- The Bulgarian online insurance platform Boleron attracted €2.1M from Digital SPV Holding and ImVentures II (Impetus Capital).
- This is the third round of financing for the company, bringing the total investment to €4M from a total of five Bulgarian investment funds – Digital SPV Holding, MFG Invest, New Vision 3, ImVenture II, and Eleven Ventures.
- The investment will be allocated for the regional expansion of Boleron in Romania and Greece, as well as for the expansion of the team both in Bulgaria and in the region.
After announcing plans to set foot on the Romanian market at the beginning of 2021, Boleron is already in the final process of securing a strategic partnership with a Romanian telecom company. In addition, the company is also looking to secure a strategic partnership with a Greek telecom or banking company.
“Being a neighboring country with similar habits and cultural perspective, Romania is an enticing opportunity – their market is twice as big as the Bulgarian, we still don’t have a direct competitor there and, moreover, their government recently introduced a law that banned the use of paper policies for auto insurances,” Alexander Tsvetkov, founder and CEO of Boleron, commented for The Recursive more than a year ago.
Evolving From B2C to B2B
Founded in early 2020 by Alexander Tsvetkov, Boleron is a digital insurance broker that has managed to develop a broad portfolio of digital insurance products beginning with mountain insurance and travel insurance and moving on to all kinds of insurances. Having tailored its offering for B2C clients, the startup is now upgrading its business model and developing a B2B offering for banks and telecoms.
Boleron has the only insurance policy with an electronic signature in Bulgaria. Its system allows monthly insurance payments to be made automatically and insurances to be renewed with one click. For the short time it has been on the market, the company has also developed the first and still the only fully-digital car insurance in Bulgaria through which clients can instantly receive a signed insurance policy 24/7.
Since 2020, Boleron has also managed to receive an angel investment from Ivaylo Slavov, CEO of one of the fastest-growing IT providers in the region – DIGITALL, and earn a spot in the 2020 edition of the VISA Innovation Program. In February 2021, Boleron also raised a €500K investment from two Sofia-based VC firms specializing in fintech – Eleven Ventures and New Vision 3.
“Boleron is one of the few startups in Bulgaria that truly transform and digitize the local market. “The insurance industry is among the slowest digital adopters and this trend can be observed not only in Bulgaria but also on a global level. Right now all the insurance companies that are digitizing locally are either following our example or using our solutions,” Tsvetkov highlights.
“Boleron has displayed a triple-digit growth in revenue since its last investment. Its growth is fueled by successful and dedicated founders and management. We expect that the management will be able to successfully allocate its current funding round in order to keep the growth trajectory,” Viktor Manev, Partner at Impetus Capital explains.
Why is going digital a must for the insurance industry?
Tsvetkov explains that online insurance is convenient because it can be concluded at any time, without waiting and going to offices. In addition to this, customers receive their insurance policies instantly by email. By using the mobile application, clients can manage their policies even easier. Among the other advantages of online insurance is the fact that the technologies behind digital insurance significantly reduce the possibility of data entry errors.
“Boleron’s business model can be expanded to the neighboring countries thus servicing markets with more than 35 million inhabitants. Increasing carriers’ offerings over these markets will make Boleron among the regional leaders in the InsurTech space,” Manev adds.
What comes next for Boleron?
As of now, Boleron has over 10K B2C clients in Bulgaria and has realized online sales worth more than €3M. Having a traditional B2C focus, the startup is now also targeting telecoms and banks with large client bases. The team is currently negotiating its first B2B partnership with a Bulgarian company.
The team of the insuretech company consists of 20 people and it is expected to double in the next six months. Since the solution of Boleron is between service and a product, the company will also establish local teams in their new markets – Romania and Greece.
