Zego extends €25M round with Índico, Explorer to scale AI underwriting
What's the deal? UK digital insurer Zego has extended a €25 million ($28 million) funding round led by Sompo, now joined by Portuguese venture firms Índico Capital Partners and Explorer InvestmentsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The company announced the late-stage extension on October 8, 2026.
What's the endgame? Zego sells motor insurance to independent drivers and couriers in the UK and is expanding into the broader car insurance market. Its platform tracks driver behaviour in real time to set prices, flag fraud, and manage claims — technology largely built at its tech hub in Porto, Portugal.
What's the money for? The capital is earmarked to accelerate the company's artificial intelligence capability. Índico's stake also aims to strengthen the Porto engineering team behind the platform.
Why Portugal? Both new backers tied their investment to the Porto hub. "The Índico investment also aims to reinforce the Porto technology hub — the team responsible for the technology at the heart of the platform," said Stephan de Moraes, managing general partner at Índico Capital Partners (translated from Portuguese).
Pedro Correia de Barros, investment partner at Explorer Investments, pointed to the consumer upside, saying the model rewards safer drivers with fairer prices and premiums. He added that the goal is to speed up the product and give the team room to keep innovating.
The backstory: Founded in 2016, Zego became the first UK insurtech to secure its own insurance licence. It has issued millions of policies in Britain and is now expanding its platform internationally. Índico's investment, through its Venture Capital Fund II, falls under Portugal's Recovery and Resilience Plan and a venture capital programme managed by Banco Português de FomentoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
The signal: The round sits in the 69th percentile by size, a solid vote for a maturing insurtech. It also underscores how behavioural monitoring and AI underwriting are reshaping motor insurance — and how Portuguese capital is backing homegrown engineering.
Read more: jornaleconomico.sapo.pt
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
