Berlin/Luxembourg, March 7, 2019 – FRIDAY, Germany’s leading digital insurance company, has completed a round of financing. SevenVentures, the financial investor of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE and the media investor German Media Pool are investing together 39 million euros.
The Baloise Group, FRIDAY’s founder and majority shareholder, is also investing 75 million euros. The investment round will stimulate future growth and support further product development. Baloise Group CEO Gert De Winter is delighted: "The Media-for-Equity Investment from new investors shows that, at FRIDAY, we are connecting with the spirit of the times. Our customers want simpler insurance products, and together with our new investors, we will make sure that a wide range of customers will be enthusiastic about our simple insurance solutions.”
Equipped with a European insurance license, FRIDAY offers innovative insurance products. The Berlin-based team has acquired over 45,000 new customers for its car coverage since it was founded in 2017. FRIDAY aims to be Germany’s most popular digital insurer by 2021.
SevenVentures makes it possible for FRIDAY to publicize its insurance products with far-reaching effect and target group-specific advertising environments of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group. German Media Pool brings together media companies in the television, radio, out-of-home and print categories for FRIDAY.
The digital insurer has been working together with the ProSiebenSat.1 media group and media companies that are part of the German Medial Pool for two years. “By opening up FRIDAY to new investors, we’re taking the next step with partners that FRIDAY knows well and to assist in scaling. We’re pleased to have enlisted these trusted partners as investors,” said FRIDAY CEO Christoph Samwer.
Florian Pauthner, CEO SevenVentures: “An investment in the digital insurance product area offers considerable potential. FRIDAY has achieved significant success in a multi-billion euro market in the shortest time. With its customer-oriented product development, the team modernizes processes and optimizes the customer experience. We are convinced that with our media investment and extensive experience we will build the brand rapidly, gain market confidence and further drive FRIDAY’s growth. The initial TV campaigns have shown good results.”
Aljoscha Kaplan, Managing Director German Media Pool: “The time is right to get in. Digitalization is currently changing consumer behavior in insurance, and offers unique opportunities for new insurance products. The FRIDAY team has shown that it can create innovative products and successfully place them on the market.”
FRIDAY consistently focuses on customers’ desires for lightheartedness, simplicity and joy in living, and creates an excellent digital experience. Features like kilometer accurate billing, monthly terminability, and completely paperless administration make the product stand out. This was acknowledged by the Warentest Foundation, Auto Zeitung and Autobild with the “Testsieger 2018” award.
FRIDAY was founded in Berlin in 2017 with the support of the Swiss Baloise Group, by an experienced team under the leadership of Christoph Samwer. FRIDAY has been an independent insurance company since May 2018. With its European insurance license, modern technology and digital solutions, FRIDAY is changing the insurance customer experience. FRIDAY Insurance S.A. is the risk carrier and subject to oversight of the Commissariat aux Assurances in Luxembourg, under limited supervision of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). The company is majority held by the Swiss Baloise Group. The Swiss insurance group, headquartered in Basel, has approximately 7,300 employees. Shares of Bâloise Holding AG are listed on the main segment of the SIX Swiss Exchange.
SevenVentures is the leading TV media investor worldwide. In addition to Germany, its core markets are the USA and Asia. As an investment arm of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group, SevenVentures is the ideal partner for high-growth B2C companies, particularly those in consumer goods segments, retail and services, that have the potential to achieve sustainable success through TV advertising. The Zalando example has shown how companies can become market leaders or recognized brands in the shortest possible time. A selection from their current customer portfolio includes AboutYou, Casper and tink. SevenVentures also supports companies with Media-Power, Kapital and all other services of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group in their international growth. Together with Gruppennetzwerk, the leading-performance European media company, the right path to growth is always found.
GMPVC German Media Pool is Germany’s leading independent Media-for-Equity Investor. The team has invested over 175 million euros in gross media volume in over 50 investment rounds for more than 26 businesses. With its media partners like RTL II, REGIOCAST or Plakatunion, GMPVC produces wide-reaching cross-media campaigns in TV, radio, print and outdoor advertising. Their investments especially focus on consumer companies with fully-developed product portfolios that increase sales via media services and establish their distinctiveness through branding. German Media Pool’s portfolio includes startups like ABOUT YOU, momox, Home24, Alphapet, Marley Spoon, LemonSwan and URBANARA.
About FRIDAY
FRIDAY is a digital insurer with an European insurance license, committed to building a new type of insurance experience, fit for the demands of today.
FRIDAY is changing the image of insurance by utilizing the latest technology and purely digital solutions. Products are firmly geared towards customer demand for simplicity and peace of mind. FRIDAY has introduced many innovations to the German insurance market, including mileage-based billing, paperless administration, and the ability to cancel on a daily basis.
The company was founded by an experienced team of entrepreneurs in Berlin with the support of the Baloise Group, a leading Swiss-based Insurance. As one of the few European FinTechs, FRIDAY truly is a full stack insurance company, able to own the complete value chain from underwriting to distribution.