InsurTech 2050 | Mihkel Mandre, Lyfery

The goal of the InsurTech 2050 Interview Series is to create a platform where InsurTech founders, CEOs, and top insurance regulators and policymakers share their journeys and insights.

This series aims to:

• Inspire and support fellow founders and regulators/policymakers.
• Foster closer collaboration and understanding between these two groups.
• Provide thoughtful, in-depth discussions on the future of insurance and its biggest challenges.

Today, I´m speaking with Mihkel Mandre from Lyfery about innovation in life insurance.

Thank you for being part of InsurTech 2050 interview series, Mihkel! Let’s start with your elevator pitch: What does your company do?

Lyfery provides health behavior and prevention-driven life insurance, combining financial protection with life enhancement.

We offer term life and disability insurance supported by a unique 360-degree scoring model covering all key lifestyle categories. Our pay-as-you-live pricing rewards positive health behaviors with lower premiums. Additionally, we provide wellness services such as health audits, coaching, and educational insights to raise awareness of the benefits of healthy habits—all backed by scientific research.

One can save up to twice as much compared to competitors—amounting to thousands, or even tens of thousands, of euros over the full policy term—while transforming healthy behaviors into lower life insurance costs.

Our partnership with Vienna Insurance Group, as our risk carrier, is tailored to fully support Lyfery’s digital-first business model. Since launch, we’ve built an initial customer base and established innovative distribution partnerships, including B2B2C digital collaborations, B2C digital sales, and ambassador/influencer channels.

Tell me about your personal journey into InsurTech.

I have been in the life insurance industry for over 25 years and believe that true innovation comes from connecting industries in new ways, reimagining business models, creating impactful and unique value, and building a strong founding team with a shared long-term vision. This is the foundation for why and how Lyfery was created.

Coming from Estonia, one of the most digitally advanced societies, and with extensive experience driving innovation, shaping strategies, upgrading insurance product portfolios, and leading cross-border teams at a market-leading bancassurance company, I felt corporate tiredness and an internal drive to create a bigger change.

Life insurance, with its long and impactful history, holds immense potential to improve lives, societies, and the environment. People need better tools to live healthier lives and to understand how their behaviors influence their well-being and the world around them. This reflects the true essence of life insurance: connecting everyday well-being with financial protection in innovative ways and shifting the focus from traditional financial protection to a greater emphasis on prevention. 

You’ve transitioned from the corporate world to founding a startup. How challenging has this transformation been, and what stands out as the biggest difference from your previous C-suite life?

Both of these roles have their obvious benefits and disadvantages. It’s easy to see the advantages of corporate life over an insurtech founder’s life, such as financial stability, steady income, better work-life balance, access to various support and resources etc. However, I missed the freedom, actual growth opportunities, the chance to create real impact, and the passion that comes with building something meaningful. 

The biggest challenge is taking the first step—letting go—and acknowledging that it’s a relentless, long-term effort. Staying committed. It’s an ultramarathon, not a sprint, filled with major and significant risks and challenges, including financial and mental struggles. Nothing comes easy, and we all know that the majority of new business ideas won’t survive.

Let’s delve into your business model. What problem does your company solve in the insurance space, and what makes your approach unique?

At Lyfery, we address the issue of often high life insurance premiums and standard products that don’t take people's positive health behaviors into account, even though they help reduce risks. Traditional life insurance focuses only on financial benefits when risks occur, while we offer lower premiums for people who live and value a balanced, healthy lifestyle. In various smaller markets, there’s little competition, and banks and bancassurance model often control the market.  

What makes us different is that we consider various lifestyle factors and health behaviors, supported by scientific expertise. This allows us to provide more affordable, personalized life insurance that rewards healthy living through better pricing, related health and wellness services, and insights. We create value by being both cost-effective (through our digital business model) and aiming for some risk selection impact in the longer run by targeting people who prioritize health. By doing so, we also contribute to the greater common good and the sustainability of our societies because, as they say, 'health is our new wealth”.

Who are your primary customers or ideal personas? Through which channels do you approach them, and how do you deliver value to them?

