Bequest (company)

Last updated
Bequest
Company typePrivate
Founded2019
Founder James Buckley-Thorp
Defunct2022
Headquarters
London, England, United Kingdom
ServicesLife insurance, Wills and estate planning [1]
Website www.bequest.com

Bequest Life Insurance was a privately owned British fintech life insurance company [2] headquartered in the United Kingdom. [3] It operated under two insurance licenses: life and wills. Bequest was regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and was one of the earliest of a number of new app-based insurance providers in the UK before its closure in 2022. [4] [5]

History

Northcliffe House, former headquarters of Bequest.com Northcliffe House - Bequest.com - Life Insurance.png
Northcliffe House, former headquarters of Bequest.com

Bequest was founded by James Buckley-Thorp in 2019 [6] and ceased operations in 2022. Its head office was located in London, England, United Kingdom. Bequest was backed by both Aviva and Covea and provided life insurance, wills, and estate planning to consumers. [7] [8] [9] In 2021, the company raised just over £1.7m in investment from Clocktower Ventures, Kuvi Capital, and Form Ventures. [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

AH Capital Management, LLC is an American privately held venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. As of April 2023, Andreessen Horowitz ranks first on the list of venture capital firms by assets under management, with $42 billion as of May 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Funding Circle</span> Commercial lender

Funding Circle is a commercial lender. Originally it was a peer-to-peer lending marketplace that allowed the public to lend money directly to small and medium-sized businesses. Through this exchange businesses access lower costs of financing than they would get at a bank and the public are able to become lenders and in doing so make a return on their capital. It closed its lending option to "retail investors" between 2020 and 2022, and then announced, in March 2022, that it had made the closure permanent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wise (company)</span> Financial services company

Wise, previously known as TransferWise, is a financial technology company focused on global money transfers. Headquartered in London, it was founded by Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus in January 2011. As of 2023, it offers three main products: Wise Account, Wise Business, and Wise Platform.

Fintech, a clipped compound of "financial technology", refers to the application of innovative technologies to products and services in the financial industry. This broad term encompasses a wide array of technological advancements in financial services, including mobile banking, online lending platforms, digital payment systems, robo-advisors, and blockchain-based applications such as cryptocurrencies. Fintech companies include both startups and established technology and financial firms that aim to improve, complement, or replace traditional financial services.

Credit Benchmark, (CB) is a British financial data analytics company which provides credit consensus ratings and analytics based on the contributed risk views of major global financial institutions. The internal risk views of these institutions are collected, aggregated and anonymized to create a Credit Consensus Rating on tens of thousands of corporate, financial, fund and sovereign entities globally.

Deliveroo is a British online food delivery company founded by Will Shu and Greg Orlowski in 2013 in London, England. It operates in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar. It formerly operated in Germany, Taiwan, Spain, the Netherlands, and Australia. Its subsidiary operation, Deliveroo Editions operates dark kitchens for the preparation of delivery-only meals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cross River Bank</span> American financial services corporation

Cross River is an American financial services organization that provides technology infrastructure to fintech and technology companies. Based in Fort Lee, New Jersey, Cross River services its clients with embedded payments, cards, lending, and cryptocurrency, and is an FDIC member. Cross River is noted for its embrace of the trend in the financial services sector towards API-based payment platform services.

Revolut Group Holdings Ltd (Revolut) is a global neobank and financial technology company with headquarters in London, UK that offers banking services for retail customers and businesses. It was founded in 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko. It offers products including banking services, currency exchange, debit and credit cards, virtual cards, Apple Pay, interest-bearing "vaults", personal loans and BNPL, stock trading, crypto, commodities, human resources and other services.

OakNorth Bank is a British bank for scaling businesses that provides loans and both business and personal savings accounts. The bank, which gained regulatory approval in early 2015, was founded by entrepreneurs Rishi Khosla and Joel Perlman, who had previously founded Copal Amba. The bank focuses on providing loans of £0.5m–£25m as well as business banking products, and retail savings accounts.

