Oko, co-founded by Luxembourger Simon Schwall, has graduated from a major bank’s accelerator support scheme. Oko, an insurtech startup, was part of Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab’s EMEA winter 2023 cohort, which ended in London last week.
To mark the moment, Morgan Stanley showcased Schwall, along with other company founders, on the massive Nasdaq billboard in Times Square. The digital display is better known for highlighting companies that have newly listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, along with market and news updates.
Inclusive insurer Oko provides “a new kind of automated insurance for climate risks, [such as] droughts and floods,” Schwall told Delano. “We have insured more than 27,000 farmers and paid $300,000 in claims so far, helping thousands of farmers,” Schwall stated on 8 February 2024.
The firm focuses on “smallholder farmers in emerging countries” that lack access to traditional financial institutions, Oko has previously said.
“We are now focusing on partnerships with banks and microfinance institutions to facilitate access to agricultural loans,” Schwall said on 12 February.
The startup was previously incubated at the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology. Pitchbook, a data provider, said it had 19 employees, including at its offices in Israel and Mali.
Morgan Stanley, an investment bank which posted $54.1bn in net revenues for the 2023 fiscal year, said its Inclusive Ventures Lab has so far supported 92 companies, in New York and in London. The accelerator programme provides $250,000 in funding to each participating startup, in exchange for a 5% equity stake.
Morgan Stanley featured Simon Schwall, co-founder of Luxembourg insurtech startup Oko, on the giant Nasdaq digital billboard in Times Square in New York City, to celebrate Oko’s graduation from the Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab programme, 7 February 2024. Photo: Oko
According to Nasdaq, its Times Square digital display has a surface area of approximately 1,930 square metres and is 7 stories tall.
Updated Monday 12 February, 3pm: A previous version of this article misidentified the location where Oko participated in the Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab programme. It was in London. Added quote on agricultural loans.