Insurance technology start-up honcho has raised £850,000 to complete the final build of its software and launch its product.
The Finance Durham fund, established by Durham County Council and managed by Maven Capital Partners, provided £150,000 of the total investment, with Crowdcube investors providing the remaining £700,000.
Honcho’s software is described as an innovative alternative to price comparison website, and aims to disrupt the market by providing consumers with a new way to buy insurance products reducing the cost of insurance for motorists.
Through its m-Commerce reverse auction marketplace, insurance firms can transparently bid for the business of consumers.
“We are absolutely delighted to have received such a fantastic level of support from the crowd as well as Business Durham and Maven and to have exceeded our funding target by more than 25 per cent,” said CEO Gavin Sewell, who has over 20 years of experience in banking and finance and has also previously scaled and exited his own FinTech start-up.
“We are very much looking forward to working with Maven, Business Durham and our other key partners in the North of the country to launch our reverse-auction marketplace for financial services products.
“Honcho will be a truly disruptive force in the marketplace; putting consumers’ first, encouraging competition and transparency, and saving them time and money.”
Alex Marsh, investment manager at Maven, added: “honcho is a hugely exciting new business and we are delighted to support its plans to launch such an innovative app for motorists that empowers the consumer and ultimately reduces the cost of insurance.
“The team has identified a clear gap in the market and the overwhelming response from the crowd demonstrates that there’s a real appetite for the technology they’ve developed.”
Honcho is headquartered in Salvus House, Business Durham’s flagship office space at Aykley Heads, where it plans to create three new jobs.