Luko, the fastest growing insurtech in Europe, announces the acquisition of Unkle, the first startup in the rent protection market. This comes just two months after Luko's acquisition of the German insurtech Coya and strengthens Luko’s position as the number one insurtech in Europe with over 400 000 policyholders, now 3 years since its launch in 2018. This alliance will allow both companies to accelerate their growth and to offer new services.
Luko continues its home services expansion with the acquisition of Unkle
Unkle acts as a guarantor for the tenant to consolidate their application and help them find a home. The startup also helps landlords choose their tenants with the market's first digital rental insurance. With this new acquisition, Luko is accelerating its growth in the insurance and household services sector.
This merger meets a dual ambition for the Luko Group:
- To integrate a new insurance offer and enrich its ecosystem of services in order to support customers in accessing housing and in the rental management of a property
- Accelerate Luko's growth by developing new distribution channels through real estate professionals
Unkle's rental guarantee solutions join the Luko ecosystem, which today supports people from home searching (Luko Immo), to financing (loan insurance) as well as insuring their homes while also providing them with home maintenance and repair services.
Unkle will develop and grow faster with Luko’s expertise
Thanks to this merger, Unkle will accelerate its development and is now aiming to reach 100 000 customers and to partner up with over 3500 real estate agencies by 2023. At the same time, the insurtech will be able to rely on Luko's expertise as a regulated insurer to integrate risk carrying. Unkle will become a separate business unit of the Luko Group and will remain managed by Matthieu Luneau and Cédric Baulme, its two co-founders. Unkle will also keep its brand, already well identified in the rent protection market. To support this growth, Unkle will recruit around 50 talents in 2022 to join its current team of 30 employees.
Unkle will now offer all of Luko's services (home insurance, loan insurance, etc.), frequently requested by its customers. The contract and claims management platform that has made Luko so successful will be deployed at Unkle to deliver the insurtech's flagship promise: "insured in 2 minutes, reimbursed twice as fast and a craftsman at your door in 2 days". Both startups share a similar vision of insurance: aligning the interests of the insurer and the insured, by offering more services and better transparency in a market known to be opaque.
The rental guarantee, a promising market
Since its creation in 2019, Unkle has established itself in the rent protection market, which is now worth €2 billion in France and continues to grow. The startup has experienced strong growth (x10 since 2020) and now counts on more than 20,000 customers. In parallel, Unkle has developed a network of more than 800 partner real estate agencies and created a SaaS platform dedicated to those professionals.
The startup finalized a €10 million fundraising round in January 2022 and is shaking up the unpaid rent insurance market: owners can now insure themselves directly in a few minutes and agencies see their management facilitated by the platform developed by Unkle.
Matthieu Luneau, CEO and cofounder of Unkle : "With Luko, our ambition is to become the leading European player in household services, in line with our initial mission: simplifying access to housing. Luko's ability to grow very quickly, its status as a regulated insurer, combined with an ethical and transparent approach to insurance, convinced us to join the adventure. By joining them, we will be able to grow faster and transform the real estate world by offering complimentary services to our customers."
Raphaël Vullierme, CEO and cofounder of Luko : "Unkle has demonstrated its business model and its ability to succeed in a complex but promising market. Luko will now integrate Unkle into its ecosystem and give it all the keys to accelerate its growth. After the acquisition of our German competitor in January, this new step allows us to continue consolidating the market and strengthen our leadership in Europe."