Life insurance is essential for those responsible for others' well-being and whose obligations exceed their savings and assets. In Estonia, for example, about 150,000 life insurance policies are active, covering nearly a quarter of the working-age population. For example according to Swedbank's 2024 financial health survey, 41% of Estonians have at least three months of income saved, while 14% have no financial buffer.  Financial security in Estonia is limited, and life insurance could be more accessible, affordable and meaningful. 

Example: If your financial obligations are €200,000 and savings are €50,000, a recommended insurance amount would be €150,000. 

Since our launch from 04/2024, we have reached our initial customer base and established innovative, non-traditional distribution partnerships, including B2B2C digital collaborations, B2C digital sales, and ambassador/influencer channels. 

Your business model relies heavily on data and prevention. While this allows for precise risk assessments and individualized pricing, it can sometimes conflict with the principle of mutualization (risk pooling). How do you address this in your business, and what is your perspective on the broader societal implications of data-driven models in insurance?

We will offer an attractive base price for our product, with the option for customers to participate in a scoring model. We can then calculate a wellness score and better pricing, but they can also choose not to share data or answer questions, forfeiting the additional benefits. This mutually beneficial approach is designed for those who want to participate, and we expect most of our target clients will. 

The health dividend rate is valid for one year and assessed annually. If the necessary data isn't provided, the assessment is skipped, and the discount won't apply. The model will be continuously updated, with future plans to include more comparisons, insights and recommendations. Unforeseeable risks will remain in our lives and these risks need to be mitigated. As we gain more insights, including into behavioral factors, it’s fair for companies to define pricing and services based on these risks. There should also be more products and services that encourage risk reduction. Currently, many life insurance products are "one-size-fits-all" (mainly age-based). 

You’re currently raising funds. How is that process going, and what are the main challenges? What advice would you give to other founders who are raising funds in a similar phase?

1. Build and maintain strong resilience. Be prepared to lower your quality of life and income, and ensure you have reserves or some alternative income streams.
2. Earn trust by being honest and accessible. Develop long-term connections and stay focused on the bigger picture. Fundraising isn’t easy, and there are no guarantees—it takes time. While positive funding news may appear occasionally, most early-stage startups struggle with funding, and many don’t survive. This struggle often goes unnoticed.
3. Strong lead investors are valuable. In our case, we began with two angel investors and had quite a challenging situation. Once we secured two strong lead investors, the next 10+ angels followed quickly. Regularly updating your investors is crucial to maintaining their confidence and support.

I try to follow the same principles myself. We’re currently in our second financing round. While we have some initial commitments, our total funding remains limited. This means keeping costs low while still proving ourselves with very limited resources. It’s a tough journey, but we remain optimistic and aim to succeed. As the saying goes, “Per aspera ad astra”—through hardships to the stars.

What are the main barriers currently holding back innovation in insurance?

The main challenges include low risk tolerance, limited focus on innovation, and weak leadership to drive meaningful change. Many organizations stay in their comfort zones, lacking clear priorities or urgency to innovate. When market pressure or competition is minimal, it ultimately harms clients.

In larger companies, internal priorities—such as cost-cutting, risk avoidance, or focusing on other areas—often take precedence. The fear of making mistakes further discourages experimentation.

Successful innovation requires full organizational ongoing support. Innovation requires a culture, not just a project. It must be in the organization’s mindset, supported by leadership, and embraced across all teams to truly succeed.  Top management must lead by example; it cannot simply be delegated to an “innovation unit” or added as an “extra target” in someone’s annual goals. All departments must work together. For instance, even if business development proposes excellent ideas, progress will stall if compliance, risks, IT etc are not aligned. Without collaboration and shared goals, innovation cannot thrive.

Additionally, extensive regulatory barriers and a complex set of internal and external rules create significant obstacles to driving change.

Your company operates under the IDD as a regulated insurance agent. What has been your experience with insurance regulation? Are your challenges primarily related to domestic or EU-level regulations?

We have not faced any major difficulties.

Do you feel regulatory frameworks are keeping pace with InsurTech innovation? If not, what specific changes would you recommend?

