A Durham firm planning to shake up the car insurance market has secured 拢750,000 of investment to roll out its app across the 海角视频.
Honcho鈥檚 reverse auction site allows insurance companies to bid for their customer鈥檚 business, meaning the app鈥檚 users will receive a competitive quote.
The company has received 拢750,000 investment, which has been provided by Maven Capital Partners.
The private equity house invested 拢322,500 of its own cash into the business, with another 拢322,500 being invested from the North East Development Fund, which is supported by the European Regional Development Fund. The remaining 拢105,000 was received from Durham County Council鈥檚 Finance Durham Fund.
Honcho鈥檚 latest investment will allow it to expand across the country and will also lead to the creation of 10 new jobs over the next 12 months.
Gavin Sewell, CEO of honcho, said: 鈥淭he past year has been an incredible journey for honcho and we are delighted to be able to today announce this significant investment to enable our next phase of growth.
鈥淭he team at Maven have been supportive and engaged partners since early 2018, and we are encouraged by their continued belief in the honcho proposition, and in our ability to disrupt what is becoming an ever more distrusted market.
鈥淥ur growth plans are already well advanced as we look beyond our imminent full launch into the car insurance sector and into our next markets. These will include bringing honcho鈥檚 disruption to the home and contents insurance market as well as to those of van and learner driver insurance.
鈥淥ur commercial team are already in negotiation with a number of potential market participants, including major household names, who see the value that honcho can bring to their businesses. This investment accelerates our next phase, and our talented team can鈥檛 wait to get started.鈥
The Durham business has already secured 拢850,000 to fund the launch of its app - 拢200,000 more than it intended to raise. The money was used to build the platform, develop its mobile and web apps and gain authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority.
Alex Marsh, who led the deal for Maven, said: 鈥淐ar insurance is becoming increasingly expensive, particularly for young people, and honcho鈥檚 proposition will provide a fun, engaging and more cost-efficient way of purchasing insurance products via its unique reverse auction marketplace model.
鈥淕avin has assembled an exceptional management and advisory team around him and has made impressive progress since the Finance Durham Fund originally invested alongside the crowd. The engagement and interest honcho has already received from the insurance and broker community has been very encouraging and I鈥檓 excited to now see the product launch imminently, after months of hard work from the team.鈥
Coun Carl Marshall, Durham County Council鈥檚 cabinet member for economic regeneration, said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e delighted to once again be supporting honcho through our Finance Durham Fund and helping it to deliver new jobs. Our Powered by People campaign highlights what a great place County Durham is to do business and the exciting developments our investments are helping honcho to make are testament to that.鈥
