TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Walnut, an innovative force in the insurance distribution industry, today announced the successful close of its latest funding round, securing $4.6M. The investment will be used to expand Walnut's groundbreaking embedded insurance technology platform for insurers, brokers and enterprise businesses looking to participate in the future of insurance distribution.
The round was led by NAventures, National Bank of Canada’s corporate venture capital arm with participation from TELUS Global Ventures, Diagram Ventures, Portage, and Highline Beta. The funding from some of Canada’s leading investors represents a pivotal milestone for Walnut as it accelerates efforts to modernize and streamline insurance distribution. Diagram has recently expanded its strategy beyond its well-known venture studio model to include external investments. Walnut is amongst the first few of this kind in the Diagram portfolio, highlighting their confidence in the team’s potential to revolutionize the insurance landscape.
Walnut's approach to insurance distribution leverages cutting-edge technology and strategic partnerships to create a sustainable and efficient business model. By embedding insurance products directly into the products and platforms of enterprise businesses and financial institutions, Walnut removes significant marketing costs and drives insurance distribution through partner-driven channels. This strategy not only supports a more sustainable distribution strategy for insurers, but also ensures that consumers receive tailored insurance products when and where they need them.
"The insurance industry has yet to complete its digital transformation, with many insurers and brokers still operating in traditional, non-digital fashions. We aim to leapfrog traditional digitization and support a modern API-enabled embedded distribution strategy," said Adrien Niblock, CPO and Co-founder of Walnut.
"Our embedded insurance platform captures distribution, supports insurers and brokers with embedded-first infrastructure, and delivers products to our customers in a compliant manner. This funding allows us to expand our technology stack, scale our operations, and bring innovative insurance solutions to both insurers and businesses looking to drive new revenue streams."
Walnut’s Solution:
- Digitizes and optimizes products and customer journeys
- Enables API driven product delivery
- Drives compliant and effective multi-channel delivery
- Enables partner co-branding and headless insurance distribution
- Delivers instant quote and bind experiences
- Supports policy delivery and management
Walnut's platform enables partners to quote and enroll customers into almost any insurance product in real-time within co-branded consumer experiences, advisor driven processes or headless via API. Walnut offers a flexible and efficient solution for integrating insurance into various digital ecosystems within 30-90 days where typically this can take years. This comprehensive approach ensures a seamless multi-channel delivery, enhancing the customer experience and leading to effective product delivery.
For insurers and brokers, Walnut’s platform provides significant benefits, such as the ability to profit share versus front-loading marketing costs, improving risk management, and unlocking untapped channels. Partners benefit from increased ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), deeper relationships with their customers, and a reduction in churn. For consumers, Walnut's solution ensures they receive insurance at the right time with reduced effort to purchase, facilitated by data-driven processes and consolidated brand experiences.
While Walnut supports delivery of many insurance products, in the current macroeconomic climate, with increasing loan defaults and financial instability, Walnut's focus on loan and debt protection products is timely. These products are designed to safeguard consumers against income loss, providing crucial support in uncertain times. As mortgage renewals loom for many, Walnut's creditor insurance offerings aim to protect both consumers and financial institutions.
"Walnut's unique approach to embedded insurance distribution aligns with our vision of supporting transformative technologies that have the potential to drive significant industry change," said François Lafortune, CEO of Diagram Ventures. “Over the last two years, in addition to Diagram's historical Venture Builder activities, we've made a number of investments in high-quality external pre-seed to Series A companies. We think this complements what we have historically been doing and we are excited to support a broader group of companies, like Walnut, with our ecosystem,” added François.
“We are proud to support Walnut in their next phase of growth. Our ongoing investment and partnership reflect our confidence in their vision and execution,” said James Povitz, Principal at NAventures.
Walnut will utilize the newly secured capital to enhance its technology platform for insurers and brokers, expand its engineering team, and form new partnerships. The company is also poised to enter new markets, capitalizing on the massive opportunity to effectively deploy replicable embedded insurance solutions.
For more information about Walnut and its innovative insurance distribution platform, please visit: www.gowalnut.com
About Walnut Insurance: Walnut is a leading provider of embedded insurance technology, revolutionizing the distribution process by integrating insurance products directly into partner platforms. By leveraging technology and strategic partnerships, Walnut supports the delivery of effective embedded insurance executions for insurers and enterprise partners. Walnut is dedicated to transforming the insurance landscape through their deep experience delivering effective embedded insurance executions.
About National Bank of Canada: With $442 billion in assets as at April 30, 2024, National Bank of Canada is one of Canada’s six systemically important banks. The Bank has approximately 30,000 employees in knowledge-intensive positions and operates through three business segments in Canada: Personal and Commercial Banking, Wealth Management and Financial Markets. A fourth segment, U.S. Specialty Finance and International, complements the growth of its domestic operations. Its securities are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: NA). Follow the Bank’s activities at nbc.ca or via social media.
About Diagram Ventures: Diagram is a Venture Builder and Investor with over $350M in assets under management, specializing in launching and scaling ventures in Fintech, Web3, and ClimateTech. Since 2016, Diagram has collaborated with exceptional founders to launch more than 20 ventures, combining access to capital, hands-on support, and a deep ecosystem of partners to catalyze the growth of world-changing companies.
About Portage: Portage is a global investment platform focused on FinTech and Financial Services with over US $2.5 Billion assets under management.
Our team partners with ambitious companies across all stages, through Portage Ventures and Portage Capital Solutions. We provide flexible capital and deliver a global network of investors, commercial partners, advisors, and value creation experts. With deep industry knowledge and entrepreneurial experience, Portage is committed to supporting the leaders who are reshaping financial services. Portage operates in the United States, Canada and Europe. Portage is a platform within Sagard, a global multi-strategy alternative asset management firm with over $25B under management. For more information, visit www.portageinvest.com.
About Highline Beta: Highline Beta is a hybrid venture studio and venture capital firm working with corporate partners and founders to build and fund new startups. The company works across multiple verticals including insurance, financial services, real estate and supply chain, providing pre-seed & seed capital, hands-on executional support, and an ecosystem of partners.
About TELUS Global Ventures: At TELUS Global Ventures we leverage deep insights from our global businesses to provide our investment partners with opportunities for tangible growth and traction. To date, TELUS Global Ventures has funded more than 150 companies that are poised for significant growth and market transformation, spanning across 10 countries and five continents.
