According to Allianz’s 2023 Risk Barometer, cyber incidents are the top business risk identified by risk management experts worldwide. This comes as no surprise, as rapid digitalization over the past couple of years has opened up more companies to cyber threats, and threat actors continue to make sophisticated cyberattacks that can combine elements of data theft, ransomware, and social engineering.
Despite all this, one managing general agent is looking to better serve its business clients amid rising cyber challenges.
Earlier this month, BOXX Insurance announced that it raised US$14.4 million (about CA$19.2 million) in Series B funding, in a round led by insurance giant Zurich Insurance Group.
Here to talk more about that funding round is Vishal Kundi (pictured), co-founder and CEO of BOXX Insurance.
Can you tell us about your latest Series B funding round, led by Zurich Insurance Group. How did this come about?
Zurich is already a partner of ours and led our Series A investor round in September 2021. They like our flight path to transform traditional insurance and address the trickiest risks facing businesses and consumers as they move more online.
The catalyst for the Series B round was seeing how quickly our preventive-led model and purpose has resonated with consumers, businesses and the market at-large.
Some statistics:
What are your ambitions for the US$14.4 million raised in the funding round?
We will use the latest funds to continue to invest in radically innovating the customer experience with the creation of BOXX Labs and the recent acquisition of Templarbit. The team are curating neat all-in-one solutions that blend prevention, insurance, and incident management.
In parallel, we’ll continue to invest in our proactive approach and reduce the chance of our customers being crippled by a cyber incident.
What do you think drew Zurich to the solutions that BOXX has to offer?
See Zurich’s quote in our Series B press release here:
“We’ve seen how difficult it is to build cyber insurance solutions for the small business and consumer segments – it is costly and requires deep technical expertise to stay ahead. BOXX addresses these challenges unambiguously, affordably, and with a genuine understanding of what customers and their risk advisors need,” said Jack Howell, CEO of Zurich Global Ventures. “Helping customers with innovative digital solutions and embedding them into the customer journey, is critical. It’s impressive to see the simplicity in how BOXX is tackling such a complex global challenge.”
What are the advantages of having a major insurance ally like Zurich?
The reputation of Zurich’s brand, Zurich’s truly global reach, and their bench-strength in risk assessment and pricing.
Looking across the market, what do you think are the cyber trends to look out for in 2023?
As digital adoption expands globally, cybercrime is truly becoming a global challenge. Hackers will continue to innovate and find new ways to break-in.
The WEF global risk report just recognized widespread cybercrime and cyber insecurity as the 8th global risk in their 2023 report – a significant jump from 2022. Global cybercrime has grown by 600% since 2020.
Heightened geopolitical risks potentially heighten the risk of a global cyber CAT event. Global cyber experts recently warned at the WEF, that there is a risk of a major catastrophic cyber event in the next 2 years.
