Luko’s acquisition won’t make everyone happy, but the insurtech will live on

Allianz Direct, a digital-first German subsidiary of the insurance giant, has acquired the French home insurance business of ailing insurtech Luko for €4.3 million (around $4.65 million).

This was both expected and unexpected: The two companies were hoping to get the green light on a deal in November. But that didn’t happen, and Luko’s parent company instead went under judicial reorganization, a procedure that meant it needed to urgently find a buyer whose offer would meet the court’s requirements.

For a while, many options were back on the table, including not-so-great ones — until this week.

A happy ending of sorts? Not quite. After all, Luko had ambitions to become a European insurtech unicorn on its own, and maybe it’s now paying the price for it. But there’s also relief for some in knowing that the company won’t be sold for parts after all — and the business unit that will live on is arguably what it should have stuck to all along.

Yo-yo pricing

Luko was mostly known for offering digital home insurance in France, with some 230,000 policies sold. Along the way, things became more complicated and debt mounted as it expanded in other markets and made acquisitions: German startup Coya and fellow French startup Unkle, both in 2022.