Success Story B2B Tech

Supporting the UK’s fastest ever insurtech crowdfund with a pandemic pivot

Client

Hiro Labs

Program & Deliverables

Strategy & Planning, PR & Awareness

Introduction

Building credibility in insurtech 

Innovation company Hero Labs initially engaged PAN in early 2020 to raise awareness of its smart home tech, including a smart leak detector. However, as the pandemic hit, Hero Labs’ production in China ground to a halt, home installations of its products became impossible, and funding dried up as its main financial backer collapsed. Hero Labs’ founder quickly pivoted, restructuring the company to create Hiro, and accelerating the development of a smart home insurance product. The next step was to help the newly formed insurtech start-up Hiro build credibility and relevant to support a fundraise ahead of its UK launch.

14

minutes to smash Seedrs crowdfund target

30+

pieces of coverage across business, trade & personal finance media

1.2B

opportunity to see

Solution

A solution requiring expert storytelling 

Messaging & Positioning 

We began with strategic media relations to highlight how traditional home insurance was broken, failing to reward millions of homeowners for steps they’d already taken to protect their homes. To support our narrative, we commissioned an independent study of 3,000 British households, which showed people would switch to an insurance provider (like Hiro) that discounted their insurance based on their use of protective smart home tech. 

Funding Visibility & New Market Brand Awareness 

We worked with Hiro to launch a crowdfunding drive through Seedrs, with the aim of raising capital, whilst simultaneously also creating a community of Hiro advocates.  

With the fundraise complete, we then switched our attention to building the case for Hiro in respected personal finance media. We created a story warning of a potential ‘Post-pandemic Burglary Bounceback’. This allowed us to share advice on how to secure your home using smart tech—for example by simulating occupancy with smart lighting—whilst also benefiting from cheaper home insurance premiums with Hiro. 

result

A credible challenger on a mission 

The four-month campaign has established Hiro as a credible challenger on a mission to bring innovation to the outdated insurance sector and fairer premiums to homeowners.   

Coverage included stand–out stories featured in high circulation new sites, such as MailOnline, Forbes, and UKTN. Interviews were completed with multiple media, including Forbes, TechRadar, Verdict, and Insurance Age.

The Seedrs crowdfund raise was the fastest UK insurtech raise ever, with the target hit in 14 minutes, and it closed with more than £2m raised (150% of target). More than 700 investors backed Hiro.