Feather secures €6M to expand its insurance platform for expats across Europe

Navigating health insurance systems can be challenging for foreigners. German startup Feather aims to simplify this process and has raised €6 million to support over 40 million expats living and working in Europe.

While there are numerous insurance options available for foreign nationals, the market is fragmented and difficult to navigate. Feather believes it can find a niche despite heavy competition from established players by addressing these complexities.

Expats often have access to their host country’s public health system, but determining their exact coverage, especially during transitional periods common with remote work, can be confusing. Feather provides a tool to help users understand their insurance needs, starting with health insurance and expanding to life, pet, automotive, and personal liability insurance.

“Everyone who’s an expat immediately gets it,” Schumacher, one of the founders, said. This understanding has attracted angel investors who have faced similar challenges in their startups, such as GoCardless, Monzo, and N26, where Feather CTO Vincent Audoire was an early employee. Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus also invested through the VC fund Plural. Keen Venture Partners, Feather’s lead investor, approached the startup because associate Abdul Afridi, an expat himself, saw its potential.

Despite the investment, fundraising was challenging for insurtech startups in the post-2021 landscape. With other insurtech companies facing public struggles, Feather’s due diligence process was rigorous. Feather’s founders even considered focusing solely on profitability. “And I think that was the key thing that made us really interesting again,” Schumacher said.

Feather decided to proceed with expansion because its new investors offered expertise in various areas, including branding. The capital will aid its international growth. Feather currently operates in Germany, France, and Spain, with plans to expand to three more countries by the end of 2024.

Feather offers end users transparent policies, unbiased recommendations, and simple digital claims processes, all in English. With the new funding, Feather is also focusing on employee benefit insurance for companies hiring many expats.

Although Feather is enthusiastic about technology, it maintains good relations with legacy insurers and includes senior insurance executives among its investors. This balanced approach to fundraising and spending could help Feather avoid the scrutiny faced by other new insurtech partnerships. “For the last six years we’ve been doing healthy, sustainable business, and this allows you to unlock new things, even with incumbents,” Schumacher said.