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The CEO of a disruptive insurance start-up has expressed interest in Australia’s SME market, saying the company may consider offering a form of commercial coverage in the future.
“It’s not an area that we’re in right now but it is an area that, one day, I can see us tackling,” said Jason Wilby, founder and joint CEO of Huddle. “I want to solve some problems in that space.”
Wilby’s comments come in the wake of a successful Series A round of funding for Huddle, which managed to raise $19.2 million – much of which will be leveraged to enable further growth.
While the company currently provides personal insurance worth $1 billion to customers across Australia, it’s yet to branch out into the SME space – however, Wilby says he’s noticed some areas of commercial insurance which could potentially benefit from a fresh perspective.
“The nature of work is changing so much, we have many people who are suddenly finding themselves as a small business owner, perhaps taking risks, and I wonder whether traditional products built to serve the commercial market are really meeting the needs of these small business owners,” he said.
While the firm currently only offers policies direct, Wilby also said Huddle would be open to working with the broker channel in the future.
“I would love to see a role for brokers in the future,” he told Insurance Business. “Some areas of insurance are quite complicated and we often forget that – but the very fact that brokers exist highlights that there is a whole bunch of folk who need extra support.”
While Huddle is yet to engage the broker community, Wilby says that, if it were to happen, the structure would likely be adapted in some way, to suit its unique business model.
“I’d love to see how we can reimagine that model so the incentives align to drive great outcomes for our members,” he said. “We’d love to explore that – there is definitely a need for a segment of people who need additional help but it’s about how we can do that more transparently and not based on commissions.”
