Swiss insurance company becomes minority shareholder of Serbian startup Ominimo, worth EUR 200 million

The Serbian startup Ominimo Insurance has signed a strategic partnership with the Swiss insurance company Zurich Insurance Group, within which technological cooperation in car insurance is planned. With the investment agreement, Zurich Insurance Group becomes a minority shareholder of Ominimo Insurance, which puts the value of the Serbian startup at EUR 200 million.

Dusan Komar, the founder and executive director of Ominimo, assessed that the estimated value of EUR 200 million just one year after its establishment was an important milestone for the company.

– It means a lot to us that Zurich, with its 150-year-long tradition, has become not only our partner, but also a minority shareholder, which we see as a strong sign of trust. Their global reputation and financial strength not only provide us with stability, but will enable us to achieve very ambitious growth in an extremely capital-intensive industry. Our cooperation brings together two worlds: the security and experience of traditional insurance with the innovation and dynamism of startups. This allows us to focus on what we are best at, the application of data science, the development of superior software solutions and flawless execution, with the aim of transforming the car insurance market worldwide – said Komar.

Although the first steps are related to the European market, Ominimo aims to become a global leader in digital insurance.

– Profitable sales growth in the household segment is Zurich's strategic priority for the period 2025-2027. That is why I am particularly pleased that we have entered into a partnership with Ominimo Insurance, which will allow us to offer innovative solutions for car insurance and expand our presence in the consumer segment in Europe, beyond the markets where we are already present. I am also pleased that we are further strengthening our cooperation by investing in a minority stake in Ominimo Insurance – said Alison Martin, CEO for EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) at Zurich Insurance Group.

Ominimo was launched by experts who spent more than ten years as consultants at the world's most prestigious consulting firm, McKinsey & Company. During that period, they worked with dozens of leading insurance companies across Europe, which allowed them to see first-hand the main challenges in the industry and spot problems that traditional companies have been unable to solve for years. Ominimo uses artificial intelligence to assess risk more accurately, up to 100 times more detailed than traditional insurance companies, according to the company's announcement. In addition, automated business activities allow them to work faster, cheaper and more efficiently. Thanks to this, they can offer users lower policy prices, because they better recognize the risk and spend less on administration. That this approach gives concrete results in practice is confirmed by their success in Hungary, where in just 12 months they sold more than 300,000 policies and got seven percent of the market.

Already during this year, the plan is to expand to the markets of Poland, Sweden and the Netherlands, while in the next two to three years, the focus will be on all the major countries of the European Union. Ominimo brings together more than 60 people from 10 countries, and a large number of top software engineers, data scientists and business analysts are hired in Serbia.

– We have all witnessed the brilliant success of young mathematicians from Serbia, who win the highest honors at international competitions. At Ominimo, we are building an environment where our geniuses can solve global challenges while staying in their own country. In the team, we already have winners of eight medals from international mathematics and physics Olympiads. Personally, after completing my studies, I spent more than a decade working abroad, because I did not find adequate opportunities for career development in Serbia, and that is why I am particularly pleased that at Ominimo we managed to create a challenging environment in which at least some of those young people can use their full potential in solving the key problems of the insurance industry, an industry that is basically nothing but a numbers game – points out Dusan Komar.

Ogranak Ominimo Insurance Kft. Novi Sad

Ominimo Insurance

Zurich Insurance Group

Dušan Komar

Alison Martin

digital insurance