November 2006
The Validus concept conceived
We spotted flaws in the way claims were processed by insurers, and we believed an opportunity existed to reduce insurers' costs by analysing areas within the motor claims process that could be open to exploitation.
January 2007
Draft concepts sent to motor insurers to determine appetite
We received a positive response. It was clear a blank space in the marketplace existed. Nobody was doing this, and it seemed nobody had thought of it. It took nearly a year to map the process and create the software programme. We knew it had to be powerful.
June 2007
Start-up investment completed
We invested our own cash into the business from the outset. There was no external funding and all the investors played an active role in the business.
December 2007
Validus opens for business
We rented offices in Thorpe Road, Norwich, just across from the railway station, and opened our doors with 15 employees.
April 2008
First pilot
We agreed a pilot with our first client. (They remain with us as a client to this day.) Our first revenue cheque followed in June.
September 2008
Business growth
By September we were analysing nearly 900 claims a month, and that figure grew to 1,300 a month by the end of October. At the end of the year, we were up to 33 staff, 18 analysts and 15 support staff.
June 2009
Validus hits 50
June saw us handling over 3,000 claims a month for six insurers. Staff numbers grew to over 50 and our offices in Thorpe Road started to get a little cramped. We launched our Management, Analysis & Settlement service (MAS). We also gained our first self-insured client.
January 2010
New offices
We moved to purpose-built offices in Princes Street in the medieval heart of Norwich. Our headcount was 94.
March 2010
Broker Clients
With over 100 staff, we were working for two broker clients and four of the top five largest insurers. We started developing vCASE SaaS to compliment our managed services.
June 2010
20 Clients
Our client list grew to 20 Insurers. We developed AskLudo™, a collaborative tool designed to identify hire vehicles in multiple conflicting claims.
October 2010
£200m of claims settled
We reached the milestone of settling £200m of claims, delivering savings of over £40m to our clients. By this time, AskLudo™ had 20 subscribers and was nominated for the Insurance Times Fraud Initiative of the Year award.
July 2011
vCASE SaaS Launched
vCASE™ SaaS was launched to our first customer, providing their handlers with the same powerful technology used by our in-house Analysts.