Insurtech disruptor Percayso Inform set for expansion after £3.4M fundraise led by Praetura Ventures

• Percayso Inform will use the investment to drive product development, access new sectors of the UK insurance market and better equip insurers against fraud and risk

• Percayso is the brainchild of insurance industry heavyweight Simon James, who has had prior success growing and selling a successful insurance business ahead of turning his attention to Percayso and new opportunities in the insurtech space

Insurance data intelligence provider Percayso Inform (Percayso) has announced a major £3.4M investment led by Manchester-based venture capital investor Praetura Ventures.

Launched in the UK insurance market in 2019, Percayso’s data and intelligence hub provides next generation insurance intelligence services and adds further value to powerful datasets, helping insurers to prevent fraud, compete on price comparison sites and reduce risk levels.

Percayso also enables insurers, brokers and other specialist managing general agents with underwriting authority in personal and commercial lines to better use, optimise and analyse their own data, ratings and intelligence strategies.

Built on a SaaS model, the technology works by aggregating data from multiple sources and making this accessible via an API, empowering insurance providers to establish key insights easier.

Percayso’s founding team has now grown to 22 people with a vast amount of previous industry experience. So far, the team has been focused on building the platform, sourcing data partners and creating key software house integrations to ready the business for scale.

The investment secured from Praetura Ventures will see product development by Percayso gather pace, enabling the business to enter new sectors of the UK insurance market.

Praetura’s investment in Percayso follows record growth for the insurtech space, after funding across the sector surpassed $15.8bn in 2021, according to the latest figures from CB Insights and Gallagher. This was more than double the total amount raised in 2020, with Q4 2021 proving the highest single quarter on record for global insurtech funding.

“This investment and our new partnership with Praetura Ventures is a powerful endorsement of our vision, our strategy and the solutions we are delivering to the insurance industry,” said Percayso managing director, Richard Tomlinson. “The team at Percayso has achieved an awful lot in a short space of time, but we have ambitious plans and their backing will allow us to accelerate our roadmap.

“However, this deal represents more than just funding. What really attracted us to Praetura Ventures was their approach to giving more than money to the businesses they invest in. Their understanding and enthusiasm for all things tech, together with the additional business skills they bring, will provide the support we need to take things to the next level.”

David Foreman, managing director at Praetura Ventures, said: “The investment team has an incredibly thorough due diligence process and we were so impressed with how highly Percayso’s clients spoke of them. The team has built a valuable tool that can clearly help insurance providers to get more from their data and create a real advantage. We’re so excited to welcome them into the portfolio and help them reach the next level.”

The Percayso deal was facilitated by Praetura Ventures’ Guy Weaver (director) and Sim Singh-Landa (investment manager) and advised by the legal team at Irwin Mitchell.