Insurtech startup DeadHappy has officially launched today, bringing fully digital ‘pay-as-you-go’ life insurance to its customers.
The company is on a mission to make it simpler for everyone, particularly the 8.1 million Brits who don’t have life insurance, to get protection that meets their needs at the right price.
On average DeadHappy’s life insurance costs £14.78 per month across ten years. It is priced annually based on a customer’s current age and risk level – not a prediction about their risk of dying across the next 20 years.
DeadHappy has managed to rethink, redesign, and distil the underwriting process into 4 simple questions, making the application very quick. The insurer says that, when combined with a technology platform that focuses on personalising the cover, it’s now quicker and easier for people to get the protection they want, all online.
Many people in the UK find thinking about and planning for death unappealing. To address this, the company is introducing what it calls ‘deathwishes’. These are not the desire for self-annihilation, but DeadHappy’s way of helping customers express what they want to happen when they die.
So rather than simply offering a payout, deathwishes can be financially led, such as paying off a mortgage, or more personal, such as buying someone an annual season ticket for their football team or arranging someone to take the bins out for their partner.
DeadHappy is led by a veteran team with a broad range of digital and insurtech experience. Co-founder Phil Zeidler founded Junction, part of BGL, and was chair at Simply Business among others. Co-founder Andy Knott, co-founded gaming company Pure, and digital experience company Dare. COO Dominic Holton is ex-Compare the Market and Beagle Street and CFO Ana Teixeira is a former financial director at Beagle Street.
Phil Zeidler, DeadHappy co-founder, said: “Traditional life insurance is overpriced, complex and dull. People are paying over the odds as a result.
“Our philosophy is different – you’re far less likely to die when you’re younger; this means you should pay less. It’s pretty simple. We’re making this possible for the first time in the UK.
“We’re also trying to break new ground in how death is talked about, to help people plan for what happens when they die – without resorting to ‘project fear’.
“Death is never going to be the top of anyone’s list of favourite pub conversations, but we hope to at least make it a more approachable, less daunting conversation to have.”
DeadHappy is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and backed with £1.5m seed investment led by Octopus Ventures. The company is also supported by strategic partnerships with industry heavyweights including Covéa and GenRe.