Insurtech Riskbook attracts £2m for Lloyd's-backed reinsurance e-placement platform

Insurtech Riskbook, an independent provider of reinsurance placement, has secured a £2 million investment to help further develop its Lloyd’s-recognised digital placement platform.

The seed funding was led by private venture capital firms Episode 1 Ventures, MMC Ventures and Seedcamp.

The start-up will use the proceeds to expand its industry expertise with new hires, such as chief actuarial officer Paul Bassan, formerly of Hokodo, Cytora and Aspen Re, along with making expansions to its engineering team.

Additionally, Riskbook said it is planning to launch a "never before seen service for cedents", which it claims will automate the preparation and validation of submission exhibits in collaboration with their brokers.

Riskbook was co-founded by Jerad Leigh, formerly of TigerRisk and Aon, Ben Rose, formerly of Aon and Lloyd’s, and technical co-founder Jezen Thomas (CTO). The company seeks to improve the reinsurance placing experience for brokers and underwriters.

Leigh said: “We are excited to be partnering with leading venture capital firms to create the placing experience the reinsurance community has dreamt of for decades. Paired with Riskbook’s win-win-win philosophy, this new funding cements our role as a trusted independent provider to cedents, brokers and reinsurers alike.”

Damien Lane, partner at Episode 1 Ventures, said: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Riskbook as they build a market-leading independent reinsurance platform. We loved the team's combination of deep market insight gained from years of industry experience and their hugely impressive technology capability. In a short space of time, the team has built something that has had an enthusiastic reaction from all sides of the market and all the investors are looking forward to working with Jerad and Ben to continue to deliver game-changing solutions to the industry.”