Start-up yulife has officially launched after raising £3m in a funding-round led by LocalGlobe, the UK investor behind LoveFilm and TransferWise.
Underwritten by AIG Life, yulife is calling itself ‘the world’s first ever lifestyle insurance business’; its proposition built upon rewards and benefits to employees for wellness activities and healthy habit changes using a gamified app.
Users receive ‘yucoins’ – a type of ‘wellness currency’ – for subtle lifestyle changes such as walking to work and meditating using health app, Calm, progressing through levels, competing in company leaderboards and completing for wellbeing goals. Yucoins can then be exchanged for rewards such as Avios points, Asos vouchers and NowTV passes.
The team
Set up by Sammy Rubin, previously CEO of PruProtect which rebranded as VitalityLife, yulife is also led by rabbi, co-founder and chief operating officer Sam Fromson, and physician, podcaster and author, Dr Chatterjee, as chief wellbeing officer.
“Life insurance is an incredible product, but the proposition has to evolve to fit the needs of a new generation,” said chief executive Rubin. “We are building the world’s first lifestyle insurance business to put the customer at the centre. Yulife has a big mission: we want to help people to live their best lives, and we are passionate about using tech and financial services as a force for good.”
“We have rebuilt the insurance infrastructure from the ground up to support our long-term vision of creating a new type of insurance company that is simple, easy and fun to engage with,” added Fromson. “Businesses are bombarded with complex benefits options and wellbeing packages that quickly fade out of use. Yulife offers an engaging and compelling proposition of life insurance, wellbeing and rewards, all in one simple app.”
Investors into yulife included fintech firm Anthemis, and Israel’s OurCrowd.