UK protection-insurance start-up Gryphon raises £180m
Insurance start-up Gryphon has raised £180m ($229m) to develop its critical illness cover and income protection products that will compete with heavyweights like Aviva and Legal & General. The company, founded by former Zurich CFO Daniel Pender and Simon Davis, who previously worked at Guardian and Admin Re, will sell through financial advisers rather than direct to customers. The pair said they plan to harness new technology to sell their products.
A start-up company co-founded by a former Prudential executive has raised £180m to build a new protection insurer for the UK market.

Gryphon Group Holdings is run by Daniel Pender as chief executive and Simon Davis as chief operating officer.

Pender is a former executive director and former UK Life chief financial officer at Zurich, while Davis is a former chief risk officer at Guardian and former corporate services director at Admin Re.

The company, which will reveal its brand name later this year will focus on offering life cover, critical illness cover and income protection.

It has been backed by Punter Southall Group and institutional investor Leadenhall Capital Partners.

Gryphon Group Holdings chief executive Daniel Pender says: “We are creating what we think protection should look like in today’s digital age.

“Technology has moved on remarkably and our ambition is to embrace that, bringing an intuitive customer offer and adviser experience to market. This will give certainty to advisers when recommending our products and enable families to feel confident that we can offer the insurance that they need.”