Zego has acquired telematics company Drivit for an undisclosed sum, enabling it to collect real-time driver behaviour data in-house.

The insurance company, which recently began rolling out its telematics-based policies to the market, says it is setting its sights on changing how commercial motor insurance policies are priced.

While most insurers traditionally price based on factors such as age and vehicle type, Zego says it is able to price policies based on traditional factors as well as data

By acquiring Drivit’s telematics technology, and by linking this up with its existing data sources, Zego believes it puts it in prime position to understand driver data and risk.

Sten Saar, CEO and Co-Founder of Zego, explained: “At Zego, we want to revolutionise the way that commercial motor insurance is priced, and I believe that this acquisition is an important step towards achieving this goal.

“Owning a market-leading telematics solution gives us the ability to not only collect real-time behavioural data, but also crucially to layer this information on top of our other existing data sources.

“A data-centric approach is key to Zego’s strategy going forward and the acquisition of a pioneering telematics company like Drivit will help us to lay the foundation for future innovation and disruption in the industry.”

The Drivit team, which has been a long-term partner to the insurance Zego, will be fully integrated, and its technology is already embedded into the Zego Sense app - the app-based telematics solution launched by Zego recently.

Gonçalo Farinha, co-founder of Drivit, said: “Drivit was created to untangle the constraints of existing telematics technologies, helping car insurers to develop a new breadth of products and services that use driving behaviour and contextual data to cater to the specific needs of each driver.

“We are embarking on this journey with Zego not only because its mission perfectly aligns with the role we envisioned for Drivit in the world, but also because it is uniquely positioned to dramatically accelerate this shared vision into becoming a reality.”