Packing travel insurance products into an app helped Faye to a $31M Series B

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FAYE's Elad Schaffer, co-founder:CEO and Daniel Green, co-founder:CTO

Image Credits: Faye / Faye's Elad Schaffer, co-founder/CEO and Daniel Green, co-founder/CTO

We’ve been covering U.S.-based insurtech startup Faye way back since 2022 with its seed round, and the Series A round in 2023, and it seems they continue to be on a roll, today announcing a $31 million in Series B funding. What is keeping this online insurance company on the rise? 

Well, it would appear to be the way it combines travel insurance, assistance while you are away from home, and a range of financial solutions, packed inside a comprehensive smartphone app. It might be said that in the way Lemonade managed to hit a millennial generation with a much sexier-packaged insurance platform, Faye has been plowing a similar field. 

Co-founder and CEO Elad Schaffer told TechCrunch that part of the key to its ongoing growth has been its wallet approach to insurance payouts.

“The wallet is how we pay claims instantly to your phone so that you can use them like you use your Apple Pay to pay for things. Suddenly it becomes your favorite travel card, where you can enjoy better foreign exchange rates, budget for your trip, reconciliation after your trip, etc. We really want to be the protector and companion when you travel.”

To that extent, Faye offers 24/7 assistance, “real-time” trip monitoring and alerts about the country you are in, vaccine information, health mandates, telemedicine access to doctors or in-hotel medical visits, plus reimbursements and offers.

Schaffer says the company’s travel care is “designed to help you overcome travel hiccups and ensure that the trip goes smoothly.”

He continued: “Most Americans either don’t buy travel insurance or are just not used to buying travel insurance. … So I would still argue that we are competing with legacy providers like Allianz partners, or AIG.”

Another notable insurtech startup in the space is U.S.-based Battleface, a travel insurance startup that provides embedded travel insurance products, which has raised $14 million so far.

Faye’s $31 million in Series B was led by Portage, with participation from Lumir Ventures, along with existing investors F2 Venture Capital, Viola Ventures, and Munich Re Ventures.

Packing travel insurance products into an app helped FAYE to a $31M Series B

by with No Comment Tech

FAYE's Elad Schaffer, co-founder:CEO and Daniel Green, co-founder:CTO

Image Credits: FAYE's Elad Schaffer, co-founder:CEO and Daniel Green, co-founder:CTO

We’ve been covering US-based Insurtech startup FAYE way back since 2022 with its Seed round, and the Series A round in 2023, and it seems they continue to be on a roll, today announcing a $31 million in Series B funding. What is keeping this online insurance company on the rise? 

Well, it would appear to be the way it combines travel insurance, assistance while you are away from home, and a range of financial solutions, packed inside a comprehensive smartphone app. It might be said that in the way Lemonade managed to hit a millennial generation with a much sexier-packaged insurance platform, FAYE has been plowing a similar field. 

Co-founder and CEO Elad Schaffer told TechCrunch that part of the key to its ongoing growth has been its wallet approach to insurance payouts.

“The wallet is how we pay claims instantly to your phone so that you can use them like you use your Apple Pay to pay for things. Suddenly it becomes your favorite travel card, where you can enjoy better foreign exchange rates, budget for your trip, reconciliation after your trip, etc. We really want to be the protector and companion when you travel.”

To that extent, FAYE offers 24/7 assistance, “real-time” trip monitoring and alerts about the country you are in, vaccine information, health mandates, telemedicine access to doctors or in-hotel medical visits, plus reimbursements and offers.

Schaffer says the company’s travel care is “designed to help you overcome travel hiccups and ensure that the trip goes smoothly.”

He continued: “Most Americans either don’t buy travel insurance or are just not used to buying travel insurance… So I would still argue that we are competing with legacy providers like Allianz partners, or AIG.”

Another notable insuretech startup in the space is US-based Battleface, a travel insurance startup that provides embedded travel insurance products which has raised $14 million so far.

FAYE’s $31 million in Series B was led by Portage, with participation from Lumir Ventures, along with existing investors F2 Venture Capital, Viola Ventures, and Munich Re Ventures.

Paytm wallet and FASTag products will cease to exist, Bernstein says

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Paytm says payments bank did not share data with Chinese firms

Image Credits: Nasir Kachroo / NurPhoto / Getty Images

India’s central bank has extended the deadline for some business restrictions on Paytm’s Payments Bank to March 15 in “larger public interest,” dashing hopes of any major concessions but allowing extra time to comply.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday that Paytm Payments Bank will be barred from accepting deposits and facilitating credit transactions from March 15. The order initially had set a deadline of February 29.

The extension follows curbs last month that wiped 55% from Paytm’s market cap, which floated in 2021 at a $20 billion valuation. The fintech serves over 15 million merchants and 330 million wallet customers. Its cash reserves stood at over $1 billion at the end of December.

The RBI said in a statement that it was extending the deadline in the “interest of customers (including merchants) of PPBL who may require a little more time to make alternative arrangements and the larger public interest.”

