Stere Closes $5M Seed+ Round with Vida Capital

Investment Enables Stere to Expand Tech-Driven Solutions Offered on Capacity Trading Platform for the Insurance Sector

NEW YORK, Sept. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Stere, a capacity trading platform specializing in capacity sourcing and unique digital capabilities for embedded insurance partners and MGAs, today announced that it has closed a $5 million funding round with Vida Capital. The investment allows Stere to further expand its capacity trading platform, a one-stop-shop for businesses to build and launch insurance programs with capacity partners.

Stere's trading platform offers those seeking to place or find capacity:

Capacity APIs designed to improve connectivity between Insurers, Reinsurers, MGAs, Brokers, and Embedded Partners, which brings speed-to-market and scalability for all parties involved
Capacity Trading Platform for MGAs who have an existing book of business. Based on available data of the insurance program, MGAs get access to alternative capacity sources (insurers / reinsurers) for their programs which ensures enough and proper capacity is secured on an ongoing basis

"Vida Capital brings a tremendous amount of expertise in reinsurance, ILS and structured solutions, which supports Stere's vision of building a trading forum of all kinds of capacity in a one-stop-shop," said Stere CEO and Founder Dogan Kaleli. "Vida's funding will fuel further expansion of our trading platform, allowing us to continue creating the smart tech-driven solutions that our stakeholders have come to rely on to help support and grow their businesses."

Stere's capacity selection engine improves program administrators' success rate by pairing human intuition with state-of-art technology. It is a combination that eliminates manual capacity placement pain points and inefficient post-placement steps plaguing the industry that ends up cutting carrier and reinsurer scouting time by at least 50 percent. Stere also works with reinsurers to create efficiency gains by digitizing their processes and making it easier and faster to place business.

"We are excited to partner with the team at Stere to take reinsurance risk transfer to the next level," said Head of Structured Credit at Vida Capital Peter Polanskyj. "We look forward to the prospect of the company offering a one-stop solution to a broad set of constituents with their capacity needs, be they traditional MGAs and brokers, insurtechs or embedded partners. As a reinsurance capacity provider and asset manager of insurance and reinsurance account assets, we see the value of the model Stere envisions for the future. Dogan and team have a great vision for the reinsurance market and we are excited about the strategic possibilities for both Stere and Vida on an ongoing basis."

Stere raised $2 million in seed funding in December 2021 from Fin VC, with participation from Plug and Play Ventures, Sandalphon Capital and Hartford Investment Management Company, among others. Stere has signed on 50+ MGAs as of early May 2022, representing more than $1.5 billion in annual premium, and helped 20+ embedded insurance partners access capacity from key carriers and reinsurers. The company recently opened a Latin America regional office that already has closed deals with 15 significant LatAm organizations, securing a contracted revenue of two million dollars.

About Stere

Stere is a digital insurance ecosystem that helps businesses find insurance and reinsurance capacity on a local or global level through its unique trading platform. Stere also provides digital capabilities and transformation services using a rich library of APIs that give embedded insurance partners, insurtechs, MGAs, and others access to potential business channels to launch insurance programs. To learn more about embedded opportunities and how your organization can benefit from using Stere, please visit www.stere.io or email hello@stere.io

About Vida:

Vida Capital, Inc. is a vertically integrated, uncorrelated investment firm specializing in insurance, longevity, structured credit, and private lending with $3.9 billion in assets under management. The firm aims to generate long term value and attractive returns for investors across closed-end and open-end funds. With capabilities in investing, originating, structuring, and servicing, Vida provides differentiated investment opportunities and capital solutions for investors globally.