Less than two months after it raised £829,370 through its equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube, UK-based insurtech Honcho has secured a £150,000 from the Finance Durham Fund.
As previously reported, Honcho is described as a reverse-auction marketplace where insurers enter a competitive real-time bidding process in order to offer the best price to customers. It is aiming to launch in Summer 2018 with nearly 20 insurance brands that will pay a £1 fee to bid rather than the average £50 commission charged by comparison sites. While sharing more details about its platform, Honcho stated:
“Honcho is a new mobile app that’s going to revolutionize the way people buy products and services…saving them time and money. We have developed the first online reverse auction marketplace for financial services. A reverse auction is where you, the consumer, receive bids and become the focus of the auction. Companies will compete against each other to win your custom which is how we think it should be! It’s disruptive and innovative, and we’re going to start by launching into the car insurance market in 2018.”
According to BQ Live, the investment in Honcho is notably the fifth deal from the £20 million fund, which was established with funding from Durham County Council and overseen by Business Durham. Speaking about the investment, Gavin Sewell, CEO of Honcho stated:
“We are absolutely delighted to have received such a fantastic level of support from the crowd as well as Business Durham and Maven and to have exceeded our funding target by more than 25%. We are very much looking forward to working with Maven, Business Durham and our other key partners in the North of the country to launch our reverse-auction marketplace for financial services products. honcho will be a truly disruptive force in the marketplace; putting consumers’ first, encouraging competition and transparency, and saving them time and money.”
Sarah Slaven, Business Development Director, added:
“Business Durham are pleased to have helped honcho move to Salvus House, our prestigious office building in Durham City. Joining the thriving business community at Aykley Heads, honcho will be at the heart of the growing Fintech cluster in the City. It is fantastic that this exciting new company has also been able to benefit from the Finance Durham fund to help it thrive and grow.”
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