Picnic secures NSW Government MVP grant to help protect local communities from the rising costs of insurance

Sydney-based Insurtech Picnic Labs has secured a grant from the New South Wales Government to support its mission to establish and operate customer-owned organisations that provide alternative insurance products.

Picnic was awarded the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) grant worth AUD$25,000 for its unique product offering and industry expertise. The grant will help the growth of its first customer-owned organisation, Our Ark Mutual.

“It’s fantastic to have the NSW Government support Picnic and Our Ark,” said Charles Pollack (pictured), CEO at Picnic.

“We want community-focused organisations to find the right protection at a fair price. Organisations should not just accept a price increase of their insurance when there is an alternative.”

Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney and Minister for Trade and Industry Stuart Ayres said MVP grants are open to startups with a technology focus which have scalable business models.

“MVP grants are about arming NSW-based entrepreneurs with early backing to get their startup ideas off the ground and help them to progress from product development to first sales and what we hope will be sustainable growth,” Minister Ayres said.

“It’s great to see businesses like Picnic Labs leverage the program to develop new opportunities like Our Ark, which will introduce more choice and in this case, help to deliver a saving to its customers.”

Our Ark provides risk protection products as an alternative to insurance for organisations connecting communities together. Customers include indigenous businesses, land councils, community groups, childcare providers, Churches, and faith-based organisations.

David Kernick, CEO of the Karuah Local Aboriginal Land Council in NSW said, “Normally we expect annual price increases for insurance. Yet, we have saved more than 20% compared to 2020 with Our Ark. Plus, we have broader protection, which gives us peace of mind.”

Picnic operates Our Ark on behalf of its growing customer base of community-focussed organisations across Australia, while continuing to work with a wide variety of industries, organisations, and associations across Australia to create insurance alternatives to meet their needs.