yulife launches world’s first lifestyle insurance business after raising £3m round led by LocalGlobe
• Founded by Ex-Vitality CEO on a mission to make British companies healthier and happier
• Powered by AI and behavioural science to deliver digital insurance and inspire employees to live their best lives
• Game based wellbeing app that helps users to build positive daily habits and receive rewards from partners including Asos, Avios and NowTV
• Dr Chatterjee, the physician, podcaster and author of bestselling ‘The Four Pillar Plan’ is yulife’s Chief Wellbeing Officer
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London, 8 November 2018 – yulife, the world’s first lifestyle insurance business, is launching this week in the UK on a mission to make British companies healthier and happier. The company was born out of a desire to revolutionise the life insurance industry and create a financial product that is a true win win.
yulife aims to create lasting, positive lifestyle changes by rewarding simple, everyday activities through their insurance and game based app.
The startup has raised £3m in a funding-round led by LocalGlobe, the UK investor behind successes including LoveFilm and TransferWise. Anthemis Exponential Ventures, and Israel’s most active venture investor, OurCrowd, also joined the round, whilst global insurance giant, AIG, is underwriting all policies.
The company is the latest venture of serial entrepreneur, Sammy Rubin, who founded and floated his first business in his twenties, before becoming the founding-CEO of insurer Vitality Life. The yulife wellbeing app is inspired by the medical philosophy of Dr Rangan Chatterjee, the physician, author and presenter, who is also yulife’s Chief Wellbeing Officer.
yulife has built its wellness and insurance proposition using behavioural science and artificial intelligence. The app, created by leading games designers, rewards members with yucoin – the yulife currency of wellbeing – for small, everyday lifestyle changes such as walking to work, or meditating using health app, Calm. Users progress through levels, compete in company leaderboards and complete quests which drive an improvement to overall wellbeing. Yucoin can be redeemed for rewards such as Avios points, Asos vouchers and NowTV passes.
Sammy Rubin, founder and chief executive, said: “Life insurance is an incredible product, but the proposition has to evolve to fit the needs of a new generation. We are building the world’s first lifestyle insurance business to put the customer at the centre. yulife has a big mission: we want to help people to live their best lives, and we are passionate about using tech and financial services as a force for good.”
Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Sam Fromson, said: “We have rebuilt the insurance infrastructure from the ground up to support our long-term vision of creating a new type of insurance company that is simple, easy and fun to engage with. Businesses are bombarded with complex benefits options and wellbeing packages that quickly fade out of use. yulife offers an engaging and compelling proposition of life insurance, wellbeing and rewards, all in one simple app.”
Dr Rangan Chatterjee, Chief Wellbeing Officer, said: “yulife looks at the wellbeing of the whole person – physical, mental and also financial. This is exactly the 360 degree view that I have been urging patients to adopt and I’m excited to be working with yulife to help our members to be their best selves!”
Tara Reeves, partner at LocalGlobe, said: “yulife is reimagining life insurance in a compelling way. Focused on wellness, rewards and gamification, yulife brings a whole new generation to life insurance and to a product that is designed with their needs in mind.”
Contact: sayula@burlington.cc
About yulife:
yulife is the world’s first lifestyle insurance company with a groundbreaking new life insurance proposition and a mission of of helping people to live their best lives. The company rewards its members with yucoin – the yulife currency of wellbeing – for forming positive daily wellbeing habits and yucoin can be redeemed for rewards such as Avios points, Amazon vouchers or NowTV sport passes. yulife was founded in 2016 by Sammy Rubin, serial entrepreneur and former CEO of Vitality Life. www.yulife.com
About LocalGlobe:
LocalGlobe is a UK-based venture capital firm that focuses on seed investments. Seeding ambitious UK founders since 1999 including Transferwise, Zoopla, Improbable, Citymapper, Algolia and Robinhood.
About Anthemis:
Anthemis cultivates change in financial services by building, growing, and sustaining businesses committed to improving the world. Our deep understanding of markets and models, passion for emerging technology and spirit of collaboration inspire everything we do. By creating fertile ground for entrepreneurs, institutions, researchers, academics, and visionaries to come together, we believe we can solve the financial services world’s most pressing challenges faster, better and for the benefit of all. Learn more at www.anthemis.com.
About OurCrowd:
OurCrowd is the leading global equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors. Managed by a team of seasoned investment professionals and led by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved, OurCrowd vets and selects opportunities, invests its own capital, and brings companies to its accredited membership of global investors. OurCrowd provides post-investment support to its portfolio companies, assigns industry experts as mentors, and takes board seats. The OurCrowd community consists of almost 25,000 accredited investors from over 150 countries. OurCrowd has raised over $750M and invested in 160 portfolio companies and funds. gold.ocdvlp.com
Editor’s notes:
The yulife founding team includes Josh Hart, chief technology officer, Jonathan Roomer, chief financial officer and Jaco Oosthuizen, chief product officer. Hart is a tech entrepreneur who was a founding partner of Chelsea Apps Factory, which has created mobile apps for FTSE 250 companies including Waitrose and Standard Life. Roomer is a qualified actuary and former head of the KPMG startup team. Oosthuizen is the former CEO of Momentum Multiply and Managing Director of the Anthemis Exponential Fund.
