July was another very quiet month. Once again, I should say.
Admittedly, it marks the start of the summer, but it can also be the final sprint before the holidays, often a period when startups finalize funding rounds before everyone puts their laptops away.
That wasn't the case this year. Only two funding rounds were announced. That's very little, and it is consistent with the trend we've seen over the past few months, which have been relatively quiet in terms of deal activity. As a result, the number of announced rounds was down 29% in the first half of the year compared with the previous year. By the end of July, that gap had widened further to 37% year over year.
The same applies to invested capital, with a total of €24 million raised. It's a modest figure overall, although not insignificant when looking at the average deal size, helped by a Series B round in Hungary, an ecosystem that has traditionally remained relatively quiet.
In that sense, the second half of the year is starting much like the first. On one side, category leaders continue to secure relatively significant funding rounds. On the other, a handful of new startups are still entering the market, although in smaller numbers for now, at least when looking strictly at the InsurTech ecosystem.
In short, two deals announced and €24 million invested. Those are the key figures to remember this month.
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Let's now take a closer look at the month's largest funding round to better understand the startup and the trend it illustrates.
At the top of the podium is Ominimo, which announced July's largest funding round. The Hungarian startup raised $22.5 million in a new financing round led by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The round comes just over a year after its first €10 million raise, led by Zurich Insurance, and values the company at more than $1.4 billion. Ominimo has therefore become Europe's newest InsurTech unicorn.
Founded just two years ago, Ominimo launched in the Hungarian motor insurance market. The company operates as a digital broker, allowing customers to purchase insurance online in just a few clicks. While the proposition itself is not particularly novel from an innovation standpoint, it brings a fully digital model to a European market that has so far seen relatively limited InsurTech activity. Zurich Insurance not only invested in the previous funding round but also provides the underwriting capacity behind the business.
The funding announcement also revealed that Ominimo is approaching one million insured customers and has generated more than $350 million in written premiums since launch. The company now operates in Poland, alongside its home market, and continues to highlight its ambition to expand across Europe.
At the time of the funding round, Ominimo employed 90 people, according to LinkedIn, representing 73% headcount growth over the past year.
