Akinova, the UK-based insurance-risk trading service backed by several insurance firms, has begun raising series B funding, it has announced.
Founded in 2017, Akinova has created a digital platform where brokers can transfer and trade insurance risk and insurance-linked securities (ILS), increasing liquidity in the reinsurance market. One of the key areas it is intended to serve involves cyber risk.
Insurance groups Hiscox and MS&AD provided an undisclosed amount Akinova in January 2019 through subsidiaries Hiscox Re and MS&AD Ventures, in what now appears to be a series A round.
The company revealed this week that VC fund FinTLV was also an investor in the series A, while Plug and Play Insurtech and FJ Labs are also backers. It has not however disclosed the size of the round nor any target for its series B.
Henri Winand, Akinova’s CEO, said: “As we are ramping up Akinova’s commercial operations, it was natural to launch a series B investment round. Of course, we are focused on unlocking cyber risk and ILS industry growth.
“However, we have been asked by selected brokers and, more broadly, other market participants to assist in bringing efficiencies to the existing property and natural catastrophe risk transfer market.”
