Insurtech startup Wellx strives to incentivise customers for being healthy
The UAE-based insurtech startup provides insurance plans that focus on wellness-backed prevention and reward customers’ wellness with premium cashback and other benefits.
Conventionally, insurance is perceived as a product for a rainy day. Purchasing insurance is generally accompanied by the hope that one stays healthy and doesn’t ever have to use it.
What if insurance benefits don’t have to necessarily be linked to sickness? What if you are rewarded for staying healthy? That is what Wellx aims to do.
UAE-based is an insurtech platform founded by Javed Akberali and Vaibhav Kashyap last year with the goal of providing insurance plans that focus on wellness-backed prevention.
“Instead of waiting for you to fall sick, we view prevention as a way to build and support healthier, happier and resilient communities,” says Javed.
Wellx aims to realign the concept of insurance incentives using various health parameters.
“We use metrics such as steps from Fitbit, sleep cycle from Whoop, meditation minutes from Calm, glucose levels from Ultra Human, and gamify that to reward customers,” explains Vaibhav.
Customers are rewarded with cashbacks upon the completion of their health goals. At present, the startup’s plans are offered to individuals, families, and corporations.
Wellness ecosystem
Wellx has partnered with various companies to reward customers for being healthy. It has partnered with insurance companies such as Salama and Dubai National Insurance and healthtech firms such as Fitbit, Whoop, Ultrahuman, Countd, Steppi, and Kayam.
The startup offers a range of insurance plans with different benefits.
Vaibhav explains, “For instance, Upon purchasing a Wellx Ultrahuman plan, the customer can avail themselves of all the benefits of metabolic tracking that Ultrahuman provides along with comprehensive insurance. Similarly, for Whoop and Fitbit, the customer can avail of all the benefits provided by the tracker.”
The customers can earn up to two months of their premium as cashback upon the completion of their health goals.
To attain the first level of cashback, a minimum goal has to be achieved. “As customers choose more challenging goals, they get rewarded with higher levels of cashback,” explains Vaibhav, who'd worked in the field of insurance prior to starting up.
Wellx also offers products such as Wellx, Wellx plus, and Wellx pro to provide access to hospitals such as Mediclinic and American Hospital.
“The key difference [between these plans] is the amount customers can avail as cashback—AED 75 ($20.42), AED 125 ($34.03) and AED 200 ($54.45) monthly, respectively. The other difference is the access to our network of hospitals and clinics,” says Javed, who had been in the banking sector for around 16 years before he began scouting for opportunities in the insurance space.
Javed met Vaibhav through Vaibhav’s father, whom he was acquainted with.
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Business model
Wellx is available as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application, via iOS and Android. Insurers have to pay for it on a per-member, per-annum basis. The app is currently available in a closed-user mode—i.e., only members of Wellx plans have access to it.
The startup makes a margin on every Wellx insurance product sold. Its revenue streams include policies sold by the insurer and policies sold by Wellx.
"Whether we sell it directly or whether another insurance company or broker sells it, we get a fee,” says Vaibhav.
He elaborates, “Both ways, we charge a fee to keep customers engaged in wellness throughout the year and operate a pool account that is funded by the entire value chain of the insurer, third party administrator, broker, and reinsurer to deliver rewards.”
Another source of revenue is the Wellx marketplace which offers well-being products, wearables, mental health sessions, gym memberships, personal training, and nutrition coaching.
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Growth in the Middle East
Insurtech is a growing segment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, especially in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). It is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 6% between 2019 and 2028, as per a report by Mordor Intelligence.
UAE is emerging as a leader in the segment in the GCC, driven by digital maturity, a price-driven mindset, and an interest towards collaborating with insurtech firms.
“Success stories from markets such as India and Southeast Asia have driven investor interest in the sector, especially post-COVID-19,” says Akshay Jayaprakasan, Associate Partner at RedSeer.
Last year, in December, Wellx was among the 15 startups chosen for batch 4 of the Sanabil 500 MENA Seed Accelerator Program. It raised pre-seed funding of an undisclosed amount. At present, the startup is in the middle of its seed round.
Globally, Wellx competes with UK-based YuLife, Latin America-based Betterfly, and India-based Growfitter and Aditya Birla Wellness.
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Future plans
Wellx, which is headquartered at the Dubai International Financial Centre, plans to add life insurance to its product portfolio by the end of the first quarter of 2023. The company is also planning to launch its products in Saudi Arabia by the middle of this year.
Javed says, “2023 is about the region. We want to cover the GCC between Saudi, Bahrain, and Oman, as well as North Africa.”
The startup is also eyeing entry into East Africa by early 2024.
“It comes down to the ability to export innovation, and the region is now becoming a serious contender for being that source of export,” says Javed.
Wellx is planning to launch Version 2 of its SaaS application in Q1 this year.
“It will gamify the insurance experience and allow users to build avatars, set their health goals, and monitor and track their progress. They can also create community challenges and get rewarded for winning them through their insurer, company or community,” elaborates Vaibhav.
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Edited by Swetha Kannan