Kota raises $14.5m in funding to grow business
Irish-founded
insurance
benefits platform
Kota
, formerly known as
Yonder
, has raised $14.5 million (€12.8 million) in funding to bring globally accessible and frictionless employment benefits for employees
That brings the total funding raised by the company to $22.9 million over three rounds.
The new Series A round was led by Eurazeo, with existing investors EQT Ventures, Northzone and Frontline Ventures taking part. New investors 9Yards and Plug and Play also contributed to the round.
'Kota really stood out to us,' said Eurazeo's Elise Stern. 'With a tech-first approach, they've built a robust technical and financial infrastructure: deep integrations with insurers across dozens of countries, visibility across the benefits stack, and a seamless API that allows partners – from HRIS to payroll – to embed benefits natively.'
READ MORE
Kota will use the funding to expand its reach into more markets, increase the variety of insurance carrier partners in its products, and also grow its team.
'We're pretty ambitious. Our team is mainly made-up of engineers and specialists in things like some insurance and compliance. So we're doubling down there,' said CEO Luke Mackey.
'Where we invested a lot is making sure that we built the best engineering and product teams, best integrations teams and building great relationships with insurance companies. We have a small sales team in Dublin, we've expanded that team into the UK now. We have offices in Dublin and London, and we're hiring.'
Kota is aiming to simplify health and pension benefits for global businesses and employees.
'Europe is exceptionally complex when it comes to insurance and that obviously feeds into benefits and the providers remain very fragmented country to country,' Mr Mackey said.
'The regulators are different. That just creates a lot of complexity, creates a lot of costs. That means that brokers are still the route into [the] market for small companies.
'What we're trying to do is build that underlying infrastructure, bring the insurance companies more online and make them easy and accessible in a very user-friendly way.'
The company has also obtained its Central Bank of Ireland authorisation, with Mr Mackey saying it allowed the company to scale outside of Ireland, and passport across 30 European countries.
The company is also expecting a boost from pension autoenrolment, which is due to begin next year.
Founded in 2022 by Mr Mackey, chief technology officer Patrick O'Boyle and director of engineering Deepak Baliga, Kota began offering its services in 2023, and has since facilitated access to employee benefits for hundreds of small and medium sized companies.
'We're at a critically low level of housing stock' for buyers and renters
Listen |
33:06
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
43 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Flutter weighs Illinois tax impact
Paddy Power owner Flutter is weighing how it will react to a betting tax imposed by state legislators in Illinois in the US. The US state's budget includes a 25 cents tax on every individual bet taken up to the first 20 million wagers, and 50 cents each past that point. Dublin-based Flutter's biggest subsidiary is Fanduel in the US, which has been expanding as individual states legalise sports betting. Speaking after its annual general meeting in Dublin on Thursday, Peter Jackson, chief executive, said that it would 'figure out' how to react and whether to pass the charge on to customers. READ MORE He noted that betting was not the only industry affected. Analysts speculate that it could cost Flutter tens of millions of dollars. Maryland is increasing its betting tax to 20 per cent from 15 per cent this month while other states are also considering raising their levies. The company moved its primary listing to the New York Stock Exchange last year, exiting the Dublin Euronext market at the same time. Mr Jackson said that the group was very pleased with the outcome despite reports that the volatility sparked by president Donald Trump's frequent policy shifts had put some investors off the US market. He added that there had been a 'step up' in liquidity there. Mr Jackson did not comment on the Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission's recent announcement that it had begun an investigation of the betting industry. That move included dawn raids on business offices by commission staff, accompanied by Gardaí. Flutter last month cautioned that a run of sports results favouring customers could affect US profits this year. Mr Jackson stressed that Flutter was comfortable with the odds it offered customers, which ultimately determine its risk. 'We're very confident in our pricing,' he said. Flutter has businesses in the Republic, UK, Europe, the Americas and Australia.
