Zego becomes the first UK insurtech to secure a European broking licence

Written by Benedict Harrison

Published on

We’re delighted to announce that Zego has become the first UK insurtech to secure a European broking licence, paving the way for us to continue our expansion across Europe. Awarded by the Dutch regulator AFM, this licence will enable us to work with EU-based insurance partners and customers to provide our products in more countries, without friction in the aftermath of the Brexit transition period, which ends on 31 December 2020.

Today, Zego serves customers across a number of countries in Europe, including Ireland, France, Spain, Belgium and Italy, working with well-known brands, such as French e-scooter company Dott and FREENOW in Ireland. Not only will securing our European licence ensure that business will continue as normal in these existing markets, but it will also help Zego scale into new territories next year, as well as growing our team internationally.

Europe’s fleet and new mobility market is evolving quickly. With our products' future in the European Union secured, we can continue to provide businesses and private hire drivers with transparent, usage-based, data-driven policies, which save them time and money compared to the products offered by traditional insurers.

We opted for a Dutch insurance licence with AFM after evaluating a number of EU jurisdictions, due to both the similarities between the Netherlands’ and UK’s regulatory systems and AFM’s supportive approach to technology companies. We’re thrilled that the award of this licence has come just one week after we announced our acquisition of Drivit, a market-leading telematics technology company based in Portugal. This deal, in conjunction with the award of our licence, will help us disrupt the insurance industry in more markets, with a new, fairer pricing model based on individual real-time driver behaviour data.

Reflecting on the announcement of Zego’s European licence, Nick Pester, General Counsel at Zego, said:

“We have big plans for the European market and by securing this licence, we now have the freedom to continue expanding into new territories and providing new EU-based customers with smart, data-driven insurance.


Just like in the UK, the insurance market in Europe has barely changed for decades and unsurprisingly there is now a growing appetite among businesses for more modern, flexible and accurately-priced insurance policies. We are in the perfect position to meet this demand and look forward to partnering with many more businesses across the EU in the coming years.”

As we look ahead to 2021, we are excited to expand our products into new markets, powering opportunities for more individuals and businesses with fairer premiums that work for them.