A lot of InsurTech stakeholders are watching Lemonade’s upcoming initial public offering (IPO) with great interest, so they have no doubt noted that its upcoming listing will be more expensive than expected.
The SoftBank-backed startup first announced on Wednesday that it was looking to increase the target range for its IPO, now intending to sell 11 million shares at $26 to $28 per share. That’s up from the previously stated range of $23 to $28 per share, according to a filing seen by Reuters. However, it didn’t stop there, but Lemonade apparently raised the price to $29 later on Wednesday afternoon, according to MarketWatch.
The company is expected list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “LMND” on Thursday July 2.
The news about Lemonade’s imminent IPO comes at a particularly pivotal time for InsurTech startups. While many other sectors have adopted new technological solutions to speed up their offerings, the insurance industry has been famously slow to digitise their services.
However, several industry stakeholders FinTech Global has spoken with predict that the coronavirus could mark the launch of rapid change in the insurance industry. The argument goes that Covid-19 has laid bare the limitations of traditional services and structures in the industry, particularly when it comes to risk management. While no one is expecting that the startups in the sector won’t leave this trialling period unscathed, the InsurTech industry overall could come out on the other side of the pandemic stronger than what it was before. Lemonade’s IPO will be the first test to see if they are right.
“[The] news of Lemonade’s IPO shows that the underlying message for the insurance industry is clear,” Tim Hardcastle, CEO and founder of INSTANDA, the InsurTech company, recently said. “The financial markets believe there are better ways to deliver insurance products and services.”
Copyright © 2020 FinTech Global