Freetrade is a UK-based financial technology company which offers a freemium share dealing service. The company was founded in 2016 and launched an iOS app in October 2018, followed by an Android version in April 2019. In October 2021 the company surpassed one million registered users, with quarterly trading volumes as of March 2021 of over £1 billion. As of November 2021 Freetrade has over £1 billion of assets under administration.

ComplyAdvantage, founded in 2014, is a RegTech company that provides software to help detect and manage risks associated with AML and Fraud. The company uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing to help regulated organisations manage risk obligations and counteract financial crime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muzz (dating app)</span> Muslim dating app

Muzz is a British marriage and dating app for Muslims. It was founded in 2015 by Shahzad Younas and is based in Ilford, Essex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Buckley-Thorp</span> British businessman (born 1989)

James Buckley-Thorp is a British entrepreneur from Somerset, United Kingdom.

Tonik Digital Bank, Inc., commonly known as Tonik, is an all-digital bank which was launched in the Philippines in 2021, notable for being the first all-digital bank, or "neobank" in Southeast Asia. Its consumer products range from deposits, payments, debit cards, and loans. It operates with its own bank license issued by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), with deposits insured by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC). Its holding company is Singapore-based Tonik Financial Pte Ltd

The Bank of London is a British clearing, correspondent and wholesale bank operating in the United Kingdom, the United States and Europe. The bank was founded by Anthony Watson. In 2021, Harvey Schwartz was appointed as Group Chairperson and Non-executive Director. The bank launched on 30 November 2021 and in doing so became the UK's sixth clearing bank. Watson stepped down as CEO as of 3 September 2024. On 30 September 2024, in a boardroom clear-out, the Bank of London said Lord Mandelson, Wade Davis and Anthony Watson, the group’s founder, had all stepped down as directors. The bank’s chairman, Carlyle Group chief executive Harvey Schwartz, will also leave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rewire (company)</span> Israeli banking and financial services company

Rewire by Remitly is a multinational digital financial platform operated by the fintech company Remitly Israel that provides online financial services tailored. The Rewire by Remitly platform was originally built by the Israeli startup Rewire which was founded by Guy Kashtan, Saar Yahalom, Adi Ben Dayan, and Or Benoz. In August 2022 an acquisition agreement was signed between Rewire and leading remittance company Remitly. In January 2023, the deal closed and Rewire officially became part of Remitly, an American fintech company traded on Nasdaq. After the acquisition, the company in Israel was rebranded as Remitly Israel and the financial platform was rebranded as Rewire by Remitly.

GoCardless is a fintech company that specialises in bank payments including recurring payments, Direct Debit processing and Open Banking. GoCardless is headquartered in London.

Currensea, is a British financial technology company providing travel debit cards, founded by James Lynn and Craig Goulding in 2018.

KekaHR is a software company specializing in cloud-based HR management software and payroll automation.

Eleos Insurance is a digital insurance provider based in London, United Kingdom, offering life insurance and income protection insurance products. The company was established in 2022.

References

  1. "Best online will writers - Compare Features & Fees". The Times .
  2. "Intellectual Property Office". trademarks.ipo.gov.uk.
  3. Morris, Natalie (2020-04-13). "Is it possible to take out life insurance during the Covid-19 pandemic?". Metro (British newspaper) .
  4. Adzo, Kossi. "Why People Are Flocking to Bequest.com for Life Insurance". Startup.info.
  5. "Bequest Wins Award at InsTech London Event". Insurance-edge.net. 2020-09-09.
  6. "Disrupting life insurance in the UK with automated advice platform, Anorak secures £5M". UKTN (UK Tech News). 2021-06-03.
  7. "Bequest: Protecting your family's future | Accelerate Innovation in Insurance". Digital Insurance Agenda.
  8. "How Much Life Insurance Cover Do I Need?". Official website.
  9. Harrison, Polly Jean (2021-05-20). "4 Ways Covid-19 has Changed the Insurance Industry: Webinar Review". The Fintech Times.
  10. "Bequest Company Profile: Valuation & Investors". PitchBook.
  11. Sharma, Shubham (30 June 2021). "London-based insurtech Bequest secures £1.7M to simplify insurance for the millennials". UKTech.News. Retrieved 30 January 2022.