01 December 2000
 On-line Pet Insurance Hits White Water |
RapidInsure,
the internet insurance web-site which offers insurance to pet owners has ceased taking on
new business after the withdrawal of its biggest potential backer.
According to a report in the Insurance Times, Rapidinsure director James Spalding admitted the set-back had occurred, but refused to provide details of which financier had withdrawn. "We had a big investor lined up that moved out on us at the last minute," he said. "We are evaluating what that means to us." The company which acts as an intermediary on behalf of a number of insurers, was created by Daryl Mattocks, who became an internet millionaire after founding the Internet Bookshop and then selling it to WH Smith for £3.6m. It is thought that RapidInsure needs to raise £4m and is now desperately seeking capital from other sources. The site was launched in February of this year, (around the time of the launch of the PETS Scheme), to offer a range of general insurance including travel and pet insurance. At the time Daryl Mattocks believed the insurance market was ideally suited to ecommerce. But the industry is now beginning to question the speed with which consumers are likely to move into buying their insurance over the web. The opportunity to capitalise on the situation has not been missed. E-mails from rivals are already reaching pet owners to tell them of the unhappy news and to offer an alternative when their RapidInsure policy runs out. This article may be reproduced with permission of the author and correct attribution to the source. Statements are sourced from an article first seen in the Isurance Times Insurance Times |