KASKO, the London InsurTech company changing the way Insurance incumbents and startups scale faster bringing new products to market in a fraction of the time previously needed, has announced its latest partnership with Co-op, producing a new insurance product for UK-based students. Currently in Beta, the latest offering from Co-op Insurance was built from scratch by KASKO in ten weeks. Traditionally, new products can take up to two to three years from boardroom to launch.
The new product, aimed at the student market allows renters to cover specific items such as mobile phones, laptops and bikes (as well as other key items of value) against accidental damage, loss or theft, anywhere in the UK. The flexible insurance allows the student policyholder to add or remove items to suit their circumstances and financial position at the time. As the whole process is managed online, through the Co-op-branded, KASKO-hosted digital portal, changes can be made quickly and easily, in keeping with the digital-first lifestyles of modern users. Payment options include monthly or by academic term/semester with no additional fees or charges.
Caroline Hunter, Head of Home Insurance at Co-op commented, “We are extremely happy to be able to add such a flexible offering to our insurance portfolio. Co-op Insurance has always taken great pride in offering products and services to people that need them across all demographics, so when we were introduced to Nick and his team at KASKO we were keen to see how their flexible processes could enhance the great work we were already doing.”
A report by Direct Line, reported on in The Daily Express revealed that in recent years, £2m worth of laptops have been taken from students, mobile phones came in second. After that, money was third and bicycles came in fourth.
Caroline Hunter continues to say that, “Students represent the next generation of digital-first members of the workforce, their importance is huge yet financialservices has largely ignored their needs. That is not in keeping with our ethos at the Co-op of improving the lives of all, so working with KASKO, it quickly became apparent that we could address this.”
“This has been our first project working with the team at KASKO and it has been an eye-opener to see what is possible when we can bring our experience together with the flexible, lightning-fast operations of startups like Nick and Matt’s. We hope to be able to work with them again in the future to better serve our customers, both new and old.”
Nikolaus Sühr, KASKO’s Co-Founder and CEO states, “It has been great working with the team from the Co-op, there is an ethos in the company that we admire at KASKO and it has been established across multiple industries in the UK for longer than almost anyone. It is great to see that even the most established firms, in traditional industries like insurance, are looking at startups like ours and exploring opportunities for collaboration. Even four years ago when founding KASKO, we likely would have been met with rejection for fear of the unknown, now we get to work with some of the biggest names in the world like Co-op.
Better still, my Co-Founder Matt and I met at uni, I actually signed up to the wrong halls, without it we would definitely not be here, so building something like this that we would have appreciated ourselves not all that long ago, does feel good.”
Matt Wardle, KASKO’s Co-Founder and CTO adds that “Working with Co-op Insurance has been a pleasure, I think we have learned plenty and hopefully taught them a few things as well. We look forward to working with the Co-op again in the future.”
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