Floow, one of the world’s premier telematics companies, has announced that it has received an investment from insurance firm Direct Line, to the tune of 15 per cent of its overall value. While the actual monetary value of that transaction hasn’t been disclosed, it can be assumed to be in the millions of pounds.
The majority of the company will still be owned by Floow executives, so there is no suggestion that Direct Line will have much of a say in the day to day running of the company. However its investment will make Floow a lot more cash rich, which should allow it to do something exciting or innovate its products in new and interesting ways.
It’s expected that the first step Floow will take in using the money, will be to hire on new scientists, engineers and designers, to extend its global reach and provide a better service to its existing customers.
This purchase represents a further extension of an already existing partnership between both Floow and Direct Line, who partnered earlier this year over TrackM8 telematics hardware. This helped Direct Line offer its DrivePlus telematics system to its customers, which is ultimately leading to it being able to offer discounts to the better drivers among them, as well as helping everyone that uses it to save fuel and cut back on vehicle wear and tear.
As you might expect with a big business decision like this one, the higher ups want to get front and centre to talk about. CEO of Floow Aldo Monteforte said:
“We are excited by this financial investment as it supports the expansion of our business and we are confident it will accelerate development of our world-class suite of analytics and predictive scoring functions for the benefit of all our clients and prospects.
“Over the past eighteen months we have seen rapid growth in demand for our products, led by Direct Line Group and other blue chip clients across the world. This investment is a strong endorsement of our strategic aim of being the leading provider of analytical insights to the insurance industry, and our vision to make vehicles safer and cheaper for all.”
Direct Line also had a spokesperson comment on the news, saying: “As telematics adoption increases, this investment supports the group’s strategic aim of being a leading operator in this area.”
As positive as everyone has been about the move however, Direct Line’s share price actually dropped by one per cent after the news.
For Floow, this investment is actually the second it’s received in recent years. Back in the early days of 2013, it received a grant it received through the Creative England Business Investment Fund, which is designed to help businesses develop commercial opportunities and create new jobs. Clearly it seems to have done that.
