Wemates

Short description

The idea behind Wemates is simple: Many People with common risk can get together and insure what they value most rather than go through the bureaucracy of traditional insurance.

What is our project about?

We’re building People-to-People insurance – a «risk-sharing network» where groups of associated or like-minded individuals pool their premiums together to insure against a certain risk. Our platform – a match-maker for peers who self-organize themselves, self-regulate, share risk and manage all insurance functions without any intermediation; every decision is made through a voting procedure. All members know who is in the group, who is filing a claim, and how much money is in the pool.

It lets you select your insurance pool – be it friends, family members, or simply people with whom you share interests and activities.
If you don’t have a group of peers to pay into a pot, our solution bundles in one seamless process of appraising any device remotely to get an offer of a fair coverage proposal based on the device’s current condition and the ability of people with common risk to get together and insure what they value most rather than go through the bureaucracy of traditional insurance. AI Recognition and Fraud detection will eliminate any possible fraud and that will allow you to apply to an anonymous group. It’s just like joining a Facebook group or Discord server.
Instead of keeping unused premium funds as profits like traditional insurers do, we’d return any remaining funds at the end of a coverage period to the pool’s members. If the claim payouts exceed what’s available in the pool during a given coverage period, a reinsurer will cover the difference. No deductible. No funds are lost or accumulated as provider’s profit. We’ll operate on a small flat fee to maintain the platform and upgrade features.

Aligning with exploring a new business model we combined three elements at our platform:

• insurance - while the product is the same – we redefine the delivery method to People-to-People, we change interaction, simplify processes related to the formation of mutual premiums pool and enable automation, which results in the elimination of fraud, lower cost of premiums, and efficient claim process.

• transparency - all members know who is in the group, who reports a claim and how much money is in the pool.

• voting process - in which every decision in the pool is made by a vote of all peers.

• no additional fees or deductible when you report a claim.

Another, yet not less important, we value sustainability and want to set a standard of delivering on ethical and sustainable practices in the insurance industry.

E-waste is generated in high volumes due to the pace of technological innovation. E-waste is classified as a type of hazardous waste, which may pose adverse health impacts and environmental implications. About 40% of heavy metals are found in landfills coming from e-waste. Meanwhile, recycling rates across electronics stood at only 17% in 2019, meaning the vast majority of this value is not being repaired. At the current rate of growth for e-waste, multiple solutions would be needed as recycling alone will not be sufficient.
Almost 60% of customers prefer to buy a new phone when the screen gets broken, generating even more e-waste without giving the phone a second life. Much smartphone e-waste can be repaired or repurposed, and it is inevitable that the second life products solution of smart devices we’re working on – can contribute to reduce the global e-waste problem. Increasing the lifespan of a smartphone by 33% (e.g. replacing after 4 years instead of 3) could prevent annual carbon emissions equal to the annual emissions generated by the entire country of Ireland. In Austria, there are 12.5 million mobile phones in households and if we encourage fellow Austrian to increase the lifespan of their devices, that’s a lot of devices saved from landfill.
In order to accomplish it, we’d not only repair all broken gadgets but also donate to tackle recycling issues with a small amount of unused premium funds at the end of a coverage period.

Extending the smartphone’s lifespan is a key aim for us trying to reduce e-waste.
All we have to do is swipe right.

Here’s an example of a «traditional insurance model»: Linda owns a smartphone or smartwatch and wants to make sure their assets are protected in case of damage. She goes to one of the major insurance companies and pays them a monthly premium to get coverage. Now let’s say disaster strikes, and Linda’s smartphone gets broken. Linda goes to file her claim and expects the reimbursement. Insurer is, in fact, incentivized to make it difficult for Linda to get money to repair her smartphone.
The company would put up large bureaucratic hurdles to ensure she don’t get paid. More than likely, it has worked large deductibles into Linda’s plan so that it won’t need to pay out the true value of the assets. In other words, it’s incentivized to not pay the customer or payments could take months or, in some cases, years.

This is not the case with Peer-to-Peer insurance, which eliminates the bureau of traditional insurance.

Why should anyone support our project? 

We want to give everybody the chance to do something against traditional insurance hurdles and environmental issues. To make insurance being inclusive by allowing small groups of high-risk peers to share risks with other groups, which might otherwise be uninsurable to a traditional insurer. For instance people with used devices. We want to harness that disruption to better connect with consumers for positive business impact.

We value:

• sustainability and climate protection;
• fairness and transparency.

Participating is 100% risk-free for you:

• If we do not reach our financing goal and you do not get a Wemates insurance coverage, you will of course get your money back completely!
• You can redeem your insurance voucher flexibly whenever you want, e.B. when your current insurance ends. Wemates pool membership can be canceled daily right from the start and you’ll be refunded proportionally what’s left.

Convinced? Then join us! In the thank yous you will find all Wemates pre-calculated premiums as insurance vouchers. Choose THANK YOU that best suits you and your situation and shape insurance to new and sustainable future!