Tech-driven insurance company which incentivises and rewards users to focus on their physical and mental health through a gamified interface, YuLife raised $70m in Series B funding led by Target Global.
The financing, which reportedly sets a $346m valuation for the company, saw participation from Eurazeo and Latitude, Creandum, Notion Capital, Anthemis, MMC Ventures, and OurCrowd.
The company will use the funds to develop new products, expand its UK market penetration, and broaden its reach into the markets.
Led by Sammy Rubin, YuLife aims to transform traditional group life insurance into a suite of wellbeing and insurance products by embedding data science, analytics and game mechanics into the insurer-member relationship.
YuLife’s life insurance includes everything in a traditional group life insurance policy – but also adds critical illness, income protection, virtual GP services and employment assistance such as counselling and coaching. Active members make proactive lifestyle changes, prevent physical and mental illness, and financially protect themselves thanks to essential services.
YuLife also enables employers to reward healthy living by offering employees discounts and vouchers from leading brands including Amazon, ASOS and Avios which can be purchased with YuCoin, the company’s virtual currency, earned by completing everyday wellness activities such as walking, cycling, meditation, and mindfulness. By incentivising healthy living, YuLife provides employers with a way to boost retention rates and improve employees’ standard of living.
Premiums in the past year already providing over $15bn of total cover to employees and their families at companies, including Capital One, Co-op, Curve, Havas Media, Severn Trent, and Sodexo.
Commenting on the company’s growth Target Global partner Ben Kaminski said, “With health and wellbeing increasingly thrust into the limelight in the wake of Covid-19, YuLife is fundamentally changing insurance by incentivizing people to lead healthier lifestyles. YuLife is ideally positioned to build on its tenfold growth during the pandemic and lead the way in helping its clients respond to the challenges posed by an ever-changing working environment.”
Rubin stated, “For too many years, life insurance has focused solely on paying out a lump sum upon death. It is now time to reimagine the very nature of life insurance by putting ‘life’ first, and inspiring members to live their best lives every single day, using insurance as a tool to enhance their physical, mental and financial wellbeing.”
The InsurTech sector has been seeing rapid growth as investors look to back startups embracing technology. In fact, the global InsurTech funding reached a record $2.55bn in the first quarter, a rise of 180% from a year earlier, according to insurance broker Willis Towers Watson.
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