Rey Assurance Co-Founders Bobby Siagian and Evan Tanotogono
Health insurance is the kind of thing that people often think about only when they need it. Otherwise your policies are just paperwork on your files or cards in your wallet. Insurtech from Indonesia King Guarantee is taking a new approach. Once someone becomes a member, they also get access to a health services platform, including artificial intelligence-based self-assessment tools, 24/7 telemedicine consultations at no additional charge, and pharmacy deliveries. . The startup will launch stealthily today, having raised $ 1 million in pre-seed funding from the Trans-Pacific Technology Fund (TPTF).
Rey was founded this year by Evan Tanotogono, former head of digital channel at Sequis, one of Indonesia’s largest insurers, and Bobby Siagian, who held leadership engineering positions at companies like Tokopedia and Sea Group. They are joined by insurance industry veteran David Nugrho as their commercial director.
They created Rey to address the low penetration of life and health insurance in Indonesia. “When you look at the root causes and the pain points, you are seeing problems that are systemic here,” Tanotogono said. These include low awareness, expensive distribution channels like agents and telemarketing, high premiums, and complicated policies.
“People feel that the product is really complex, the process is difficult and they don’t get the best value for money. It’s been like that for many, many years, ”he told TechCrunch. “We believe that we cannot just go to market and digitize part of the value chain.”
Plans start from about $ 4 USD per month and They are available to individuals or groups, such as families and small businesses. Rey’s wellness ecosystem was created to offer customers more value for their money and to help differentiate it from other companies in Indonesia’s growing insurtech industry. Some other startups that have recently raised funds include Lifepal, PasarPolis, and Qoala.
“Right now, if you look at insurance in Indonesia, if the premium is high, maybe 80% or 90% of that amount is used for the distribution channel. Now, if we optimize something for digital distribution, then we can lower the price and use the rest for wellness features, ”added Tanotogono.
TPTF Managing Partner Glenn Kline told TechCrunch that Rey’s founding team was “really the engine” of his investment. “We feel that these people really know where the pain points are and clearly understand how not to try to change the legacy system, but to create a completely new platform from scratch, where the core value proposition is an integrated solution that is simple and uncomplicated. “
Rather than do the underwriting themselves, Rey works with insurance partners to design proprietary policies. The goal is to have an onboarding process that is completely online and only takes about five minutes, and a mostly cashless claim and refund system via Rey’s payment cards. If your payment card cannot be used at the healthcare provider, claims can be submitted by uploading photos of receipts to the app.
Tanotogono said this is much faster than traditional insurance providers, who can take up to 14 business days to reimburse a claim, and this is made possible by Rey’s proprietary claims adjudication technology.
Rey’s wellness ecosystem currently covers primary care services, including chats and video calls with medical providers. In the future, he plans to add specialists to the platforms.
Customers can also link their health wearables for incentives. For example, if they reach certain steps or activity goals, they get rewards like discounts or shopping vouchers. Rey’s long-term plan is to tie wearables more deeply to his insurance policies, using data to customize policies and premiums.
