Two years ago today, Tapoly was founded in a small London flat. Since then we have grown to a sizable team, gained FCA authorisation, launched our website, and started selling insurance products. To celebrate this progress we held an event where fellow entrepreneurs, startup founders, and investors mingled and discovered how Tapoly began. Our founder, Janthana, described the difficulty she had in finding on-demand insurance for her flat when she wanted to place it on Airbnb for a short period of time. After more investigation into gaps in the market, she and her co-founder, Sam Hopkins, created Tapoly to address the issues faced by freelancers, a segment which historically has been under-served by insurance companies.
The event didn’t just focus on Tapoly. Paolo Cuomo, a principal at Bain Consulting Group, spoke about InsurTech, noting that these new approaches in the insurance sector are focused on “actually making a difference to the customer.”
The event also included a talk by Jessica Dick of Five Years Time, which teaches entrepreneurs what investors look for in a company, and who has worked directly with Google Launchpad, London & Partners, and Angel Academe. Jessica gave some tips to the assembled start-ups on how to raise that crucial first round of investment.
What issue does Tapoly actually solve? We offer an easy and convenient way for freelancers, contractors and SMEs to get flexible commercial insurance for their contracts or their business, whether that is for a day or for the whole year. We cater for digital businesses and we offer cyber liability cover as part of our professional indemnity insurance.
Why is Tapoly solving this issue? Do freelancers really need specific insurance for their work? The answer is a resounding yes. The reason is because within the western world, there has been a sudden but dramatic shift of people moving from safe, employed work to a more flexible setup where individuals are free to decide how and when to spend their time working. Freelancers must take the responsibility of their well-being and livelihood upon themselves, which is where insurance comes in. Fortunately, Tapoly can provide bespoke commercial insurance products tailored to the customer, combining the three pillars of insurance: underwriting, brokerage, and distribution.
Why would consumers care about this? Vertically integrating these processes allows Tapoly to reduce costs as well as deliver the best possible products. As a testament to Tapoly’s values, our community and customers have supported us through the myriad of ups and downs that we have had over the last two years, and we were delighted that so many of them were able to attend our event.