the CLARK interface.
“The client is sitting at a long table with 100 people who each represent an insurance policy,” says Oster. “We are the ones standing next to the client, advising them on which to avoid and which to invest in.”
The road to German unicorn startup status
On the road to unicorn status with its Allianz deal, CLARK had the backing of venture capital fund coparion. Coparion started out in 2016 with over €275 million from German public sources and a mission to boost German technology companies like CLARK.
“CLARK’s team is very operational-driven and very experienced,” says Felix Raasch, investment professional at coparion. “We’ve always known from the start their product’s potential. Their proven track-record solidified our belief that the team had what it took to create something big.”
However, the unicorn status is just a milestone. Oster knows CLARK’s journey is not done. “We have more road ahead of us,” he says. “We want to become the largest broker in Europe. It’s thanks to our work, but also to the investment of coparion, other venture capital funds, and the European Investment Bank, that we get to keep dreaming big.”
The EIB invests in coparion, which in turn invests in German unicorn startup
The European Investment Bank aims to increase the interest and investment in European venture capital funds to support innovative new companies, which get less backing when compared to their counterparts in Asia and the US. “We took that leap with coparion and it’s very fulfilling to see the tangible results of our investment,” says Frederic Klohe, a loan officer at the EU bank. “The goal of the European Investment Bank’s support for venture capital is not simply to secure a good return.” “It’s about thinking of the future and investing in venture capital funds with the power to change the social and economic landscape, like coparion,” says Michael Raschke, who heads the EIB’s investment unit for German banks. “They support local initiatives, new ideas and technology, and contribute to the disruption of industries. That’s what we need to do, to think outside the box.”
By investing in small businesses with great potential, venture capital fund investors are crucial to the future development of Europe’s economy.
“Venture capital funds are about investing in economic prosperity for future generations,” says coparion’s Raasch. “By guiding companies towards significant growth, much like it happened for Google or Uber, employment rises, new technology is developed, and new products rise on the market to cover new client demands.”
