Great combo this week: InsurTech in mobility and verticalized climate fund of funds 😃

#145 - Alexandre Molla (CEO of Sharelock) and #146 - Jacqueline van den Ende (CEO of Carbon Equity)

Mar 12, 2023

Promise kept again this week, with a selection of two actors who innovate and do good for the planet in a direct and indirect way.

On the 🇫🇷 episode, I welcome Alexandre Molla, CEO and co-founder of Sharelock, who explains how his start-up “boosts” soft mobility by insuring against risks.
On the 🇬🇧 episode, I welcome Jacqueline van den Ende, CEO and co-founder of Carbon Equity, a solution that allows you to invest in the best climate funds.

Alexandre, a former Uber general manager, who oversaw the scaling of the start-up until its IPO, has set himself the mission of unlocking the use of the bike by responding to the fear of theft through a shared padlock, but above all, and this is what interests me, insurance.

Alexandre explains how the deployment of the connected padlock allowed them to retrieve a lot of data to help them better understand soft mobility, the consumption patterns of their users, and how to create an insurance solution totally adapted to the needs of cyclists.

Initially financed from its own funds, Sharelock has deployed an insurance solution, combining data and artificial intelligence, which makes it possible to prevent theft to better advise policyholders to improve the safety of their bikes.

We talk about the role of Wakam and Seyna, the B2B offer, partnerships with other insurance players and of course investors alongside Sharelock.

Mobility

A subject already discussed with Romain Afflelou from Cosmo Connected (here), soft mobility is extremely important and a market with exponential growth.

In terms of investments in the mobility sector, trends are shifting. One of the recently identified examples is that of Shift4Good, the world's first VC fund dedicated to sustainable mobility. The fund announced a first closing last October with institutional investors and major mobility companies in Europe and Asia, including Renault, the EIF and BpiFrance, Family Offices and entrepreneurs. The fundraising target is EUR 300 million.

We typically find a number of start-ups in this vertical around the Internet of Things, autonomous driving, Mobility as a Service (MaaS), micromobility or electrification.

Mobility as a Service

MaaS is a holistic mobility service that combines different transport options in a single application, thus offering users added value in terms of access to mobility. This concept makes it possible to plan trips, settle payments and obtain real-time information on public transport, carpooling, car rental, bicycles and other modes of transport. MaaS is a practical, eco-friendly and cost-effective alternative to owning a car, and it is increasingly being adopted by consumers.

Source: Future mobility Finland

Insurance

As the mobility industry evolves, the insurance market will also need to adapt. Indeed, the frequency of claims is expected to decrease significantly in the coming years. Cars will become less popular as micromobility develops, which will lead to a large reduction in activity for auto insurers.

Insurance companies will need to develop new products to cope with falling insurance premiums and offset this loss with new revenue models.

When we know that 91.5% of bikes are not yet insured and that 86% of policyholders have taken out their first insurance this year, there is a “boulevard” (Source: Sharelock).

Sharelock

The start-up develops, deploys and operates the world's first shared padlock solution in partnership with municipal authorities and mobility operators to massively enable active mobility. Sharelock is also developing an insurance solution based on a mass of unique personal mobility data collected through users.

Founded in 2020 by Alexandre Molla and Nicolas Louvet (NB: not to be confused with his namesake, the CEO of Coinhouse), it raised EUR 4 million in seed funding.

Get ready to be swept away by the entrepreneurial journey of Jacqueline, a passionate entrepreneur!

She is here to demystify the world of alternative climate funds, whether in infrastructure, real estate, private equity, growth or VC.

Her motto: "It's time to fund companies that change the world."

Together we will explore the incredible potential of this platform, which makes alternative assets accessible to the masses, a subject already well explored with Frédéric Stolar (Managing Partner of Altaroc) in an exciting episode with Olivier Herbout (Ramify).

Jacqueline shares all the details of the “Carbon Equity adventure”, from the choice of funds, the size of entry tickets, to marketing, distribution, as well as the establishment of a secondary market.

Carbon Equity

Carbon Equity gives its clients the opportunity to invest in ClimateTech funds (8 to 15 out of the 800 funds identified), either directly or in a fund of funds.

Created by Jacqueline, Lara Koole, Jeff Gomez and Liza Rubinstein.
Verticals: AgriTech, Urban Growth and Energy.
Among the funds selected: Astanor, Clean Energy Ventures, Lightrock.
Based in the Netherlands.
Registered in “light regime” with the Dutch AFM.

Climate Investing Club

This club allows Carbon Equity to offer investment opportunities with minimum amounts of EUR 10,000. However, members of the Climate Investing Club must go through a selection process (only in the Netherlands).