InnoCells, Banco Sabadell’s digital innovation hub and corporate venturing vehicle, has participated in a $5.5 million investment round (around €5 million) in the Israeli cyber risk modelling startup Kovrr –co-led by StageOne Ventures and Alma Mundi Ventures.
Kovrr provides leading insurance carriers and reinsurers with an end-to-end cyber risk modelling platform. The startup delivers transparent, data-driven insights and enables them to quantify and manage their affirmative and silent cyber risk exposures across all lines of insurance.
The growing digitalisation in companies and the increase in cyberattacks –from 80,000 in 2016 to 160,000 in 2017 has increased the need for cyber insurance. This new investment will bring Banco Sabadell closer to a growing market. It is expected that the global cyber insurance security market will grow from $5 billion in premiums globally in 2019 to more than $23 billion by 2025. It will also bring the bank closer to a first-class tech team.
Yakir Golan, Kovrr’s CEO, says: “Cyberattacks cause billions of dollars of damage and currently affect every category of risk. Kovrr’s unique approach leverages data science and predictive analytics to deliver powerful and actionable capabilities that our clients need to grow their businesses and confidently act on their cyber risk management decisions. The recent funding allows us to further expand our commercial reach, data harvesting and predictive modelling capabilities”.
Julio Martínez, InnoCells Executive Director, points out: “We are excited about our commitment to Kovrr’s entrepreneurial team, a startup that has launched a leading technological solution that assesses, unobtrusively and more accurately than the competition, the cyber risks that threaten various organizations today.” He adds: “Economic exposure to cyber risks is massively growing, which is why we believe that cybersecurity will become a priority issue for our customers. At Banco Sabadell, we strengthen our strategic commitment to financial innovation, providing new products and services that complement our current value proposition.”
InnoCells, strategic investment vehicle
InnoCells carries out strategic digital and technological investments which bring Banco Sabadell closer to new technology, talent and knowledge. In particular, InnoCells carries out direct retail investments and acquisitions, with the objective of moving closer to new business models and core capacities with a faster time-to-market, as well as investments in third party funds.
In 2017, InnoCells co-led a 1.5 million pounds seed capital investment in the UK platform, Bud, with a subsequent follow-on round in January 2019 of 20 million dollars.
In 2018, the hub led a seed-stage capital investment round of one million euros in the voice biometrics startup Biometric Vox, and took part in a round of circa 5.7 million euros in the Mexican payment startup UnDosTres. It also participated with 5 million euros in the capital of Antai Venture Builder, and invested 7.5 million euros and 10 million dollars in the Spanish-Israeli fund Cardumen Capital and in the US fund Base10, respectively.
InnoCells also acquired Instant Credit, a Spanish startup which offers instant funding at any physical or digital point of sale, and the online payment platform PAYCOMET, the solutions provided by which have been included in Banco Sabadell Group’s offering.
In 2019 the corporate venturing vehicle participated in the $3 million capital increase of the Series A of the Singaporean artificial intelligence platform Active.Ai.
About Banco Sabadell, startups and innovation
Banco Sabadell’s overall support strategy for startups includes funding, capital investment and innovation from different divisions of the institution. BStartup was created in 2013, with specialised branches located throughout Spain, allowing startups to access specialised banking services and funding. In the same year, it created its investment vehicle, BStartup10, for early-stage startups. In 2015, it set up Sabadell Venture Capital for investments in capital and venture debt of up to 2 million euros in seed-stage and Series A-stage startups. InnoCells, the bank’s innovation hub and corporate venture arm, was created in 2017. Banco Sabadell has invested over 200 million euros in startups. Currently, over 3,000 of its customers are startups and it has invested in more than 70 startups.
