Twin brothers and co-founders Oliver and Alexander Kent-Braham are now behind a multi-billion-dollar company alongside David Goaté.
As AFROTECH™ previously told you, the siblings founded U.K. -based digital car insurance startup Marshmallow to combat “unfair insurance prices” for migrants.
“We now help 100,000s of UK newcomers get a fairer deal on their car insurance every year. We do this by building our own technology, developing pricing and fraud models that let us cater to their unique experiences, and investing time in getting to know them on a deeper level,” a statement on the company’s website reads.
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According to TechCrunch, Marshmallow made history in 2021 as one of two Black-founded startups in the U.K. to reach a $1 billion valuation. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the company raised $85 million in a Series B funding round with investors that included Passion Capital, Monzo, Investec, and Scor.
Latest Round
Fast forward to 2025, the startup has raised an additional $90 million in a funding round led by Portage, through its Portage Capital Solutions strategy. BlackRock and Columbia Lake Partners also participated in the round. This brings the company’s valuation to over $2 billion, TechCrunch reports.
“This is a very strong founding team,” Devon Kirk, GP and co-head of Portage Capital Solutions, told TechCrunch. “We think that financial services benefits from different perspectives and leaders coming up with innovative solutions to address those needs.”
The outlet reports Oliver, who serves as CEO, shared that the funding will help the company offer its first lending product in late 2025. It will also help Marshmallow become a “one-stop shop” for all things related to finance and insurance that one moving to the country might need.
“Our ambition is to build a suite of financial products to help millions of people move to and live in new countries. We’ve raised capital at a >$2bn valuation to help us do that,” Oliver wrote on LinkedIn. “Since we last raised we have grown our top line ~3x – surpassing $500m run-rate turnover, added 500+ new colleagues, and turned profitable. Huge amount of thanks goes out to the whole team who have worked tirelessly to get us to where we are today.”
