Digital insurance platform Cachet first to enter the Latvian market

February 25th, 2020, Riga – Starting today, a new Estonian insurance technology (insurtech) start-up Cachet will begin its operations in Latvia. It is the first digital insurance platform to buy motor vehicle insurance for regular customers, as well as sharing economy service providers. This solution will allow Bolt and Yandex Taxi ride-sharing service providers, that drive part-time, to receive an insurance offer based on the actual hours they spend providing the service.

Cachet has managed to solve one of the hardest challenges for ride-hailing platforms like Bolt and Yandex Taxi – provide affordable and easy to get insurance for their drivers. Until now, there has not been a solution in Latvia providing a personalised approach to issuing MTPL insurance policies. Cachet offers customers an insurance policy that is financially suitable for their vehicle usage. Insurance services were developed and will be provided in cooperation with the BTA insurance.

”Ride-hailing is by far the fastest-growing of all the segments on the online mobility services market, but insurance has not been so quick to keep up. There is a lot of complexity due to drivers being more likely to use their car for both personal and business use, for various periods of time, at inconsistent hours and using multiple ride-hailing platforms at the same time in order to provide service. That is where Cachet in cooperation with BTA comes into play,” explains Hedi Mardisoo, CEO & Co-founder of Cachet.

“This partnership with Cachet started six months ago and was launched to offer MTPL and CASCO insurance for drivers who use their vehicle not only for private purposes but also partly as a taxi. Given the fact that the full taxi risk compared to the daily drivers is three times higher, the premium is estimated significantly higher and for the routinely drivers it should be calculated using the actual hours spent driving and based on the region where the vehicle is being used as a taxi. Currently, in Latvia such service is offered only by BTA in cooperation with Cachet and in the near future it is planned to supplement additional indicators for the premium in order to determine the MTPL premium according to the driver’s behaviour on the road,” expresses Gunārs Faļkovskis, BTA Motor Insurance Product Manager.

A significant proportion of the drivers providing ride-hailing services are only doing it part-time to generate additional income, not as their primary full-time job. However, even drivers provide part-time ride-hailing services, for example, less than 25 hours a week, still need to change their regular car insurance policy to one suited for a professional taxi driver, which significantly increases the cost for the user.

Cachet has solved this problem by ensuring that when the vehicle is used for both private and taxi purposes, the cost of insurance is determined taking into account that the vehicle is not used to provide full-time taxi services and the drivers can qualify for the premium policy calculated accordingly. As Cachet is moving forward and always looking for new solutions, the next step will be added possibility to impact MTPL price by the driver.

About Cachet

Cachet, a new digital insurance technology (insurtech) start-up, was founded in Estonia by Hedi Mardisoo and Kalle Palling. Following the development of sharing economy and ride-hailing in other markets, Cachet is starting its operations in Latvia and plans to enter other European markets in the near future. For more information, please visit www.cachet.me

About BTA

BTA Baltic Insurance Company is one of the leading insurance companies in the Baltics, offering the broadest range of non-life insurance services in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. BTA employs more than 1,000 employees in the Baltics. The largest shareholder of BTA is Vienna Insurance Group AG with close to 200 years of experience in the insurance business. With about 50 companies in 25 countries and more than 25,000 employees, Vienna Insurance Group is a clear market leader in its CEE markets. Vienna Insurance Group is the best-rated company of ATX, the leading index of Vienna Stock Exchange with a rating of A+ with stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s; its share is also listed on the Prague Stock Exchange.