Insurance giant IAG has confirmed a major investment this week with several million dollars set to go to outsourcing platform Airtasker.
Julie Batch, IAG’s chief customer officer, said the partnership would help IAG provide insurance solutions tailored specifically to Australia’s growing sharing economy.
“The rapid growth of the sharing economy in Australia has created new opportunities for collaborative consumption and income generation, but has also created new risks for participants,” said Batch.
“We see significant value in [Airtasker] and enormous potential for us to work together to find new and innovative ways to reduce risk and improve safety for its members,” she added.
IAG has been at the forefront of providing insurance solutions to participants in the sharing economy and was the first Australian insurer to offer tailored protection for Uber drivers and Airbnb hosts.
Now, IAG is trialing propositions outside the insurance category, including Airtasker offers for CGU Insurance small business customers, and customers using its ShareCover short term rental insurance product.
The insurer also provides Airtasker Insurance through its CGU brand, providing up to $10 million cover to protect ‘Taskers’ registered in the Airtasker marketplace for their liability to third parties, for personal injury or property damage, when performing a task.
The investment came from IAG’s vesturing fund Firemark Ventures, which was established in 2016 with a global mandate to invest in new and emerging businesses that show potential to disrupt the value chain, create new pathways to market or enhance customer understanding.
Since its launch, Firemark Ventures has invested in AI-powered data analyst Hyper Anna, personal finance app Pocketbook, and cyber resilience software UpGuard.
Correction: An earlier version of this article stated IAG had invested $75 million in Airtasker. In fact, the investment is less than $5 million but has been directed from IAG’s $75 million venture fund, Firemark Ventures. IB apologises for the inaccuracy.
