io.insure, an Australian mergers & acquisitions (M&A) tech and insurtech firm that is part of POP Group Holdings, has entered the UK market.
io.insure claims to have created the first global M&A and specialty insurance online marketplace, transforming the insurance experience by digitising insurance and fulfilling the risk protection gap in the small- and mid-sized enterprise (SME) segment. It connects customers, advisors, distributors, and insurer partners, supported by an exchange of expert people, personalised products, and a data and technology platform designed for white labelling by partners.
Initially launched in Australia, the firm entered the US market last year. It entered the UK market to address underinsurance within the global SME M&A market.
“With an estimated 5.6 million SMEs in the UK and with a huge volume of deals happening without insurance, io.insure is designed to meet this need for underserved SMEs, which are the lifeblood of the UK economy,” Killian McDermott, co-founder and executive partner at io.insure, said.
As part of its expansion to the UK, io.insure has appointed George Apperly (pictured) as its managing partner.
Based in London, Apperly will be responsible for the platform's growth in the UK SME M&A market. He will also foster the strategic partnerships required to further develop products such as Mio – the pioneering M&A insurance online product for SMEs – and other financial lines and specialty insurance products.
McDermott said: “I am extremely pleased to welcome George and announce the launch of io.insure in the UK.”
Apperly joined io.insure from Lockton, where he was most recently the vice president of Lockton Transactional Risks. Before joining Lockton, Apperly was an account executive at Howden.
“With ground-breaking technology and unmatched expertise, io.insure is opening up a whole new area, reaching a critical market segment that has previously been underinsured and underserved,” Apperly said.
“Both the need and the scope of the opportunity are, therefore, huge.
“I look forward to building the platform in the UK as part of the broader effort to address this global issue and developing it to offer further digitalised financial lines and SME specialty insurance products.”
