Meet Evy, a French startup working on extended warranties and product protection insurance. The company has raised a $6.5 million (€6.5 million) seed round from Sequoia, La Famiglia VC, Global Founders Capital and several business angels.
Evy wants to bring an AppleCare experience to other brands and retailers. Essentially, the startup wants to create a seamless experience when it comes to adding product protection at checkout and good coverage out of the box.
The startup acts as an insurance broker and collaborates with: wakam to cover the risk, but it could also partner with other insurance companies in the future. On the other hand, it partners with retailers so that they integrate Evy’s insurance products on their sites or try to sell an extended warranty in stores.
For example, Evy has signed a collaboration with ManoMano, a home improvement and gardening ecommerce platform I’ve covered over the years. When a customer buys a product on ManoMano, he can add a multi-year cover against breakage, breakdown and/or theft.
What sets Evy apart from older players is that it can create custom insurance products in a very short time. For example, ManoMano has 25 different product categories in four countries. Evy has created 25 tailor-made insurance programs in just a few months.
Likewise, retailers can develop deep integrations with Evy as the insurtech startup focuses on API-based integrations.
If there is something wrong with the product, Evy first tries to find a solution to repair the product. It plans to set up a repair network. If it doesn’t work, Evy makes a payment to the customer.
And the distribution method should work pretty well since Evy shares some revenue with his retail partners. Some major retailers, such as Darty or Best Buy, are already generating significant income from insurance products. Evy wants to offer a solution for the long tail of e-commerce and physical stores.
Evy is not just an insurance game. There is a bigger vision around product life cycles. “Ultimately, we want to provide all the customer service that comes with products. They are useful for both the merchant and the end user,” co-founder and CEO Simon Kemoun told me.
“They are all switching to the circular economy. We know when a product is under warranty and we know when there has been no incident. We can make a trade-in offer so you can get the most recent product,” he added.
There are some companies in the US that focus on the same industry such as: Clyde and Extend. In France, Evy competes with Correctly.