Bernstein analysts wrote in a note Friday evening that the new clarification means that Paytm’s Wallet (which has over 330 million customers) and FASTag products will cease to exist. Paytm led the FASTag market.

“There was no explicit exception provided for a bulk transfer of wallets/Fastag to another bank and hence these products will cease to exist — this was a largely expected negative,” Bernstein analysts added. (FASTag is India’s toll collection business.)

Many other payments bank’s services will be permitted until March 15 instead of the earlier February 29 deadline, the central bank said (PDF). The RBI also published an FAQ (PDF), detailing how the embargo on Paytm’s Payments Bank will impact merchant and customers. The central bank said merchants using Paytm’s QR code, soundbox and point-of-sale terminal devices will not be impacted by the disruption at Paytm, provided those machines and instruments are linked to other bank accounts.

“This is a major positive though we would have liked to see more details such as: What merchants need to do to continue using these payment solutions, if any (e.g. a re-KYC)? What Paytm needs to do to enable these payments and if it’s permitted to do so? (e.g. Switch over Nodal accounts, Partner with another bank as PSP etc.),” analysts at Bernstein wrote Friday in a note.

Last month the RBI ordered Paytm to close nodal accounts by February 29. It is maintaining this deadline — payments firms use such accounts to enable transactions. Paytm said Friday it has shifted its nodal account to Axis Bank.

“This arrangement is expected to seamlessly replace the nodal account that OCL was using with Paytm Payments Bank. Paytm Payment Services Ltd (PPSL), OCL’s wholly owned subsidiary has already been using the Axis Bank services, since its inception,” Paytm said.

Earlier this week, Macquarie slashed its Paytm price target to 275 rupees, or $4.11, over regulatory risks, sparking fears customers could exit. Shares closed Friday at 341 rupees.

The RBI has not disclosed Paytm’s violations, but said last week it only acts after “persistent non-compliance.” Governor Shaktikanta Das stated the bank engages bilaterally first to push corrective action. Any response is “proportionate to the gravity.”

Many hoped the RBI would soften its stance, but Friday’s update suggests it plans to proceed.

Story updated with Bernstein’s comment. 

900.care sells waterless personal care products and lets you add tap water at home

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Image Credits: 900.care

Here’s the harsh truth behind personal care products: You’re mostly buying water and plastic. The main ingredient in a bottle of shampoo or shower gel is water, which is then mixed with a bunch of active ingredients. And because it’s a “pre-mixed” product, companies spend a lot of money on plastic bottles to transport those products to your bathroom.

French startup 900.care wants to try something new. Instead of buying a new bottle of shower gel every time you need some shower gel, the startup focuses on the active ingredients.

On your first order, you receive an empty, reusable plastic bottle with a pump. You put a tiny stick of compacted powder in the bottle, add some water and wait a few hours. It’s then ready to use. The next time you need more shower gel or shampoo, you only need a new stick (and some tap water).

“You keep all the benefits of using shower gel, for example. Our shower gel lathers, it has the same texture, it smells good, etc. But you didn’t buy any plastic and you didn’t carry any water,” co-founder and CEO Aymeric Grange told me.

And 900.care raised a €21 million funding round a couple of months ago ($23 million at today’s exchange rate), as its products have been working pretty well in its home country. Lombard Odier Investment Managers is leading the funding round with existing investors White Star Capital, Swen Blue Ocean and Founders Future also participating.

The startup followed the direct-to-consumer playbook, as customers can only buy products on its website. As you always need new personal care products, the company also decided to sell its products as subscriptions exclusively.

In 2023 alone, 900.care generated €10 million in revenue ($10.8 million). The startup has 90,000 clients with 235,000 active subscriptions — each client can have multiple subscriptions.

In addition to shampoo and shower gel, 900.care also sells foaming hand soap, dish soap, laundry and dishwasher tablets, as well as a few other products. The company estimates that it prevented the equivalent of 3.5 million plastic bottles of waste.

The small prints

The company’s products also represent a good business opportunity. Every few weeks, customers receive an envelope with new sticks for their hygiene and home products. Because those compacted powder sticks are quite small, they fit in a normal envelope and can be sent as normal mail, which saves 900.care money on shipping fees.

Similarly, factories and production lines are quite small, as they don’t need huge basins to mix water with active ingredients. They only need to mix up different powders and compact the mix to turn it into tiny sticks.

“For the compacting and industrialization stage, the big challenge was that there was no one who knew how to do that. Initially, we started working with people who were involved in cosmetics,” Grange said. “But we soon realized that this wasn’t going to work. They couldn’t keep up with the pace, and the factories weren’t designed for it. So during the second quarter of 2023, we opened a factory in Saint-Etienne, dedicated to compacted powder.”

This new factory will work exclusively for 900.care but is still operated by a partner. But the fact that everything has been specifically designed for 900.care has greatly improved the company’s margins.

The startup thinks it can reach €100 million in revenue within three years, as it is about to expand to other European countries beyond France, Belgium and Switzerland. But the company still expects to turn a profit this year.