{"id":16701,"date":"2019-10-31T18:47:58","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T18:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/customers\/pluto-the-startup-reinventing-travel-insurance\/"},"modified":"2019-10-31T18:47:58","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T18:47:58","slug":"pluto-the-startup-reinventing-travel-insurance","status":"publish","type":"customers","link":"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/customers\/pluto-the-startup-reinventing-travel-insurance\/","title":{"rendered":"Pluto, the startup reinventing travel insurance"},"content":{"rendered":"

29-year-old<\/span> Alex Rainey<\/span><\/a> is the inspired co-Founder and CEO of <\/span>Pluto<\/span><\/a>, with a vision to turn travel insurance into a simple, no-brainer purchase, on your mobile phone<\/span>. There\u2019s a deep sense of empathy for travellers who get in trouble. He sees it as, \u2018<\/span>hassle-free travel insurance through your smartphone\u2019, so his team have designed something remarkably different from the norm, to deliver real value to busy, sceptical millennials. <\/span>40-50% of millennials haven\u2019t been buying travel insurance over the last few years\u2026 reflective of an increasingly distrustful and disengaged generation \u2013 now the largest consumer group.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By the law of averages, bad things inevitably happen. Millions of young adults go out on adventurous trips, from scuba diving to backpacking around South East Asia, without cover. The insurance market is broken, so Alex\u2019s team are determined to make it work again, by rethinking the experience from the ground up, by-and-for millennials. <\/span>\u201cThere\u2019s been a slow but enormous shift in customer\u2019s expectations\u201d explains Alex, \u201cwith insurance being firmly considered a grudge purchase.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs Founders, we\u2019re big on travel, and know what it\u2019s like when things go wrong\u201d, says Alex. Co-founder <\/span>Harry Williams<\/span><\/a> is a fellow travel junkie, responsible for Pluto\u2019s product and design. <\/span>\u201cWe <\/span>started from ground zero\u201d, notes Harry. Neither founder is from an insurance background, which they see as one of their strongest assets. Alex is ex-Accenture- building e-commerce platforms, B2C websites, and mobile apps, so has experience of digital transformation through one of the world\u2019s biggest tech companies. And Harry has years of experience designing products and developing product strategies for large B2C brands, previously at Bow & Arrow and Fjord design agencies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThings go wrong on every trip, big and small, so it\u2019s important to get cover that\u2019s right for you. Insurance should be personal and simple. Picking a policy shouldn\u2019t feel like walking through a minefield either, full of \u2018gotcha\u2019 clauses. And there\u2019s always been friction for customers submitting claims. We\u2019ve felt this ourselves, with problems from a broken foot, having to sleep on airport floors and having bags stolen or lost.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pluto positions itself as a consumer challenger brand, re-imagining the product and the process from a customer\u2019s point of view. Pluto\u2019s primary mission is to \u201chelp people get the most out of their travels\u201d as Alex puts it. Trust needs to be rebuilt. This starts with jargon-free policies, and transparent pricing. If something goes wrong, you can submit a claim through your phone in minutes, and get expert human help around the clock. Users can register their flights in seconds, and if it\u2019s delayed, they automatically get free lounge access or an instant cash payout.<\/span><\/p>\n

And, if you\u2019re feeling unwell while travelling, you can now get a free UK doctor consultation on your smartphone too, powered by <\/span>Babylon<\/span><\/a>. The doctor can even issue you with a digital prescription in some countries. Innovations like this are helping Pluto to leapfrog insurance incumbents on technology, UX and product.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pluto\u2019s startup story includes the Founders quitting corporate jobs, to join a \u2018<\/span>regulatory sandbox<\/span><\/a>\u2019 with the FCA, which encourages new entrepreneurs to push the boundaries in insurance, testing out new ideas out in controlled conditions. As a newcomer, this helped them to secure a license to sell insurance, to partner up with their insurance partner, Zurich, and indeed to secure private investment.<\/span><\/p>\n

The starting team first mapped out their own rights and responsibilities with a Founders Agreement on <\/span>SeedLegals<\/span><\/a>, within a day. Alex recalls how Pluto has since used <\/span>IP agreements<\/span><\/a>, advisor agreements, employment contracts, and <\/span>share transfers<\/span><\/a> on the platform too; \u201cwe\u2019ve used almost everything in the SeedLegals toolbox\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the great things about SeedLegals is that it is designed to be appropriate for the round and the stage of the business. They keep it simple. It feels like they really understand that.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Their first round, last year, was a \u00a3130k pre-seed round with standard terms on the Shareholder Agreement. Follow on round in June, this year, raised \u00a3300k, and the investment terms were upgraded proportionately, to include more rights and responsibilities. The company has completed multiple rounds of investment, and is now closing a crowdfund campaign as the next step. All of this is done through SeedLegals. <\/span>Term Sheets<\/span><\/a> are created by the Founders on the platform, and sent out to subscribers to review. The steps are clear and predefined for all parties. Top up <\/span>\u2018Instant Investment<\/span><\/a>\u2019 can now be executed online too, for people who want to invest after a formal round has closed \u2013 this has also been an advantage for Pluto.<\/span><\/p>\n

Personalised documents are shared seamlessly between all the stakeholders, a full suite of documents are available online for simple management, and the whole experience is jargon-free \u2013 with on-demand support if ever needed. \u201cWe\u2019ve spoken with other lawyers, and went down the road with one lawyer, and they were brilliant, but comparing the work involved and the value, we went with SeedLegals again and again. The clarity was highly valued. You don\u2019t get that with a typical lawyer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We knew we needed to do an <\/span>option pool<\/span><\/a> at some point, and this was so much easier to do on SeedLegals. The setup for a pool of 7.5% EMI was dead easy. I did it on a call in 20 minutes for <\/span>\u00a31,500 fixed fee<\/span><\/a>. You can even model the impact of dilution, using the digital cap table.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every founder I meet, I\u2019m introducing to SeedLegals, because of the quality of the product. We\u2019re aiming for the same quality of product with Pluto \u2013 we want customers recommending it to their friends. We want to help people have a safe adventure with Pluto, giving them peace of mind and confidence when they go away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

29-year-old Alex Rainey is the inspired co-Founder and CEO of Pluto, with a vision to turn travel insurance into a simple, no-brainer purchase, on your mobile phone. There\u2019s a deep sense of empathy for travellers who get in trouble. He sees it as, \u2018hassle-free travel insurance through your smartphone\u2019, so his team have designed something […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11072,"template":"","customer-industry":[],"customer-amount-raised":[],"customers_featured":[],"class_list":["post-16701","customers","type-customers","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"person":{"photo":1662,"name":"Alex Rainey & Harry Williams","company":"Pluto","job_role":"Founders","logo":2311}},"yoast_head":"\nPluto, the startup reinventing travel insurance | SeedLegals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Alex Rainey and Harry Williams are transforming travel insurance with their startup Pluto, read their story.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seedlegals.com\/ie\/customers\/pluto-the-startup-reinventing-travel-insurance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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