If you’ve ever bought something online and it’s been damaged, lost or stolen, you’ll know the pain of trying to sort it out. Normally, it’s a complicated process and there’s never been a way to insure it arrives safely – until now.
Freighty is a new insurance product which offers consumers point-of-sale insurance on any goods purchased online. Freighty easily allows consumers the option to add insurance to their cart at checkout, similar to how travel insurance is offered.
Freighty comes to market off the back off an oversubscribed, initial capital raise of $500K, which will be used to turbocharge the company’s penetration in the Australian market and scale internationally.
The seed round was made up of strategic high net worth investors, as well as contributions from a Brisbane Based Fund Manager, Altor Alpha Fund, and Voyager Ventures, the VC arm of a Family Office.
Why has Freighty attracted this funding?
Freighty has already secured key partnerships with one of the world’s leading brokers, BMS, and the world’s largest property and casualty insurance company, Chubb, which underwrites Freighty’s insurance.
Frieghty CEO and co-founder Jason Byrne said the startup’s partnerships made it highly scalable with plans to target the entire Australian e-commerce market which is predicted to be worth A$35.2 billion by 2021.
“Last year alone, Australia Post Group delivered more than 3.3 billion items to over 12 million addresses across the country. Many of these deliveries were travelling internationally or across states, making lost, damaged or stolen deliveries a very real concern for both retailers and consumers. Freighty helps provide protection as well as ensuring a hassle free claims process,” said Mr Byrne.
“Our business helps retailers reduce delivery issues and enhance their profits by taking over the responsibility for managing claims. For customers, it’s the simple click of a button to add the insurance to their cart at checkout for a tiny fraction of the transaction. Having just recently launched and coming up to the holiday season, we expect to see lots more retailers join us as deliveries surge, and more customers demand to have this option at check-out,” he added.
How exactly does Freighty work?
Freighty’s online ‘hassle free’ claims process is underpinned by proprietary technology which processes, approves and pays claims within a matter of minutes with no paperwork or contact with retailers or insurers. The insurance covers any goods purchased online that get lost, damaged or stolen in transit up to the value of $5,000 per order.
It’s the first automated claims management system in Australia with the capacity to handle high volume, low value claims at a mass scale. The proprietary system can process a plethora of payout claims (on lost, damaged or stolen deliveries) at the same time within minutes.
Freighty’s innovative business model also offers retailers a commission on every policy sold, enhancing their profitability while simultaneously improving the customer experience, reducing delivery issues and cutting costs on staff needed to handle refunds, complaints and claims. Freighty is free for all retailers to install and integrates seamlessly into any website.
Following the launch in Australia, Freighty plans to expand internationally to the US and Europe within the next few months. The global e-commerce market opportunity is in excess of $4 trillion dollars per year.
Freighty was co-founded in 2018 by two experienced entrepreneurs, Jason Byrne and Alex Collins. Jason is a former investment banker and start-up accelerator alumni. Alex is a full stack tech developer who previously made Australia’s first contribution to the international space station.
