Collective Benefits, headquartered in London, has completely rewritten income protection for today’s gig economy with an insurance product that is finally fit for independent work. NFX led Collective Benefits’ latest $8.3M (£6M) round, with participation from Stride VC, Delin Ventures, Insurtech Gateway and execs from Uber, Deliveroo, and Urban. I will be joining the Collective board in an advisory role.

In just over a year since launching, Collective has more than 200,000 members across 20 countries working through TaskRabbit, JustEat, Wolt, and others. We’re impressed by this rapid growth of their insurance and benefits platform, and also by their mission to expand the safety net for independent workers. We believe Collective can transform both the world of insurance and the on-demand economy.

In NFX tradition, and for the benefit of Founders everywhere, here is a look at the top 3 reasons we invested in Collective Benefits.

1. They Will Define Their Category

The on-demand economy has significantly expanded and shows no sign of slowing down. The gig economy as a whole is set to be worth $341 billion this year.

But with the flexibility of independent work comes an at-risk financial existence: nearly 1/3rd of gig workers in a recent survey have no savings at all, and only 4% have protections like sick pay and injury pay to fall back on if needed.

Collective is a fantastic fit in that regard: a market leader that’s solving an as-yet unsolved problem — the missing safety net for independent workers — in a way that creates a win-win outcome for both independent workers and the platform companies they work with.

2. Transforming a Marketplace with Tech and Network Effects

At NFX, we believe in the power of technology and network effects to build huge and durable marketplaces. Collective’s innovative customer acquisition and underwriting techniques presented an ideal opportunity to partner with them to build network effects to scale and defend the needs of a rapidly growing workforce.

3. Hustle + Expertise + Empathy

The team at Collective combines hustle with domain expertise in order to successfully build and scale the business. They also have unique empathy for their audience — they see that on-demand workers face a fragile financial existence, and they aim to right this wrong. Rarely do you meet a team so experienced and motivated for the right and best reasons.

At NFX, we are fortunate to partner with a number of world-class companies in both the insurance and the on-demand economies. We see a new era of work before us — and so do the Founders at Collective. We are confident they will lead this sector into the future.

Please visit Collective Benefits to learn more.