Short term car insurance Lenny has shut down

Seen first on Twitter and later validated via its site, London-based short term car insurance provider Lenny is shutting down.

The Grinch is sad to report the first COVID related demise of a U.K. insuretech. RIP @LennyApp

(Another Grinch exclusive)

— insurtechGrinch (@GrinchInsurtech) April 17, 2020

Established in 2018 and led by CEO Karin Nielsen, we first covered the launch of Lenny two months ago. Its car insurance product, underwritten by Covea Insurance, was available for purchase for as little as one hour and up to 28 days.

“Buying an hour of insurance on your mate’s car shouldn’t mean sitting on the phone for hours on end or filling out endless paperwork. We didn’t think it had to be that hard so we’ve built a pretty nifty insurance distribution platform with a 100% app based front end. Borrowing a friend or relative’s car has never been simpler. Get covered in under 3 minutes and hit the road.”

According to Nielsen, their backers are no longer in a position to provide them with the funding they need and with the Coronavirus outbreak so fresh they were forced to end their journey.

“It goes without saying that myself and the rest of the team at Lenny HQ are heartbroken about this. We have worked tirelessly to make the app what it is today and had bold plans for the future.” – CEO Karin Nielsen.