Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome. 3 large fundings in 3 capitals — THIS NEWS EPISODE HAS BEEN WRITTEN BY OUR CUSTOM GPTs.

3 innovation and digital news in 1 minute. Every Monday. Episode 402

Alan digital health insurance, from Paris

Alan is a digital health insurance provider, raised a €173m Series E round end of September. Comprehensive health insurance platform mostly for companies and their employees, combining insurance, telemedicine, and wellness programs in one app. Specialty is quick payout of insurance claims, 80% of them paid in 1h, 25% in 1 min. Opinion: Mix of UX, prevention and automation. Automation is key for Alan, thus the quick claims payout. Alan claims 560,000 customers in France, Belgium, Spain. Now new funding for growing further and upcoming expansion to Canada.

A strong mix of offers and automation where possible, an innovation in health insurance.

Distribusion — distribution platform for train and bus tickets, from Berlin

Transport operators (like Deutsche Bahn, Amtrak, Flixbus etc.) and trip booking websites (Booking.com, Expedia, Google Maps etc.) are connected through Distribusion. It’s the middle-man that collects all offers from transport operators and enables cross-bookings like a combination of Flixbus and Deutsche Bahn on a trip. Opinion: Distribusion focusses on every form of transport, except of flights. Not a new company, founded in 2012, now with new $80m funding. Funding for new momentum in ground transport? At least in Europe, ground transport is growing vs. air travel.

A hidden middle-man behind the travel booking process.

Zepz cross-border money transfers, from London

Zepz was formerly known as WorldRemit, after a merger, the group is called Zepz. Offers several apps (WorldRemit is one of them) for foreign workers to send money to their families abroad. Money transfers to 130 countries worldwide, $10bn transaction volume in 2022. New $267m funding in October 2024 ($967m total). Opinion: Foreign workers sending money home is a large market. Very important income for some developing countries and it’s growing. Zeps with its brand WorldRemit is one of the market leaders and spending heavily on advertising.

In September 2024 WorldRemit was visible on many ads in London, it’s home and core market with many foreign workers.