We have faced one major limitation related to differing regulatory interpretations across countries regarding whether and when the concept of “freedom to provide services” can be applied versus when “branch establishment” rules apply. This has restricted our partner choices in the past and, in my opinion, does not support innovation or market development. (In Estonia)  

How do you stay updated on evolving regulations, and what challenges do you face in this area?

We follow regulations and are members of the Finance Estonia organization.

Looking ahead, what do you think insurance will look like in 2050? How will technology, customer needs, and regulations evolve?

Insurance has deep roots and provides fundamental value. By offering financial security, it empowers individuals and businesses to take risks and invest, supporting economic development. Insurance acts as a cornerstone for improving lives and the world around us. At its core, the insurance sector is built on sound and solid risk management. Historically, the industry has shown remarkable resilience through crises, wars, and catastrophes. For example, during the 2008–2009 financial crisis, while several banks required substantial public bailouts, the insurance sector performed exceptionally well with minimal public support. This provides a very solid foundation, but I would like to see the industry's relevance grow even further in the following areas:

1. Helping to manage the biggest global risks. For example, the Global Risk Report 2024 shows that 50% of the top risks in the next decade are climate-related. Reinsurance provides strong financial support to handle major disasters, and new solutions can be developed to further increase this capacity. The insurance industry also has extensive knowledge and expertise in risk assessment and modeling. There is significant potential to build stronger partnerships between the private and public sectors across geographies to better address climate and environmental risks.
2. Shifting from protection to prevention and rethinking life insurance. Instead of just providing financial help after an event, life insurance can focus much more on prevention. This could include tools such as health tracking, lifestyle programs, dynamic pricing, knowledge and insights sharing, wellness support, and more. By leveraging technology and data, insurers can create personalized solutions to help people live healthier and longer lives.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned as an InsurTech founder so far?

I believe we have made numerous mistakes and learned valuable lessons, and we will likely continue to do so. This includes underestimating the complexity of sales without the advantages of large brands and corporate support, genuinely and deeply understanding all relevant client insights, moving and experimenting too slowly, and having too few people with real startup experience, among other things.

What’s one mistake you’ve made that others can learn from?

Speed and commitment are crucial, and it’s important to form a team where members share comparable risks and interests. There’s a significant difference in performance between a startup managed by fully committed people and a mixed solution, where several key roles can only contribute limited time and resources. Obviously, funding and people’s ability to take risks impact real-life choices, so finding the balance between the optimal setup and reality is not easy.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone starting or considering an InsurTech company, what would it be?

Think through all the scenarios and consider that it’s likely to be an even tougher journey than you can imagine. However, the world and the insurance industry need people who are ready to take on these challenges. Therefore, I have great respect for all founders and risk-takers out there.  

Mental health is an important topic. How do you ensure mental well-being and manage work-life balance as a founder?

I believe that drive comes from internal strength, and people who are determined enough can achieve great things. Of course, building balance and having support are crucial. From that perspective, I must say that my biggest investors, coaches, and advisors are the people at home—my family—and my debt to them in various forms has significantly increased over the last few years. Hopefully, I’ll be able to balance this in the future. 

To wrap up, please share one concrete ask for the audience. Whether you’re looking for a new CTO, raising an investment round, or reaching out to regulators—this is your opportunity to make your request.

Since our launch, Lyfery has reached its initial customer base in Estonia and established innovative, non-traditional distribution partnerships, including B2B2C digital collaborations, B2C digital sales, and ambassador/influencer channels. Before the product launch, we successfully completed a limited pre-seed funding round and are proud to be backed by Tenity VC and 17 angel investors.

Our achievements include recognition as a Latitude Top 10 Startup, EBAN Top 50, Best Startup by Impact Valley Accelerator, and winning the Insurance Award of the Year 2024 in Estonia. We are now planning to expand into larger markets in Central and Eastern Europe, aiming to shift the traditional focus of life insurance from financial protection to a greater emphasis on prevention.

We are currently in the second round of financing. To bring our plans and vision to life, we need capital. With a solid strategy to deliver greater value to our clients and drive meaningful innovation in the life insurance sector, we’re ready to take the next step. While innovation in this space is rare, we’ve already shown strong resilience in overcoming numerous challenges.

Thank you!