Protect your favorite tech with Coverd
Who hasn’t had a broken screen? A non-functional port? And off you go to the nearest repair shop, where the glass of your newly purchased iPhone 13 Pro will cost you a whopping 360€… Coverd was founded to reduce these expenses.
Coverd is a French startup launched in April 2019 by Hugo Saias cofounder of Save a smartphone repairer taken over in 2017 by Remade, Nicolas Schwartz former engineer of Blablacar, Julien Gelot and Maxime Thimonier. This French insurtech/neo-insurance is specialized in the insurance of connected objects such as smartphones, computers, tablets, earphones, and connected watches. The Paris-based startup currently has a dozen employees.
The solution
Coverd allows you to insure your connected objects, simply, quickly, and with a tailor-made solution to avoid unnecessary expenses!
Adapted to the current market’s expectations, the insurtech solution covers smartphones, computers, and tablets, but also Bluetooth headsets and earphones, and connected watches (and even electric scooters!). The insurance includes full coverage for :
- All types of breakage of external components;
- The replacement of fatigued batteries ;
- The replacement of oxidized parts because our smartphone wanted to take a bath.
So with all this, we expect a high cost, and yet it remains “affordable”. With a monthly plan starting at 4.90€ and going up to ten euros (11.90€/month for the iPhone 13 Pro), Coverd will cost you barely one or two beers per month, and yet the effects are much more pleasant! Of course, it’s still about ten euros per month to add to a smartphone that already costs a few hundred euros and a mobile subscription that can quickly add up too.
For the unlucky ones who are too often confronted with thieves: Coverd offers an option protecting against theft by break-in (burglary) or assault (snatching, racketeering). The option starts at 1 euro per month and goes up to 7 euros maximum.
The insurance covers an unlimited number of claims but imposes a ceiling of 3 times the value of the device per year. With a quick calculation, for an iPhone priced at 1,000€, that’s up to 3,000€ of repairs per year, so even the most unlucky among us will be able to enjoy Coverd’s services!
In the event of a claim, Coverd will take care of everything, from the transportation of your defective equipment to the delivery of the refurbished product (within 7 working days). They also offer to send you a loaner phone for the duration of the repair. All this is done via their platform on which they guarantee support within 24 hours.
You should also know that the repairs are approved by the brands of your devices (Apple, Samsung, Huawei, Acer, HP, Asus …) so that they retain their original warranty. All repairs are also guaranteed for one year.
Business Model
Coverd works like a classic insurer whose business model is based on risk pooling. The price of the monthly subscription price depends on the insured object. The insurance starts at €4.90, goes up to €11.90 for cell phones, and covers all high-tech objects with a maximum value of €3,000.
Fundraising and partners
In 2020, Coverd raised €1.2 million from the French fund Newfund and other private investors.
Coverd is a partner of Finfrog, a French fintech specialized in micro-credit. Finfrog offers all its customers, through a partner page, the possibility to subscribe to online insurance for their smartphone.
Market
According to Coverd, 80% of French people have already broken one of their high-tech products.
The European mobile insurance market recorded a value of $6030 million in 2018 and is expected to reach a value of $10254.2 million by 2028 growing at a CAGR (comparative annual growth rate) of 6.16% during the forecast period.
The share of online insurance is around 30% in 2018, and is expected to rise in the coming years. The main insurers being the vendors themselves, Apple, Samsung, etc.
Competitors
One of the advantages of Coverd is the ease of subscribing to the service, which does not require its customers to make a long-term commitment. This means that you can cancel your subscription at any time. Another of Coverd’s differentiating features is its ability to insure second-hand or reconditioned devices, which is not the case with many insurance companies.
In the last few years, we have seen a development of online insurance models, notably with Alan in health, Luko with home insurance or Wefox
There are currently few online insurance startups specializing in connected objects because, as we saw earlier, the predominant players in the market remain the traditional insurance companies or the manufacturers themselves. However, among the insurance companies offering to insure your equipment, we find :
The business part of this article was written by Emilie Nouacer, the tech part by Mathieu Van de catsije.