South African startup StockBox has developed an app that allows individuals and businesses to record and categorise information about stuff they own in order to simplify insurance processes.
Launched last year, the StockBox mobile app helps users record information about everything from their motor vehicle to their washing machine for when it is needed.
All relevant documentation – guarantees, warranties, receipts and images – and other details about a specific asset are stored in the event of a theft or for insurance quoting purposes, and can be easily accessed through the platform’s simplistic reporting functionality.
“StockBox was developed to solve everyday problems for the everyday person. Disrupting the insurance space and building a substantial relationship with our users and their belongings is critical for us,” co-founder Gary Bannatyne told Disrupt Africa.
“Certain aspects of the insurance industry are still very old school and some incredible new players are participating in solving consumer facing challenges. The company was built out of solving frustrations with how legacy systems operate and we realised that the everyday guy needs something better.”
That something, Bannatyne believes, is StockBox, which he says has solved a number of core challenges.
“When you claim from your insurer you are often required to provide documents that only a select few file or put in the bottom kitchen drawer,” he said. StockBox allows users to store these things digitally.
There are also issues with returning or fixing items that are still under warranty or guarantee.
“This process is difficult because we are still trying to produce a historic, potentially lost piece of paper in many cases. Not great,” said Bannatyne.
Again StockBox assists with this, as well as giving insurance providers 100 per cent sight of a customer’s belongings, reducing complexity. Bannatyne said uptake has been positive.
“We currently have organic growth which is not part of our strategy. StockBox, like many other utility solutions, doesn’t have a thoroughbred distribution model. We are exploring several options of using StockBox as a value added service to existing markets to expand our uptake rapidly. Organic growth has suited us for now as we learn from our customers,” he said.
The startup has raised seed capital and is in the process of obtaining another round.
“The next raise is for version 2.0, which will allow us to send field agents to people homes for us to fully stock their lives,” Bannatyne said.
StockBox was built with a global perspective, but Bannatyne said it was happy to “pay our school fees” in 2018 providing a local solution.
“The applicability of the product is globally aligned but we need to manage the basic values of creating a customer centric relationship and not compete or position ourselves as an insurance provider,” he said.
“We need to prove our commercial model before considering moving aggressively into other territories.”
The startup’s commercial model is simple.
“We see ourselves as the premium source of information about what people own and we plan to use our commercial model to allow our users to benefit from us curating opportunities for them with their permission,” Bannatyne said.
“If we can create a new insurance experience for our users that is not built on vagueness and ambiguity, but rather transparency and trust, we will be reaching our goals.”
