A merged company from Coya and the French digital insurer Luko will be active on the market under the name Luko.

Luko specializes in additional services for household contents insurance around the house (tradesman service, video prevention, advice on electricity consumption).

Anyone attempting to access the services of their digital property insurer via the coya.com website will be automatically redirected to de.luko.eu.

The history of the Berlin company Coya does not end, but with the merger, which will take effect this Thursday, one of the established names in the insurtech scene will be lost.

Philip Krohn

Editor in business, responsible for "People and Business".

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"The merger allows Coya and Luko to share technology, talent and social awareness to dramatically increase the number of people who can enjoy their homes without worrying," says Christian Miele, Partner at Headline and one of the early investors in Coya .

Other startups have had more of a spotlight

The Berlin start-up, founded five years ago by Andrew Shaw, was publicly overshadowed by the more aggressive Wefox group and Element, which cooperated with traditional insurers. But Coya is very popular with investors. Among them is the financier Peter Thiel, who lives in the USA. In addition, Coya succeeded in recruiting seasoned managers from established insurers. However, at 80,000, the number of people insured in liability, household and pet insurance fell short of expectations.

Insurtechs have to put in a lot of effort to remain independent.

Wefox has long been a darling of investors and has raised a lot of capital.

However, market observers believe that the company must soon be heading towards an IPO in order to be able to continue to invest so much in acquiring new customers.

Neodigital is trying out a new distribution channel in cooperation with HUK-Coburg.

The digital broker Clark has new opportunities with the entry of Allianz's own investment platform.

And one must not forget the already listed Deutsche Familienversicherung, which was on the market a few years before many digital competitors and has a larger customer base.

Merger partners complement each other

Coya and Luko describe their merger as a logical step.

The German insurtech has the technology for quick contract creation and claims processing, while the French have already professionalized 200,000 customers and the range of useful assistance services.

Luko has offices in Paris and Madrid and can expand into Europe's largest insurance market through the merger.

Both partners want to grow from around 300,000 to one million customers within a year.

According to Max Bachem, Managing Director of Coya, they both use technology to achieve a new level of customer satisfaction.

"We look forward to all the innovations we will bring to European consumers in the years to come."

Luko and Coya trust in being successful with an ecosystem approach.

This has been discussed in all boardrooms for about three years.

Insurers believe that they can increase customer proximity and the number of customer interactions if they offer related services in a package - as car insurers for mobility, as household insurers for everything to do with craftsmen, as health insurers for health protection.

Ecosystem logic convinces both established and newcomers

Established houses also invest in such ecosystems.

The Axa Group has coined the motto "From Payer to Partner" (from the payer to the customer's partner).

In this respect, it could prove advantageous to have a partner in Luko who has already gained experience in this area.

As digital insurers with automated processes, both companies work very lean.

Together they only have 200 employees.

However, the merger should make it possible to invest heavily in the Berlin location.

Coya will act as a risk taker, meaning that it will take newly written risks onto its own balance sheet.

The new Luko Group wants to add more than 50 new employees there who will take care of German customers.

This involves the existing functions in the claims area, customer service and sales.

Additional developers are also to be hired.