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Munich, DE · 1 known investors
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Hakuna provides a platform that lets retailers offer customizable product protection plans to their customers, handling regulatory approval, contract management, policy documentation, and claims resolution (repair or replacement). It serves retail businesses across online and offline channels in Europe, generating commission revenue for partners.
Also known as hakuna · Hakuna · hakuna.
Founders & leadership
Investors · 1
How we know: Visionaries Club's portfolio page · the VCSheet dataset · Not right? Tell us
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Hakuna (hellohakuna.com) operates an embedded product protection platform for retailers. Merchants can configure protection programs by selecting protection types, term lengths and payment cycles, setting their own margin and final selling prices, and applying their own program name, messaging, brand colours and design. Hakuna takes on the regulated side of the program, including regulatory approval, contract management, policy creation and documentation, insurance administration (reporting, accounting and insurance tax settlement), policy updates, cancellations and renewals, and claims management. Merchant-facing documentation describes Hakuna as a licensed German insurance broker whose associated insurance partners are BaFin licensed.
Protection can be sold across channels: in physical retail locations, online stores, telesales, apps and email, both at the point of purchase and post-purchase for products a customer already owns. Coverage types referenced include accidental damage protection (covering accidental damage, theft and natural hazards) and extended warranties that continue material, design and production defect cover after the statutory two-year warranty. Plans are offered as fixed-term products or as annually renewing subscriptions, with a 14-day cancellation right after sign-up.
For end customers, Hakuna runs a paperless claims process through a claims chat or by email, commits to confirming within 24 hours whether a reported damage is covered, and follows a repair-first policy, replacing or reimbursing the product where repair is not possible. The company positions this as extending product lifecycles and reducing material demand and waste.
Founding story
According to a December 2021 German startup newsletter, Hakuna was founded in Munich by Sebastian Jost and Orhan Köroglu — previously founders of abracar — together with Rupert Mayer, to broker insurance by enabling merchants to offer product protection to their customers [6].
Business model
Hakuna acts as an intermediary between retailers, insurers and end customers: it supplies the technology and the regulated insurance infrastructure behind a merchant-branded protection program, while the merchant distributes the plans to its own customers and shares in the economics.
Protection plans are sold to end customers at prices set with the merchant's chosen margin; merchants earn recurring commission on each purchase or renewal and can collect claims payouts, with Hakuna's website providing a calculator to estimate additional monthly commission revenue [0].
Traction
The website displays partner logos and testimonials from named partner executives, including a reference to a product protection program built with Peloton in Europe, and cites merchant uses such as an online-store program scalable to post-purchase email campaigns [0].
Latest developments
Partner-facing service guidelines describing Hakuna as the official product protection partner and a licensed German insurance broker were last updated approximately one year before retrieval; the merchant API documentation reflects version 1.2 for the interface live after November 2022 [2][3].
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Positioned as an embedded insurance / product protection provider for European e-commerce and omnichannel retail, differentiating on merchant configurability, multi-channel and multi-country availability, and a fully digital claims experience [0][5].
Merchant control over plan terms, pricing, branding and design; availability across online, offline, telesales, app and email channels and at pre- and post-purchase stages; Europe-wide localization for 30+ countries with multi-country, multi-language and multi-currency support; assumption of regulatory approval and insurance administration on the merchant's behalf; and a paperless, repair-first claims process with a 24-hour coverage decision [0][1][3].
Technology
A REST API-based platform (Hakuna API, documented at v1.2 for versions live after November 2022) using JSON requests, HTTP verbs and bearer-token API keys managed in a Merchant Console. Core resources are Offers (real-time protection plan options with prices, term lengths, localized titles and marketing content for a product or product collection) and Orders (placement, fulfilment, cancellation, refunds and bulk order feeds). Alongside the API, Hakuna offers shop-system plug-ins, web-based tools and hosted checkout, plus a customer claims funnel and customer portal [0][2].
Go-to-market
Direct sales to retailers via demo bookings and a phone contact line, supported by integrations with leading e-commerce platforms (Shopify, Magento, Shopware, BigCommerce and others) that the company says enable go-live within days with minimal technical requirements. Hakuna also supplies partner enablement material: merchant guides, a resources portal with service guidelines, FAQ scripts and customer-support workflows, training materials and sessions for sales and support teams, and best-practice toolkits covering e-commerce UI/UX, offline sales collateral, sales-staff incentives, post-purchase email campaigns, landing pages and promotions [0][3][5].
Retail businesses of any size and industry selling online or offline in Europe, and their end consumers who buy protection for purchased products [0][5].
Geography
Headquartered in Munich, Germany, with a German-language phone contact line; protection is offered Europe-wide with localization for more than 30 countries. Offers default to the German market (country code "de") in the API. An EU-Startups directory entry lists the company under Germany with Berlin as its base [0][2][5][6].
History
Hakuna was covered as a new startup in December 2021 and is listed with a 2021 founding year. EU-Startups' article index references a September 21, 2022 report that Munich-based Hakuna secured €4 million for its embedded insurance solution, and the company's API documentation covers versions live after November 2022 [2][5][6].
Compiled by commissioned research from 7 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 3
launches, deals, and filingsA testimonial on Hakuna's website from a Peloton senior manager describes a product protection program created together with Hakuna for Peloton in Europe.
Hakuna's public API reference documents version 1.2 of its REST API for offers and orders, stating the documentation refers to the API live after November 2022.
An EU-Startups article index entry dated September 21, 2022 reports that Munich-based Hakuna locked in €4 million for its embedded insurance solution.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 7
primary sources listed
- Hellohakunahellohakuna.com · web
7 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Hellohakuna do?
- Hakuna is a Munich-based insurtech platform that lets European retailers sell embedded product protection plans and extended warranties.
- Who founded Hellohakuna?
- Hellohakuna was founded by Sebastian Jost.
- Who are Hellohakuna's investors?
- Hellohakuna's investors include Visionaries Club.
- Where is Hellohakuna headquartered?
- Hellohakuna is headquartered in Munich, DE.