Ominimo reaches a valuation of €1.4 billion just two years after its inception.

      A development bank has just created a unicorn, taking two years to do so. Ominimo, a motor insurance startup based in Budapest and founded by Serbian and Hungarian entrepreneurs, has secured a Series B financing round led by the venture arm of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The funding totals €20.1 million, approximately $22.5 million, at a valuation of €1.4 billion, according to EU-Startups. Ominimo confirmed the funding, stating the valuation is $1.6 billion and described the EBRD as “an exceptionally founder-friendly and pragmatic investor.”

      Launched in 2024, Ominimo reached a billion-euro valuation more quickly than any of the EBRD’s previous unicorns, such as PandaDoc, DocPlanner, and PicsArt, as reported by Tech Funding News. Those previous companies took years to reach that milestone.

      Ominimo completed its Series A in 2025 at a €200 million valuation, twelve months post-launch. At that time, Zurich Insurance joined as both a distribution partner and a minority stakeholder. This reflects a sevenfold increase in valuation in roughly a year, attributed in part to rising premiums.

      The annual gross written premium surged from €26.3 million in 2024 to €157.8 million in 2025, now nearing €307 million, marking a nearly twelvefold increase within two years and reaching almost a million customers. The company is profitable and claims to have maintained profitability in Hungary since its inception, which is notable for a rapidly scaling insurtech firm.

      Regarding Ominimo's operations, it complicates the valuation as it does not underwrite insurance. Instead, it functions as a managing general agent that assesses risk, sells policies, maintains customer relationships, and manages claims, while the underwriting risk is borne by partner carriers. These partners include Signal Iduna in Hungary and DA Direkt (Zurich’s German unit) in Poland, the Netherlands, and Sweden. According to Ominimo's website, Signal Iduna is described as its sponsor.

      Ominimo asserts its advantage lies in pricing, utilizing hundreds of data points to assess a driver’s risk, compared to the five or six data points used by traditional insurers. Nearly two-thirds of its approximately 130 employees are engaged in data science or software, with the team comprising eight Mathematics Olympiad medallists and one Physics Olympiad medallist. The company aims to increase its headcount to 150 by year-end.

      Founder and CEO Dusan Komar believes Ominimo has established “the highest concentration of data science, software engineering, and insurance talent in Europe," a claim that is difficult for others to verify.

      Part of the new funds will be allocated towards acquiring Ominimo's own insurance license, which would enable the company to retain profits that it currently shares with its partners. It would also require holding capital against the risk. According to Tech Funding News, the capital requirement is around 20 cents of regulatory capital for every euro of premium underwritten. However, obtaining licenses is not guaranteed; for instance, Wise was recently denied a US trust bank charter, while Revolut received an Australian banking license at a $115 billion valuation. Regulatory authorities determine the schedule, not investors.

      The sector often draws parallels with past experiences. Tech Funding News references wefox, once Europe's most financially backed insurtech at a $4.5 billion valuation, which is now shedding business units and seeking emergency funding after failing to align growth with underwriting discipline. Ominimo markets itself as a corrective model, prioritizing profitability first before expansion.

      Others are employing a similar strategy but from different starting positions. Alan raised €480 million from Prosus with a focus on disciplined health coverage, Sweden’s Lassie achieved $100 million ARR before its next funding round, and Corgi became a unicorn by building a full-stack carrier from the outset rather than outsourcing the underwriting.

      As for future plans, Ominimo currently offers services in Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, and Sweden, with Belgium and Romania set to launch this summer, followed by Spain, Italy, and France. The company aspires to enter the U.S. market by 2027 and also aims to diversify its business lines. At present, all Ominimo’s products are motor insurance, marking this as a simultaneous geographical expansion alongside the exploration of new risks that its pricing model has not yet been tested against.

      The EBRD’s participation is significant in its own right; the venture arm typically invests between €2 million and €30 million, with a mandate focusing on economic development across Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia, rather than simply supporting consumer fintech success stories. The involvement of a development lender in the establishment of a billion-euro insurer in Budapest represents a unique achievement for that mandate.

      An open question remains regarding Ominimo’s current valuation of €1.4 billion based on distribution and data science