A key pillar of Bâloise Innovation strategy is to play an active role in the Home ecosystem by implementing an open-innovation approach to build strong partnerships, as well as to simplify its clients’ lives beyond insurance. Thus, Bâloise is designing services, such as when acquiring a home.
Innovative turnkey support services for homebuyers
In 2018, Bâloise partnered with the Belgium-based startup ImmoPass to provide a Home Inspection service facilitating the decision process of a homebuyer in Luxembourg, which can be stressful as noted by an internal team during a “Hackathon”. Therefore, this partnership provided homebuyers with access to the early-stage startup ImmoPass services and its network of architects. In this way, these services helped them to make an informed decision, by offering a property visit, delivering a visual easy-to-read report with points of control supported by pictures and a budget for expected renovation.
Thereafter, based on the learnings made since then, a new additional service was designed purposely for off-plan homebuyers: Home VEFA, a turnkey support insuring that buying off-plan has never been so easy all along the road. Home VEFA’s goal is indeed to relieve the future buyers who are not real estate experts, studying plans, determining possible changes and prices, understanding the technical jargon, checking for compliance before the handover, etc. The role of ImmoPass is to handle all these technical questions from beginning to end at the buyer’s side, while Bâloise provides adapted insurance solutions for purchasing on plan with great serenity.
A win-win partnership between Bâloise and startups such as ImmoPass
Bâloise is really keen to work alongside different structures, such as startups like ImmoPass, when an internal conundrum cannot be solved by the Bâloise teams and require external know-how. Benefiting from agile practices, rapidity, updates on the market and technologies, qualities that Bâloise aims to strengthen, this special business relationship can help Bâloise to expand its activities in other fields, in which Bâloise has a role to play beyond insurance.
But it is also mutually beneficial: new innovative solutions can be quickly implemented thanks to the Bâloise expertise, knowledge and well-known innovation processes. The Bâloise brand image and the resulting confidence are great support for young startups too. To achieve successful results, two leading principles were set-up: rapid iteration and test & learn-based approach. This way of collaboration has met huge accomplishments, as the collaboration with ImmoPass was awarded a special mention by the jury of Le Village by CA and by House of Startups. Were praised the very early-stage support Bâloise showed to the start-up resulting in a seed investment and the mutual learning emerging from such a partnership. This collaboration reflects indeed Bâloise’s strong intent to take part in the Proptech ecosystem and the prize is an incentive for going forward with innovative partners. So, startups, get in touch!
This article was first published in the Silicon Luxembourg magazine. Get your copy.
