Yair Ravid – Co-Founder and CEO
REACH is an all-in-one remote engagement platform created to enable banks, insurance agencies, financial institutions, and their clients, to complete multi-channel digital transactions in just minutes. REACH integrates seamlessly into the enterprise’s back-end systems and CRM’s, allowing document collaboration, uploading of documentation, e-signature, video conference, ID verification and payment processing on a single platform. Sessions can be conducted in real time, self-service mode, or a hybrid of both. REACH is reinventing remote business by providing an effortless way to conduct and close business.
The key figures in the company are Yair Ravid – Co-Founder and CEO Koby Avitan – Chief Product Officer Tom Hipp – SVP Global Sales and Operations Susan Beyer – SVP Global Marketing
What problem is it meant to solve?
There has been a fundamental mind shift and people are more aware of their health and safety as well as their time, and thus less inclined to want to engage in person. In a business that was driven by branch engagements or led by the advisor business, insurers need to re-think how they connect with the customer. As clients look for alternatives to in-person engagements, key components of the customer journey can be replaced or supplemented by digital solutions. But containing costs is crucial and it doesn’t make sense to use a collection of disjointed point solutions in order to complete a digital customer journey. The use of multiple platforms results in higher vendor costs, a lengthy training process for brokers and an unsatisfactory user experience. Many clients still see interactions with insurance companies as a very personal one, and they have a need to put a face to their insurance broker, because by doing this, an element of trust is created. REACH allows your clientele to “meet” with the broker via video conference and develop that feeling of trust, while eliminating the need to meet in person. It is an effective and comforting replica of human interaction. REACH provides brokers all the digital tools they need in one single platform, allowing them to serve their clients in the most efficient and pleasing way.
What is your business model?
REACH offers a flexible SaaS platform that can scale with our clients. Contracts are on an annual, per-session basis.
How do you see the current situation in that area on the insurance industry today?
Covid-19 accelerated the digital transformation within the insurance sector, but because of the personal nature of insurance interactions, certain capabilities are needed to replace what was once done in person. The problem arises when companies use multiple disjointed point solutions to complete a digital customer journey. The use of multiple platforms results in higher vendor costs, a lengthy training process for brokers and an unsatisfactory user experience. Large insurance firms work with brokers who are relatively independent. This results in a lack of uniformity when it comes to the overall digital customer journey. In today’s world, business is impacted by the customer’s desire for simplicity. The decision to work with a company may be based solely on a customer’s perception of the ease of engagement. There needs to be a gold standard and synchronicity with the different brokers representing the brand. More and more clients are buying insurance policies online or telephonically, and many independent brokers are not “up to date” and equipped with the tools they need to compete with broker representatives of companies who have taken digital transformation seriously.
What investments have been made in the company so far?
Total Funding Amount: ~$13M Most recent round: Series A – March 2022, $7M. Pritzker Group Venture Capital, NFX and Grayhawk Capital
What is your current business situation?
Our valued customer and partner relationships include brands like American Express, SCSK, British American Tobacco and Daimler. We are proud to say that our interaction with existing clients is constantly expanding as they continue to use our platform for more and more use cases, within more geographies. We have onboarded dozens of banks and insurance companies globally this year, as we drive toward our goal of being the #1 provider for remote interactions in the financial sector. We stand in the unique position of having a market-ready product, and will now concentrate on the GTM to bring our story to the world. We recently turned our focus to the penetration of the U.S. market and are launching our New York headquarters. We have just hired a new SVP of Sales and SVP of Global Marketing, who are tasked with expanding talent within the US.
Which companies interests you?
U.S. insurance companies, U.S. Banks
What can insurance companies do to keep completely customer centric, while assuring a competitive edge in a world of remote or hybrid engagement?
By having one platform hosting all required transactional capabilities, companies save time and money. They save time by eliminating the onboarding and training of brokers, allowing brokers to reallocate the time they would normally spend on administration to make actual sales. Adopting REACH instead of dealing with multiple disjointed point solutions, provides a more cost-effective alternative, saving companies money on vendor fees. REACH also saves companies the hassle of integrating multiple solutions into their back-end systems. The move to one vendor allows a more seamless experience, as clients won’t have to “jump” from platform to platform when completing a digital journey. Lastly, REACH’s multi-channel platform is more secure than most platforms that are used today for just one capability. With privacy as a high concern, REACH again puts comfort into engagement.
