“Thanks to Four & Five, we were able to start the round of investment funding with a well-stocked backpack.”
You’d be jumping to conclusions in a way to say that Hopala is merely an online platform for insurance policies. This Antwerp-based start-up is in the midst of an excellent growth trajectory and has also looked at business angels and an institutional investment company for this purpose. The resulting capital round, amounting to € 850.000, was prepared and managed by Four & Five.
“Our platform makes it very easy for consumers to compare, take out, and manage their insurance policies digitally,” says Benjamin Buyens who, together with Stijn Blommaert, founded the company. “Hopala is part of a necessary catch-up process, as our country lags far behind in the digitisation of insurance – Belgium is currently at 5 percent in terms of online insurance contracts, Europe is at 40 percent on average.”
In order to facilitate further growth, Hopala decided to organise a round of investment funding through business angels and an institutional investment company. This is when Four & Five comes into the story. “We contacted the office on the advice of another start-up, which is engaged in digital invoicing. Four & Five has guided us from start to finish in this round of investment: the onboarding, the term sheets, etc. We were also able to count on them for the necessary explanations – if you’re not familiar with capital rounds, you really need a partner with expertise in that area. “That way, we were able to embark on that adventure with a well-stocked backpack.”
“The fact that we had a single point of contact (SPOC) at Four & Five in Toon Michielsen in this case was also a great added value. Don’t forget that multiparty investment rounds can become quite complex,” says Benjamin Buyens. “That’s why it was incredibly valuable to have someone like Toon, who helped us with advice and assistance throughout the entire process.”
Four & Five will definitely take us from start to finish in any future capital rounds that may take place. In addition, we would like to continue to work with them on a day-to-day basis for our legal questions.”