Startup Spott announces arrival with digital insurance platform for e-commerce sellers

Israeli startup Spott launched on Thursday its digital insurance platform designed for e-commerce sellers. The launch comes on the back of last year's $8.3m Seed funding round led by Team8 and Viola Ventures. Spott is the first portfolio company to launch from Team8’s Fintech foundry, headed by Rakefet Russak-Aminoach and Yuval Tal.

Spott was founded by experienced entrepreneurs and veterans of the IDF’s 8200 unit; Roma Bronstein (CTO), Amit Batzir (Chief Product and Risk Officer) and Guy Salame (CEO). Prior to founding Spott, Bronstein was a co-founder of Jeeng (acquired by PowerInbox), Batzir was Head of Data Intelligence at PayPal, and Salame was VP product for insurtech startup Planck. The co-founders joined forces with veteran fintech leader Yuval Tal, the founder of Payoneer and Borderfree, to build Spott. Tal currently serves as Spott’s Chairman and is Managing Partner at Team8.

Spott, whose insurance offering enables e-commerce businesses to protect their stores against claims and comply with up-to-date insurance requirements from leading marketplaces, most notably Amazon, employs around 20 people in its offices in Tel Aviv and New York.

The e-commerce liability insurance market, which Spott aims to address, is valued at $5 billion and is forecast to grow rapidly, spurred by the latest requirements from leading e-commerce marketplaces for sellers to hold liability insurance. However, despite the growing demand for coverage, traditional insurers have challenges accurately assessing risk and providing attractive offers to online sellers.

Spott provides competitive insurance quotes to e-commerce businesses and enables them to swiftly purchase policies that satisfy the requirements of marketplaces at a price that reflects the business’ risk level. Spott is currently serving hundreds of e-commerce sellers worldwide and has partnered with top-tier digital brokers and leading commercial carriers in Israel and the U.S.

“We’re witnessing a widening chasm emerge between the rapidly growing e-commerce industry and the established financial services sector that has been operating according to the same principles for decades,” said Guy Salame, co-founder and CEO of Spott.

“Spott has entered the market at the perfect time,” noted Yuval Tal, Chairman of Spott and Managing Partner at Team8. “Their technology will dramatically improve underwriting processes, enabling insurers to quantify risk not only on a business level, but also on a product level, and help sellers easily access insurance coverage tailored to their needs.”