Why Bikmo Opted for Key Person Insurance

Cycle insurance – the nuts and bolts

With more than £21 million of British bikes already insured and a healthy spike in new purchases expected following this year’s Tour de France and Olympics, Bikmo now employs 10 people. “We’re all bike geeks here,” says David, “dedicated to making life better for bike nuts through the application of technology.”

Protecting Bikmo with Keyman Insurance…

“We started to look at key person insurance when our board suggested it was time to protect the business properly. We realised that although everyone is valuable at Bikmo, if myself or our chief technology officer and platform architect Jorj Ives died, or suffered a serious illness, it could be a potentially fatal setback for the business.

“Having no one to run the company or drive new business would be a serious interruption while without Jorj to keep our platform running our whole proposition could flounder.

“We were drawn to Drewberry as it’s a fellow web-based service provider that uses technology to make a difference for its clients. After talking through our situation with a Drewberry adviser we took out a £100,000 life and critical illness policy on both myself and Jorj.

“This will ensure business continuity as it means we’ll have sufficient capital to hire the kind of high-calibre developer we’d need to replace Jorj or to find a suitable replacement for me as CEO.”

Fully Protected and Off to the Races…

“Putting the cover in place was painless; there were no complicated changes or lengthy meetings required. We now have a watertight process in place that will protect the business, its ambitions and the jobs of everyone that has worked so hard to make Bikmo a success. At the same time,” says David, “our board has the peace of mind of knowing that sufficient security is in place to protect the value of their investment.”

We recommended a 5-year policy underwritten by Vitality as it offers more extensive critical illness coverage and also pays out for numerous less severe and early stage conditions. This gives Bikmo the best chance of receiving a payout in the event of David or Jorj suffering ill health.

Sam Barr-Worsfold
Independent Protection Expert at Drewberry