Hokodo, the British start-up which offers invoice insurance to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME), has received a €2 million (around £1.8 million) grant.
The award, intended for Hokodo’s French office, comes from the funding programme for research and innovation called Horizon 2020 which is run by the European Commission. It will allow the insurtech to launch invoice protection and its credit scoring algorithm HokoScore in France and Germany within the next 12 months.
Part of the funds will also go towards developing two trade credit products for the SME market. These are slated to be rolled out by the end of the year.
“Receiving the grant from Horizon 2020 is a huge boost for the business,” commented Hokodo co-chief executive and cofounder Louis Carbonnier.
“Not only does it enable us to offer invoice insurance across Europe sooner than we would have otherwise, but we estimate we’ll be able to protect over €200 million (around £178 million) worth of B2B (business-to-business) trade over the next two years.”
Carbonnier added: “It is also a huge vote of confidence for the importance of what we’re trying to do, and the role we have to play in supporting SME trade and success.”
In the UK, Hokodo introduced its technology last October. It previously raised €2.1 million (around £1.9 million) of seed funding in a round led by venture capital firm Anthemis.
