Janthana K.: Who is UK’s on-demand gig economy worker?

In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VdL interviews Janthana Kaenprakhamroy, co-founder and CEO of Tapoly, an on-demand gig-economy worker InsurTech startup based in the UK. In this interview, Sabine and Janthana discuss business model innovation, target market and customer segmentation, and what building a lifestyle brand in insurance means. They finally cover company culture, talent acquisition, and business founding. KEY TAKEAWAYS Tapoly came about because I was so surprised by how backward we were in offering insurance and in the end-to-end process for gig economy workers and micro-businesses. This was an industry in which I thought I could add value. Tapoly is a timely and much-needed platform because we can operate at a micro-premium level that some traditional players may not be interested in or capable of delivering. Our fully automated process, which uses technology to drive pricing and underwriting, makes it easier for us to achieve economies of scale and save costs, even if the transaction is much smaller than a traditional player would be willing to underwrite. This is needed because someone needs to serve these customers. We differentiate ourselves from our peers through our product differentiation and our approach, which is from the customer angle, looking at their profile and asking ourselves what we need to do to get the relevant insurance to cover our clients’ flexible lifestyles. To cover this, you need to expand your product range and carrier list, which is time-consuming and costly. The next stage is to grow our business. Gig workers could work three jobs, each job with a very different risk profile, so it’s very hard to buy coverage to cover all three risks. Offering an on-demand, usage-based solution relevant to a variety of activities will help the insured and us understand the risks we are taking, rather than getting a surprise when the client claims for something that is obviously not covered by the policy. BEST MOMENT ‘What’s needed in the insurance space is a joined-up system that tracks every single transaction from every single source. That’s why Tapoly has gone from being a reach-out player offering micro-insurances to moving up the chain.’ ‘Our gig workers include either micro-business, sole traders or freelancers that are difficult to make a profit from but need insurance to cover core products like employer liabilities for businesses that everyone must have. There are also professional indemnity, public liability, and other add-ons that may be relevant to their business activity and risk profile.’ ‘I’m a first-time founder as well as being a female, and on top of that, I didn’t have much insurance experience when I started, and the profit margins are small on microinsurance products. A lot of investors would prefer to invest in a company with larger margins and at a more mature stage of development, still, we are hopeful that we can prove to them that we are one of the valuable platforms that they should invest in.’ ‘I chose my co-founder, Sam, based on three aspects: Skill to add value, work ethic, and his ability to financially support the business when needed. We both chose our team based on the talent that we know we needed, and individuals that we could coach and teach so they don’t pick up any bad habits. The experience was not necessary for us. An interest in the business and high work ethics were key.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Janthana Kaenprakhamroy is one of the Top 10 Insurtech Female Influencers as ranked by The Insurance Institute. Founder of Tapoly, the first on-demand insurance platform for the gig economy in Europe, as seen in the Top 100 European Fintech Awards 2017. Chartered accountant and former investment banking professional. Janathana was also one of the co-authors of the InsurTECH Book. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]