The problem

Income protection and life insurance have very low penetration rates in the UK. Only 29% of people have life insurance, while just 6% have income protection.

This leaves millions vulnerable to financial devastation if they are unable to work due to illness or injury, or in the tragic event of death. The majority of these people are already among the most financially disadvantaged and, in circumstances like these, would struggle to pay their essential living costs. 

Incumbent insurers are doing very little to address this,committed as they are to the same distribution methods they have always used. The main channel is through mortgage brokers—but this excludes the 35% of households who rent. Moreover, many legacy insurers lack the agility of digital and automated processes, meaning they struggle to increase the velocity, variety, and volume of data flows necessary to innovate in the embedded space.

The solution

Eleos provides a distribution infrastructure enabling long-term protection products, including income protection and life insurance, to be contextually embedded in digital apps where people already interact with their finances. 

Eleos has built a white-label insurance portal that partners can embed directly within their own mobile apps and websites with contextualised triggers. This portal guides customers through streamlined insurance purchase journeys raising awareness, providing personalised quotes, and allowing online applications.

Awareness is raised by prompting customers at relevant moments, such as opening a new bank account, taking out a loan, building up savings to a specific level, and conducting rental property searches. Quotes are personalised using data the partner already holds on that customer to prefill information like income and living costs to expedite the process.

Eleos has already raised €800k in pre-seed funding, backed by Indico Capital Partners, APX, Fuel Ventures, and Magic Fund.

Why we’re excited to invest

Olly Betts, sector director for fintech, says: “The majority of households can only afford to live for one month without income. Insurance is the cost-effective way to provide financial resilience and peace of mind but less than 30% people buy income insurance.

Eleos is on a mission to make every household financially resilient by embedding income protection and life insurance directly where people manage their money.

I’m excited to welcome Kiruba and the Eleos team to the Founders Factory Fintech Accelerator and work with them and our partners Aviva to make income insurance more accessible."