A Durham firm planning to shake up the car insurance market has secured £750,000 of investment to roll out its app across the 海角视频.
Honcho’s reverse auction site allows insurance companies to bid for their customer’s business, meaning the app’s users will receive a competitive quote.
The company has received £750,000 investment, which has been provided by Maven Capital Partners.
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The private equity house invested £322,500 of its own cash into the business, with another £322,500 being invested from the North East Development Fund, which is supported by the European Regional Development Fund. The remaining £105,000 was received from Durham County Council’s Finance Durham Fund.
Honcho’s 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: “The 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.
“The 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.
“Our 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’s disruption to the home and contents insurance market as well as to those of van and learner driver insurance.
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“Our 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’t wait to get started.”
The Durham business has already secured £850,000 to fund the launch of its app - £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: “Car insurance is becoming increasingly expensive, particularly for young people, and honcho’s proposition will provide a fun, engaging and more cost-efficient way of purchasing insurance products via its unique reverse auction marketplace model.
“Gavin 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’m excited to now see the product launch imminently, after months of hard work from the team.”
Coun Carl Marshall, Durham County Council’s cabinet member for economic regeneration, said: “We’re 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.”