North East car insurance disruptor honcho smashes £700,000 crowdfund target

County Durham car insurance disruptor honcho has smashed through its £700,000 target in its equity crowd raise on Crowdcube.

The business operates a reverse auction site where insurers can bid for drivers’ insurance contracts, with an app which allows insurers to bid for consumers’ business, competing with each other to offer the best value package in real time.

Insurers pay honcho £1 for the right to bid, enabling them to reduce premiums for consumers.

In December honcho took to Crowdcube to secure the investment and within days had raised nearly £540,000 – including a single investment of £250,000.

The company’s directors said they were overwhelmed by the support the firm has received from the business community and that it has now set its sights on an “explosive and lucrative 2020”.

The crowdfund comes just over a year after it successfully over-funded on Crowdcube to secure £830,000 of investment.

Chief executive officer of the Aykley Heads based business, Gavin Sewell, said: “Crowdfunding is a fantastic way for businesses to raise investment and there have been some huge success stories, such as Monzo Bank and Brew Dog, where members of the public have been able to get involved in investing in really exciting new businesses via crowdfunding.

The team at honcho (honcho)

“We’re delighted that for a second time crowd investors have backed our business, getting behind our mission to bring much-needed trust, transparency and fairness to the insurance industry.

“It’s been an amazing journey already and today we’ve burst through our £700,000 funding target, but we aren’t stopping yet!”

honcho’s equity crowd raise is now “overfunding”, which means that there is still time for investors to own a part of honcho.

Mr Sewell added: “We’re really excited about the future of our business, and with over 350 investors already involved in this round, the time is now for other potential investors to consider honcho.”

In 2018 honcho became the first reverse auction marketplace to be welcomed as an Associate Member of the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA).