What happened: Apollo Insurance is launching what its CEO describes as the country’s largest online marketplace for insurance
Why it matters: The company says it can greatly reduce industry inefficiencies in the review of policies and purchase of insurance
A Vancouver firm is taking aim at Canada’s incumbent insurance industry with the official launch of its online marketplace following the conclusion of a $1-million angel funding round.
Apollo Insurance Solutions Ltd. CEO Jeff McCann said the June 25 launch of the company’s Apollo Exchange is specifically targeting small-to-medium enterprises (SME).
“They’re (insurance) a very old-school, bureaucratic industry,” said McCann, who previously worked as an insurance broker.
“You have this massive inefficiency and really at the end of the day that inefficiency gets passed down to the end consumer.”
He said insurance brokers can use the platform to get quotes and pay for products instantly, while the company is also offering monthly subscription services to SMEs.
“Usually that process would take up to six weeks for that broker to shuttle emails back and forth, fill out a whole bunch of paperwork,” McCann said.
The company finished beta testing the online marketplace on April 1.
Shortly thereafter it concluded an angel financing round to the tune of $1 million.
Investors include Drew Green, Matias Marquez, Kim Kaplan and Tim Gamble.
McCann described the online marketplace as the country’s largest, with eight insurance companies serving as providers on the platform offering 500 classes of insurance, and 50 insurance brokerages and 300 brokers using the platform by the end of beta testing.
