The French insurance sector has fully embraced the MGA model in recent years, as a way for insurers and reinsurers to cater to new risks, reach new markets, and drive new revenue streams. While the French MGA market is less evolved than the UK and US, it is rapidly catching up, and a wave of innovative MGAs is leveraging new technologies to transform the insurance offering and customer experience.
Here is our pick of the top 10 most innovative MGAs in France:
Assurly
Co-founders Toufik Gozim and Mickael Benhassen set up Assurly to bring insurtech innovation to the loan insurance market, which has been slow to take advantage of digital technologies. The business aims to remove the paperwork and bureaucracy involved in taking out loan insurance, revolutionising the customer experience. Now offering home loan and student loan cover, it promises to offer customers more transparency, with fairer pricing thanks to a more personalised and efficient analysis model.
Wakam
Wakam is a trailblazer in digital and embedded insurance, designing customised insurance solutions for more than 100 insurance and non-insurance distribution partners. Despite its innovative offering and branding the business has a long history, formerly La Parisienne Assurances, founded way back in 1829. It has reinvented itself in the last six years, and now has a presence in 32 countries, sales of €924 million last year, and boasts high-profile partners including Deliveroo, Uber, Dott or Getir.
Descartes Underwriting
Founded to help corporate and public sector clients manage climate change risks, Descartes Underwriting leverages new technology and data to cover threats that traditional providers have been unable to. With a team of experts in meteorology, climatology, physics, data science, and software engineering, it uses parametric technology to streamline claims by paying out when a predefined event occurs. Leveraging data from IoT, satellite imagery, sensors, radar, and third parties means it can price premiums more accurately than through historical claims data. The company now has over 400 corporate and public entity clients.
Acheel
Upon its launch in 2020, Acheel was the first generalist digital insurance company in France, with cover spanning housing, health, pet, borrower, and motor insurance. Differentiated through its speed of application, personalised modular insurance, low prices, and streamlined, digital platform, it sells online and through brokers. Now boasting over 500,000 policyholders, it was also certified a B-Corp in April 2024.
Stoik
Founded in 2021, Stoik is taking an innovative approach to protecting businesses against cyber risks, by combining cyber insurance and security software into one offering. As part of its cover, clients have access to continuous prevention support via the Stoik Protect Platform, which lets businesses see their risk exposure and issues requiring response. The company also helps clients manage cyber risk through phishing simulation and employee training while offering 24/7 claims and crisis management support if they do suffer an attack.
Orus Insurance
Orus focuses on professional insurance, intending to make it fair, simple, and transparent for small businesses and freelancers. In operation since 2021, the company launched with a dedicated restaurant product but has branched out to other professional covers, including general liability, business owner insurance, health cover, and decennial cover. It raised an impressive Series A round of €11m last year, and is already the highest-rated professional insurance company on TrustPilot, with an average of 4.8/5.
Flitter
Founded in 2021 on the belief that car use is changing, Flitter offers ‘pay by the mile/kilometre’ car insurance. Aimed at ‘part-time drivers’ who do less than 12,000km per year, it promises to save customers up to 50% on what they would pay with a traditional car insurance provider. It also makes life as easy as possible for customers through online quote and bind, claims via an app or over the phone, and “twice as fast” reimbursements. It’s clearly on to something having signed 30,000 customers in its first 18 months.
Dattak
Dattak aims to be the most comprehensive cyber insurance provider on the market through its holistic approach to cyber risks. Its innovative approach starts before customers sign a contract, with an assessment and audit of exposure and likely cost of an attack. Then, once a contract is signed, it offers the Dattak Protection MDR (managed detection and response) system, which helps businesses track vulnerabilities and the need for response, thereby strengthening their security. It also rewards policyholders for managing the risk effectively, with an average of 30% reduction in premiums. And in the case of an attack, it offers 24/7 assistance in incident response.
Indeez
Indeez was founded in 2020 to fill insurance gaps through embedded insurance solutions. It focuses specifically on three areas; green mobility, the future of work, and financial institutions, helping clients offer white-labelled insurance to their customers, while handling the whole lifecycle in the background, from application through to claims. With its proprietary tech platform, it makes everything easy and convenient for clients and their end customers.
Baloon Africa
Headquartered in Paris, as the name suggests, Baloon Africa is focused on the African Continent, where 90% of the population is uninsured. It now has five subsidiaries located in the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cameroon, Niger, and Gabon, where the company uses digital tools to make car, travel, and health cover, accessible to local populations. Customers can sign up in just a few clicks, communicate via WhatsApp, and receive reimbursements through mobile money.
Technology is central to the MGA model, enabling businesses to differentiate how they work and serve niche customer segments efficiently and profitably. While front-end innovations capture attention, having the right mid to back-office systems is equally important to drive operational efficiency, reduce manual administration, and provide data visibility and reporting.
Insly is the ideal solution, built specifically for MGAs, it can be customised quickly to your exact business needs, so you’re up and running in weeks rather than months. Taking a modular approach, Insly covers the whole insurance lifecycle from Q&B through to claims, reducing manual processes and driving rapid ROI.
We work with MGAs across Europe, helping our clients to scale through improved processes, reduced overheads, a shorter sales cycle, and greater profitability.
To find out more about how Insly can help your MGA on its innovation journey, book a demo below:
