Over two years ago, Alex Matjanec, a serial entrepreneur, turned his eyes toward the insurance industry and about 18 months later he started Wyshbox.
Wyshbox is the marketing name for Wysh Life and Health Insurance, which provides term life insurance for consumers with digital customized plans.
“I was excited about (insurance),” said Matjanec, the CEO of Wyshbox. “It reminds me of what fintech used to be. Insurtechs are solving accessibility and streamlining transactions.”
Matjanec said in researching the life insurance industry and product offerings, his team found that consumers have unique needs but that typically life insurance is sold as an income replacement.
“Need-based life insurance has been around for 100 years,” Matjanec said. “If you want to retire, etc., but no one was digitizing it or focused on customers’ unique needs.”
For example, areas like debt and mortgage protection are popular for life insurance policies and can help consumers but other things like making sure plants don’t die aren’t an offering in typical life insurance coverage.
“I would cover my plants,” Matjanec added. “I have a bonsai I’ve been cutting for years and I want it to live on.”
Wyshbox fills in this financial gap by providing consumers an opportunity to build ‘wyshes’ using its Wysh Builder tool. The policy is flexible and allows a policyholder to add and take away coverage as their ‘wyshes’ change.
While starting a company during a pandemic isn’t ideal, consumers seem more interested in life insurance policies, Matjanec said, adding that he wants Wyshbox to provide coverage for people in a different way.
“We are trying to tap into the underinsured audience that is the Millennial group, the consumers that carry debt, don’t have homes and believe that debt goes away when they die. We are trying to break through that,” he said. “We want insurance to be a utility to consumers and not just a set it and forget it.”
Wyshbox is available in nine states with plans to expand nationwide in 2022. Users can connect their bank accounts and reduce their insurance benefits automatically as they pay down mortgages and other debts.
"Our claims process is completely different," said April Troester, the head of the Wysh Granter Team in a press release. "We can work with your bank and lenders, and have partnerships to help make the process smooth and stress-free, which is what every family wants during a difficult time."
