Boost economy of use by including a breakage/theft guarantee in equipment rental offers

Tulip is an insurance solution for professional equipment and material rental companies.

Tulip was founded in 2019 by three co-founders with a strong conviction: that distributors are in the process of transitioning to an economy of use, in particular rental.

There are several factors pointing in this direction: an ecological evolution in society, a demand from private individuals for greater flexibility, and a need for retailers to increase their margins.

The initial observation made in 2019 is that very few insurance companies are seriously interested in the economy of use, and there are few solutions for either short- or long-term rental companies.

For 5 years, Tulip has been building the best solution on the market. In concrete terms, Tulip supports its distributor customers through technology and the integration of breakage/theft guarantees into their rental offers, with several advantages:

• A great experience for the end customer, with an insurance policy created in 3 clicks, claims made in 3 minutes and reimbursed in 3 days.
• An easy-to-use platform (entry, exit, start and end of rental).
• Ease of management and transparency through direct integration with business software.
• On-demand insurance (for a specific duration and coverage) with daily rates.
• On-board insurance, with the possibility of integrating the insurance product directly into the sales process.
• A range of additional coverages (bodily injury, assistance, etc.) to meet the customer's every need.

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Today, Tulip works with over 500 private and public players, including RATP Dev, Indigo Intersport and Decathlon. Tulip's products are mainly bicycles, but also other types of equipment (small tools, water sports, skiing, etc.).

Their objective is clear: to become the market leader in rental insurance, whatever the product (boat or computer rental, for example). To achieve this, the challenge is to constantly adapt pricing and succeed in being relevant to different types of risk. This means opening up as many markets as possible, on specific products.

The Breakdown/Breakage/Theft market is small and not yet mature, but it is growing fast, especially when we look at the rate of equipment and development in other European countries such as Germany.

There are three major developments that we've seen over the past 5 years, following the example of companies like Blablacar, malt or Airbnb:

• Firstly, there's the economy of use, with a need for flexibility, particularly when leaving the covid with lots of trips to work without taking public transport.
• Secondly, there's the practical reality that bicycles get stolen a lot, which brings a lot of traction to this vertical.
• Finally, ecological awareness is growing in our society and naturally boosts the economy of use.

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Flashback... It's 2019.

Tulip is looking for an insurer and calls on Seyna. No one was offering daily rates in the way Tulip wanted to innovate and differentiate itself.

So Tulip and Seyna work hand in hand, co-constructing their very first on-demand insurance product for bikes and rentals.

What do we really appreciate about Seyna? The proximity, responsiveness and adaptability. Tulip is always in touch with the right person. If, for example, we need to update the information leaflet or launch a new product, we can do it very quickly.
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👉 “With Seyna, we're well supported on a day-to-day basis: management is very straightforward, whether it's exchanging data on product performance or delegate audits,”

shares Thibaut van der Werf, Tulip's Co-founder & COO.

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The current insurance product is a success!

It is the result of an iteration cycle of 4 previous products. Bicycle insurance then evolved into equipment insurance, for short or long term use, with additional coverages such as bodily injury or assistance.

There is immense potential to meet the demands of emerging markets in the circular economy: growth in different verticals, new countries, the creation of new insurance products, and so on.

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👉 “We are confident of our ability to conquer the French market. In particular, we will be recruiting new staff between now and the end of the year. We also know that there are big markets to conquer in Europe, particularly Germany. But our priority, before looking at Europe, is France.

says Tulip Co-founder & CTO Vincent Le Gal.

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In the years to come, Tulip and Seyna hope to offer the best equipment rental insurance solution and become the market leader in France, because one thing is certain: the market is exploding!

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