Session #3 - Ed Leon Klinger: Risk, Reward, and Raising $38M

Meet Ed Leon Klinger the CEO at Flock.

Flock was born from a bold vision: to rewrite the rulebook on insurance. Co-founded in 2016 by Ed Leon Klinger and Antton Peña, the idea sprang from academic research at Cambridge and Imperial College. They recognised the rise of connected systems—drones, autonomous vehicles, commercial fleets—and saw a traditional insurance industry that wasn’t keeping pace. Their solution? A fully digital, data-driven insurance platform that prices risk in real time. It was radical. It was risky. And it worked.

Flock launched by serving one of the most complex sectors first: commercial drones. By using real-time data like weather, flight paths, and pilot behaviour, they offered on-demand insurance that reflected actual risk—not outdated assumptions. That early success quickly established Flock as a key player in UK drone insurance, but Ed saw a bigger opportunity.

He led Flock into the high-impact world of commercial motor fleets. Today, Flock is a fully digital insurance company on a mission to make the world quantifiably safer—and they’re delivering on that mission. With Flock, safer fleets pay less. Their connected insurance product actively incentivises good driving, creating a virtuous circle of safety and cost-efficiency. Hundreds of companies trust Flock to protect their vehicles and drivers.

That innovation and traction attracted major investment. Flock raised $17M in Series A funding from Social Capital and followed it up with a $38M Series B led by Octopus Ventures in 2023. They’ve also partnered with established giants like Allianz and Admiral—showing how a tech-native startup can collaborate with the old guard without compromising its mission.

Ed’s story is particularly inspiring for founders. He brings not only deep technical understanding—having studied Engineering, Economics and Management at Oxford (M.Eng) and Technology Policy at Cambridge (M.Phil)—but a rare clarity of purpose. While at Cambridge, he published on the risks and rewards of autonomous vehicles, and that systems-level thinking now underpins Flock’s data-driven approach.

Key takeaways for founders:

• Start narrow, scale with focus: Flock began with drones but scaled into fleets once they had proof and momentum.

• Use tech to drive impact: Real-time risk pricing turned insurance into a proactive tool, not just a reactive product.

• Mission > marketing: “Making the world quantifiably safer” isn’t just a tagline—it’s embedded in the product and pricing model.

• Partner smartly: Strategic alliances with legacy players can unlock scale, credibility, and regulation-readiness.

• Data is power: Safer drivers pay less. Better data means smarter pricing, happier customers, and scalable impact.