ECI Partners, the growth-focused UK mid-market private equity firm, is delighted to announce that it has invested in Avantia (www.avantiagroup.co.uk) which operates the online consumer home insurance brand HomeProtect (www.homeprotect.co.uk).
Avantia has invested heavily in R&D, building up valuable and unique IP and capitalising on its rich and nuanced domain knowledge which allows the business to offer home insurance to many households when others consider it too difficult. The business maintains the most effective online quote ability of any household insurer in the UK, returning a quote to over 97% of applicants, almost 25% more than its closest competitor. More than 80% of its new customers are in what other insurers would deem to be ‘difficult to insure’ risk categories. Such categories include homeowners with larger houses, businesses running from home, listed buildings, unoccupied properties, flat roofs, previous convictions or thatched roofs.
In early 2013, Avantia hired Phillip Walter as CEO, with a mandate to grow the business and continue to invest in technology and R&D. Following Mr. Walter’s appointment, Avantia won the Transform Award and the Insurance Times Tech Award for its innovative use of data for real-time risk pricing, also placing as a finalist for the British Insurance Awards and UK Broker Awards.
Avantia marks ECI’s thirteenth investment in its most recent buyout fund, ECI 9, and the fifth transaction in the past 14 months following earlier investments including employment law specialist Citation, escorted rail travel company Great Rail Journeys, and most recently Encore Tickets.
