Luxury customers often lack proper protection against theft and loss, leading to hesitation in purchasing high-value items. Traditional insurance options are complex and detached from the luxury shopping experience. Franco-Swiss fintech GRACE eliminates this pain point by offering an automatic, complimentary protection service activated at purchase, allowing clients to wear their luxury pieces with peace of mind. This innovation transforms brand loyalty and customer care within the high-end market.
In a recent development, the startup has raised €5.9 million in seed funding to enhance its luxury-focused insurance technology. The round was led by FinTech Collective and Speedinvest, with participation from Firstminute Capital, Purple (Laurent Ritter’s fund), Kima Ventures, Bpifrance, as well as a16z and Sequoia through their Scout Programs, alongside strategic angel investors. The investment will be directed toward expanding its proprietary AI-driven insurance platform, scaling operations, and international growth. The company has not disclosed the valuation to TFN.
The fresh funding will allow GRACE to refine its AI-powered claims processing technology, enhance fraud detection, and expand its customer service capabilities. The company plans to protect over 200,000 luxury items by the end of 2025 in partnership with major luxury brands and a leading luxury group. GRACE also offers worldwide coverage for luxury goods in over 190 countries, ensuring peace of mind for frequent travelers and international buyers. Additionally, a strategic alliance with global insurer Chubb ensures seamless scalability and robust coverage worldwide.
The company shared exclusively with TFN, “The funding will help us scale our operations across Europe and strengthen our product and engineering teams. We’re focusing on expanding our tech infrastructure, launching new brand partnerships, and further developing our platform to support logistics, fraud detection, and loss claims automation.”
Founders’ expertise and leadership
GRACE was founded in 2022 in Paris by an accomplished founding team with deep expertise in luxury, fintech, and technology:
- Lou Dana: A graduate of École Polytechnique and HEC Paris Entrepreneurs, with a PhD in pharmacy. Dana started her career in biotech before merging her passion for luxury and technology. She leads GRACE’s luxury vision, commercial strategy, and brand positioning. She is the creator of France’s top luxury podcast @PodcastduLuxe.
- Quentin Roy: Also an École Polytechnique and HEC Paris Entrepreneurs graduate, Roy has a background in the Swiss special forces and international trade at the Swiss Consulate General in San Francisco. His fintech expertise drives GRACE’s global strategy and operations.
- Martin Lenweiter: Holding degrees in economics (University of St. Gallen) and computer science (EPFL), Lenweiter has fintech experience in the Netherlands. He leads the development of GRACE’s proprietary AI-driven technology, ensuring seamless integration with luxury brands.
How was the idea born?
The idea came after witnessing how frustratingly unprotected luxury purchases still are, especially when traveling or shopping abroad. There was clearly a massive gap between the service levels luxury brands promise and what happens post-purchase when something goes wrong. They created GRACE to bridge that gap, by embedding peace of mind directly into the product at the point of sale with no registration, no extra cost, and no friction.
GRACE is an embedded insurance infrastructure specifically built for luxury goods. AI-enhanced platform that’s able to resolve claims in days rather than weeks or months. Incident reporting takes under five minutes. Its stack includes instant product protection at checkout (API integration), a full-service dashboard for brands to manage covered assets, real-time claims handling & logistics coordination, and customer-facing experience with zero paperwork
“Unlike traditional insurers, we’re fully embedded, brand-funded, and focus on customer experience first. Our closest comparable in spirit might be Cover Genius or B2B2C insurtechs, but none of them focus exclusively on luxury with a white-glove, global-first model like GRACE,” shared the company with TFN.
Market expansion and future impact
The startup is poised for rapid growth, redefining luxury industry standards by embedding insurance as a core customer service offering. The fintech’s ability to enhance brand trust and drive sales through risk-free ownership aligns with the evolving expectations of luxury buyers. The company aims to cement its position as the industry standard, fostering deeper customer relationships and enabling luxury brands to differentiate through superior post-purchase care.
“Over the next few years, our ambition is to expand GRACE from embedded protection to a full suite of services around luxury ownership, including secure tracking, authentication, and secondary market access. We’re building the invisible infrastructure that powers peace of mind for collectors, brands, and buyers around the world, added the GRACE team.”
“The leaders in luxury immediately grasp the scope of our proposition,” explained Lou Dana, President of GRACE. “We’re not just offering protection: we’re reinventing the customer experience. It’s a win-win solution that fosters a deeper, more emotional connection between brands and their clients.”
Olga Shikhantsova, Partner at Speedinvest, said “GRACE has identified a significant gap in the luxury market and developed an innovative solution to address it. Lou, Quentin, and Martin’s deep understanding of both the luxury industry and the complexity of insurance is essential as they build a global product from day one. We’re beyond excited to support GRACE as they redefine luxury ownership and protection while setting a new standard of care between luxury brands and their clients.”
Toby Triebel, Partner at FinTech Collective, said “Since our first meeting with Lou, Quentin, and Martin, their creativity, poise, and tenacity have stood out to us – all essential ingredients to become a category defining partner to luxury goods companies. No insurance player has ever succeeded in creating an embedded product for this market with worldwide distribution capabilities, and we believe that GRACE is on a path to do just this.”
The post French podcaster Lou Dana raises €5.9M for GRACE to enable 5-minute incident reporting in luxury insurance appeared first on Tech Funding News.