Honcho secures £1.2m seed follow-on investment led by Crowdcube to support market expansion
Crowdcube led the follow-on investment round, with additional backing from Insurtech Gateway, Finance Durham Fund, and the North East Development Capital Fund.
Honcho operates an online reverse auction marketplace for financial services in the United Kingdom. The firm provides a platform designed to foster direct competition among providers for consumer business.
Durham-based insurtech startup Honcho has secured £1.2m in a seed follow-on funding round led by Crowdcube. The raise also drew participation from specialist investor Insurtech Gateway alongside returning backers Finance Durham Fund and the North East Development Capital Fund.
The capital injection follows an earlier £1.8m raise between 2018 and 2019, which supported the launch of the company's initial car insurance marketplace. Honcho intends to deploy the latest funds as it prepares to introduce dedicated reverse auction platforms for van and learner driver insurance later in the year.
From the founder
"There are over 4 million vans on the UK’s roads and the nation’s van drivers have been at the mercy of price comparison websites for their insurance for far too long. honcho’s van insurance marketplace will launch this spring and we’ll be bringing long-overdue transparency and fairness from some of the UK’s leading van insurance providers."
Tom Spence
Chief Product Officer at Honcho
Investor perspective
"Aykley Heads is fast becoming an important Fintech cluster for Durham, so it’s extremely exciting to be able to continue to support honcho, one of the leading companies in the sector. Their base at Salvus House offers them the room to grow and provides them with a prestigious location in the heart of the city. We’ve supported them from the beginning and really look forward to continuing to watch them fulfil their potential with the support of Finance Durham."
Sarah Slaven
Operations Director, Business Durham
