Yahoo Finance Gig economy insurance start-up Zego raises £1.2m
A London start-up which insures Deliveroo riders has swallowed a £1.2 million investment amid concerns about rights of workers in the so-called gig economy.
Zego, which is run by an ex-Deliveroo executive, has received £1.23 million in seed funding from investors led by LocalGlobe, the venture capital firm run by Saul and Robin Klein.
The company launched last year, providing pay-as-you-go insurance cover to scooter drivers for companies such as Deliveroo, UberEATS, and Amazon.
Zego has an app that tracks when those workers are on shift and then automatically debits their account so they only pay insurance when they work rather than forking out for hefty annual premiums.
The firm has also just launched an insurance product for car drivers, which is underwritten by Aviva.
The funds raised will be spent on increasing the workforce, specifically in software development.
It comes a week after the Taylor Review into employment practices, which honed in on the gig economy.
The report, commissioned by Theresa May, called for more rights for workers who use apps such as Deliveroo, which does not class riders as employees.
Zego’s chief executive and co-founder Harry Franks, who was global head of procurement at Deliveroo, said insurance “is not fit for purpose”.
“We can help people have adequate insurance while they’re working and therefore they don’t get boxed into being a full-time worker or being a subcontractor,” Franks said.
