Meet the First Foundry Cohort: Introducing Zing

Powered by FinTech Wales, the Foundry is a unique, not for profit accelerator programme designed to scale the next generation of digital ventures in Wales. This week, as part of a series of interviews chronicling the founders within the Foundry’s first cohort, we had the opportunity to speak with Robert Korzinek , CEO & Founder of Zing. 

What is Zing?

Zing is the complete consumer insurance solution for any e-commerce platform.  We embed relevant, transparent consumer insurance at the checkout of e-commerce platforms, where their customers want it.

What is your team’s background?

Zing is an alchemy of insurance and technology.  My background is in insurance, as an underwriter and business leader at leading  Fortune 500 and FTSE 250 insurance companies, with a focus on insurance innovation.  But consumer insurance needs to be turned on its head, embracing the technology and product design of the consumer e-commerce market, which is where my co-founder and CTO Matt comes in who has over a decade of experience in technology innovation in consumer markets.

What is the opportunity you’ve spotted and/or the problem you are trying to solve?

People want peace of mind that their important personal possessions and day-to-day activities are properly protected, and that is what insurance is supposed to give.  Yet a sizeable and growing demographic are not buying insurance, or are buying insufficient or inappropriate cover. Zing has created insurance that meets the needs of modern consumer behaviour and is offered where they want it: with as little as one click within the checkout flow of the e-commerce brands they already know and love.  

Zing was selected from over 150 applicants to join the FinTech Wales Foundry. What are your expectations for an accelerator programme? 

We’re really excited to be a part of this first cohort of amazing companies working with the FinTech Wales Foundry.  We love that it is corporate led and entirely focussed on improving the quality and speed of our growth of Zing Cover.  Through the Foundry we’re able to draw on the resources of market leading companies and inspirational individuals to support the next iteration of our tech and insurance stacks, build our partnership pipeline, test our assumptions and prepare us for our next fundraise.  And as a startup, we’re always worried about the things that we haven’t thought of yet, and being part of a cohort of startups in an ecosystem of people and companies that work with startups or have been one themselves is invaluable.

Compared to your initial plans, how different is Zing today?

Well, we have stayed true to our vision of pulling insurance out of its traditional ecosystem and making it fit for a modern, consumer e-commerce ecosystem, but how we got there has had plenty of twists and turns.  Launching a business during a global pandemic definitely wasn’t part of the plan!  The last year led to an exponential increase in cycling as a means to safely get around in our towns and cities and Zing’s product design and technology was perfectly positioned to embrace both ownership (protecting a bike as a key personal asset) and usage (joining cycle hire and share schemes) and that provided our launch market.  

What made Wales an attractive destination to scale your efforts for the summer?

As a London based company, it perhaps doesn’t look like the most obvious option, but we’re engaged with an amazing local ecosystem that is of UK-wide and international importance in fostering FinTech innovation, whether that be through market leading insurers, law firms who are laser focussed on our sector, a government focussed on driving new growth and opportunity, an open minded and enthusiastic investor community… I could go on.

What does the next 12 months look like for Zing?

Hopefully more than I have time to summarise here!  We are building out the latest iteration of our tech stack to accommodate a broader range of partner businesses. We will be launching in several new consumer product verticals over the coming months to provide our customers with even more peace of mind and our partner businesses with enhanced customer engagement. We’re about to launch in Europe, which wasn’t part of our immediate post Brexit plan, but is the happy result of trying to keep up with demand from our partner businesses and their customers!

What should more founders know?

Be true to your vision for the business. One of the great things about life as a startup is that so many people share your excitement and are generous with invaluable advice and know-how, but with that can sometimes come a temptation to be pulled towards or moulded into something you and your business are not. Stay focussed!

Find Out More

You can find out more about Zing by following the links below to their website or socials:

Website – https://zingcover.com/

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/zing-cover/posts/?feedView=all