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Rapist who threatened three Sunday World journalists jailed for 11 years
A convicted rapist who threatened and harassed three female Sunday World journalists has been jailed for 11 years. Mark McAnaw (53) refused to enter a bond before a sitting of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court which would have suspended the final 12 months of the 11-year sentence imposed for the harassment of Nicola Tallant, Amanda Brunker and Deirdre Reynolds. After Judge Pauline Codd had outlined the conditions attached to the suspended portion of the sentence on Thursday, McAnaw's counsel Rebecca Smith said her client did not wish to enter the bond as he found the conditions 'onerous'. As a result, the judge imposed the full 11-year sentence. Judge Codd also ordered that McAnaw should have no contact either directly or indirectly with the women, should not approach them, go within 10 miles of their homes and workplaces or communicate with them for life. READ MORE McAnaw, previously of Letterkenny, Co Donegal, pleaded guilty to the harassment of the three women on various dates in August 2023. The court heard McAnaw repeatedly sent them emails and messages of a violent and sexually threatening nature, which escalated to him threatening to put a 'bullet' in one of them. He also referred to himself as an 'IRA Top Boy'. He also turned up at the offices of the Sunday World on Talbot Street in Dublin and, when refused entry, he went to a cafe across the road. When gardaí approached him there, McAnaw was in the process of writing an email to Ms Tallant. McAnaw is detained in the Central Mental Hospital (CMH). McAnaw does not accept his diagnosis of schizophrenia and has declined to take medication, the court was told. His previous convictions include the rape of a foreign student in Donegal in October 2010, for which he was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2012. McAnaw also has a 1989 conviction for kidnapping and convictions for assaults causing actual bodily harm from a court in Northern Ireland in 2011. He also has a conviction for aggravated assault after attacking a woman in her home in April 2018, for which he received a sentence of eight years and four months in June 2023. This sentence was backdated to 2018 when he went into custody, with the final 16 months suspended for 16 years on strict conditions. McAnaw was released from custody on this sentence in July 2023 – one month before the harassment of the three journalists took place. Ms Smith said her client instructs that he found it difficult to abide by the conditions attached to the suspended portion of the sentence imposed in 2023. A handwritten letter from McAnaw was also handed to the court, which Judge Codd described as 'concerning'. Judge Codd outlined a global sentence of 11 years, with the final 12 months to be suspended on strict conditions for five years. These included that McAnaw remain under probation supervision for five years, comply with his medical regime, refrain from the use of illicit substances and make available any internet-enabled devices when requested by gardaí. The judge backdated the sentence to August 2023, when McAnaw went into custody. Ms Brunker and Ms Reynolds were present in court when the sentence was imposed. Judge Codd commended the three women for their resilience and courage throughout the process and wished them well for the future.
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Who is Emeis and where are their Irish care homes located?
Emeis is a French nursing home group formerly known as Orpea. It entered the Irish market in 2020 through the takeover of the TLC Nursing Home portfolio and followed up with further deals. A review of all nursing homes operated by Emeis Ireland has now been requested by the Department of Health . Minister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility for Older People Kieran O'Donnell has asked the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) to start the review of all nursing homes operated by the group in the wake of Wednesday's RTÉ Investigates programme. Emeis Ireland runs 27 residential homes across the State, two of which were the subject of the broadcast, which detailed alleged elder abuse and neglect , scenes described by HIQA as 'wholly unacceptable and shocking'. READ MORE Who is Emeis? The nursing home group entered the Irish market in 2020 through the takeover of the TLC Nursing Home portfolio and followed up with further deals. It reported a €70.2 million net loss in 2023, according to its latest annual financial statement, filed with the Companies Registration Office (CRO) in December 2024. That brought its accumulated losses over three years to more than €223 million. Emeis Ireland, the largest private operator in the sector, attributed most of the losses to the writing down of goodwill associated with peak-of-market acquisitions. Still, the company remained profitable at earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) level throughout the period. This was helped by the fact that, unlike several operators that entered the market in recent times, it owns most of its properties. Its French parent required a bailout in 2023, led by a state-owned investment firm, in the wake of a scandal over residents' mistreatment in its home market. 'The directors' primary concern is with the health and safety of the group's residents and our employees,' Emeis said in the annual financial statement 'The directors closely monitor and assess the ongoing risks to the health and safety of all residents and employees and develop responses accordingly.'
