Baobab Insurance
raises €12 million
to protect businesses from cyberattacks, fraud, and software product failures
eCAPITAL NEWS Baobab Insurance, a provider of insurance against cyber and other digital risks, announced a €12 million Series A financing round. The round was led by Viola Fintech, a global Fintech-focused VC fund, and eCapital, one of Germany’s most successful VCs with extensive expertise in cybersecurity. Existing investors, Augmentum Fintech and Project A Ventures, and Baobab’s advisory board member Christof Mascher, a former member of the board of Allianz SE, also participated in the round.
Financing will primarily be used to advance the company’s active risk mitigation platform. Baobab was launched three years ago as Germany’s first integrated cyber insurance provider and risk mitigation provider. Since launching, by merging AI-native underwriting and prevention, Baobab has already prevented losses of over €10 million for its customers.
The company plans to significantly grow its team, strengthen its position in Germany and Austria, and further expand and deepen its product range for commercial customers. Baobab plans to enter additional EU markets within the next 12 months.
New digital risks weigh on the economy
As attackers increasingly leverage generative AI tools, cyberattacks are becoming more sophisticated. According to Statista, global losses from cybercrime alone are expected to increase to €12 trillion by 2027, with the EU projected to bear a quarter of that cost. According to a 2024 economic study by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency (BfV), the financial impact of cyber incidents rose by 29 percent over the past year, generating a significant negative effect on the German economy.
Baobab’s clients never face cyber threats alone
Backed by proprietary underwriting and continuous monitoring technology for its portfolio companies, Baobab, which operates as a Managing General Agent (MGA), takes on the challenge of shielding its clients’ exposure to all aspects of digital risks. This approach has enabled Baobab, on one hand to provide better protection to its clients, while, on the other hand achieving a loss ratio significantly below the market average, thus attracting leading insurers such as Zurich, ERGO, Liberty Specialty Markets, Tokio Marine Kiln, Talbot (part of AIG), and Argenta (part of Hannover Re) as risk carriers.
AI-supported monitoring and risk-based pricing
An essential component of Baobab’s insurance service is continuous AI-native monitoring of all aspects of cyber risk, along with near real-time risk mitigation actions. Today, Baobab offers companies in Austria and Germany with revenues of up to €1 billion fast, data-driven access to insurance solutions, from risk analysis to underwriting to dynamic protection.
Phishing, CEO fraud, and ransomware have become a real threat to European companies, and AI is exacerbating the threat. Thanks to our AI-native underwriting process and integrated, active, and free risk management, we equip and empower insurance brokers with solutions that provide the best possible protection against these dynamic risks. The new capital will enable us to continue preventing millions in losses for our customers and expand into other European countries.
Vincenz Klemm, Co-Founder and CEO, Baobab Insurance
Global tension creates safe havens for cyber criminals. With tensions on European borders increasing, businesses become more vulnerable to cyberattacks. Building on a super novel approach at the right time in history, Baobab offers the much-needed protection to European companies.
Prof. Daniel Tsiddon, General Partner, Viola FinTech
Cyber risks cannot be handled lightly – the damage is already far too great for that. Baobab Insurance has a clear advantage: the team is committed to prevention and proactive risk management. The company's approach has prevented losses amounting to over 10 million euros in the last three years alone, which speaks for itself. This determination is precisely what the market now needs to effectively counter the rapidly increasing threat.
Willi Mannheims, Managing Partner, eCAPITAL
The insurance industry is facing profound change, driven by technological disruption and new threats such as cybercrime. Baobab provides a technologically and actuarially compelling response to this. I am particularly impressed by the combination of data-driven underwriting, a scalable technology platform, and a focus on technical risks.
Christof Mascher, Advisory Board Member, Baobab Insurance
About Baobab Insurance
Baobab Insurance is a Managing General Agent for digital risks. Its product portfolio includes cyber insurance, an e-crime insurance product and an IT liability policy for IT, software, technology, and telecommunications companies in Germany and Austria. An essential component of the insurance service is continuous AI-native monitoring of cyber security. Together with the broadest partner network in the German market, Baobab also offers risk-relevant services such as phishing simulations and awareness training.
Baobab Insurance was founded in Berlin in 2021 and is active in the German and Austrian markets. For more information please visit: baobab.io.
About Viola Fintech
Viola FinTech is a cross-stage global Fintech-focused VC fund led by experienced operators with decades of combined experience in Fintech and Financial Services. The fund brings together financial institutions and innovative startups to accelerate the modernization and digitization of financial services and support the growth of Fintech companies. In the subdomain of Insuretech Viola FinTech’s portfolio includes Insurify, Cowbell, Inshur, Omni:us among others. The fund is part of Viola-Group. For more information please visit: www.violafintech.com
About eCAPITAL
Founded in 1999, eCAPITAL is an entrepreneur-led venture capital investor focusing on early- and growth-stage deep-tech companies with a positive impact on society. eCAPITAL is based in Germany and invests with its own funds with a total volume of over € 400 million in the areas of Sustainability, Enterprise Software, Cybersecurity, IoT and New Materials. In addition to financial resources, eCAPITAL offers its portfolio companies strategic support and access to an international network of entrepreneurs, scientists, investors and founders and was lead investor in various deep-tech companies such as sonnen, Novaled or Jedox, which were sold very successfully to international corporates or investors. www.ecapital.vc
Contact
Baobab Insurance
Lerato Bogatsu-Brandenburg
Leipziger Platz 3
10117 Berlin
Email: lerato.bogatsu@baobab.io
eCAPITAL ENTREPRENEURIAL PARTNERS AG
Bettina Schäfer
Hafenweg 24
48155 Münster, Germany
Tel.: +49 251 70 37 67 0
Email: info@ecapital.vc
www.ecapital.vc