Joanna England  sat down with McGriskin to discuss how Vitesse is revolutionizing insurtech, and the impact of instant payouts on customer experience.  

What was the driving force behind launching Vitesse, and what gap in the insurance payments ecosystem did you aim to address? Is there a story there? 

The original driving force behind Vitesse was a clear gap in the market that Paul Townsend and I recognised from our experience in global payments. Having founded Envoy Services, which we later sold to Worldpay, and being part of the executive team that scaled Worldpay into one of the world’s largest payment processors, we had deep insight into the inefficiencies of the global payments landscape. Despite the fintech revolution transforming many industries, insurance remained heavily reliant on outdated, manual processes, creating inefficiencies that directly impacted capital flow, liquidity, and claims payouts.

When we set out, our goal was to build a business payments service that could support multiple verticals where fintech solutions had yet to take hold. Insurance was one of those verticals. As we spent time with early customers and prospects in the industry, it became clear that payments were only part of the challenge. The real issue was the lack of real-time visibility and control over funds—insurers were operating in a fragmented system where capital sat idle in multiple accounts across different regions, creating inefficiencies in liquidity management.

That realisation shaped our direction. We saw an opportunity to redefine the entire financial infrastructure of insurance, not just by digitizing payments but by optimizing liquidity and improving capital efficiency at scale. Managing loss funds, treasury, and global cash flow efficiently became just as critical as making the payments themselves. We pivoted Vitesse to focus exclusively on insurance, recognising the sector’s complex regulatory environment, reliance on legacy systems, and need for real-time financial control.

Today, we’ve built an end-to-end financial infrastructure for insurance, providing real-time visibility, control, and efficiency across the entire claims funds value chain. By ensuring that capital is exactly where it needs to be—when it needs to be there—we are transforming how insurers manage liquidity, enabling them to process claims faster, optimise cash flow, and operate with greater financial intelligence.

Given the current market conditions, how challenging has it been to secure funding, and what strategies helped you attract investors? 

The funding landscape has become increasingly more selective, with investors prioritising profitability, scalability, and clear differentiation. Fortunately, Vitesse sits at the intersection of payments, treasury, insurance, and technology—a combination that offers a defensible competitive advantage and a critical financial infrastructure solution for insurers.

Our ability to secure investment, including our Series C round led by KKR, reflects the strength of our business model and the scale of the opportunity ahead. Investors are looking for businesses that not only drive financial performance but also reshape industries, and Vitesse is doing exactly that. We are delivering measurable value to insurers by optimizing capital, reducing costs, and improving financial control, in addition to ensuring real-time payouts. 

Our strategic partnership with Lloyd’s of London further highlights our position in the market, as we serve as the chosen treasury and payments infrastructure for the Lloyd’s ecosystem, we facilitate secure and efficient financial transactions for Lloyd’s syndicates, MGAs, and brokers. The network effect we’ve seen with Brit Insurance and Sedgwick is another indicator of our ability to scale: Brit adopted Vitesse, then introduced it to Sedgwick, which in turn brought in multiple carriers. This organic expansion reinforces our role as a network enabler, meaning once we enter a market, adoption accelerates naturally. 

Vitesse’s regulatory approvals in the UK (FCA), US (NYDFS), and EU (DNB) are an important part of our offering, since they give insurers confidence that their payments and liquidity are managed with the highest level of oversight. However, what truly differentiates Vitesse is how we integrate compliance with efficiency, such that insurers can meet regulatory requirements without operational friction.

Our expansion into high-value markets, particularly the US, was another key factor in securing funding. The US insurance market represents a massive opportunity, and as we scale in this environment, we are leading with treasury and liquidity optimization rather than just payments. By giving insurers real-time control over their loss funds, optimizing cash flow, and ensuring capital is allocated more efficiently, we are helping insurers move beyond transactional payments to a smarter financial model that strengthens their entire operation.

KKR’s deep expertise in insurance and financial infrastructure made them an ideal partner for our next stage of growth. Their team immediately recognised the opportunity in transforming insurance treasury and payments. Their network and portfolio align with our vision of redefining how insurers manage capital, making them the right partner as we continue to expand globally.

What are the most exciting trends shaping Insurtech today, and how do you see payments evolving within this space?

The insurance industry is undergoing a fundamental shift in how money moves. Payments are no longer a back-office function—they are becoming a core part of financial strategy that directly impacts efficiency, customer experience, and operational resilience. I am seeing three key trends that are shaping this evolution. 

First, customer expectations have changed. Insurers, TPAs, and brokers need seamless, transparent, and reliable financial operations. Claims payments must be made quickly, but speed alone isn’t enough—insurers also need greater control over liquidity and real-time reconciliation. This shift is evident in our own business: Vitesse has never lost a customer to a competitor, with a close to a 100% customer retention rate. In an industry where trust and execution matter, customer experience is now a key differentiator.

Second, payments don’t sit in a vacuum—they’re part of a bigger financial picture. Traditionally, payments in insurance operated in isolation, disconnected from treasury, compliance, and capital management. That model is changing. Insurers increasingly expect fully integrated financial operations where claims payments, claims and loss fund management, and real-time liquidity control work together in a single, intelligent system. The winners in this space won’t just move money faster—they will enable smarter financial decision-making by giving insurers complete visibility and control over their capital.

Finally, execution and reliability will define the leaders. Insurance is a high-stakes, highly regulated industry, where financial transactions must be both fast and precise. Trust isn’t built on technology alone—it comes from flawless execution, strong governance, and deep industry expertise. That’s why some of the biggest players in the market rely on Vitesse. Their decision to work with us isn’t just about payments—it’s about ensuring that funds are always where they need to be, when they need to be there, with full confidence in the process.

With increasing regulatory scrutiny on payments and financial transactions, how does Vitesse ensure compliance while maintaining efficiency and innovation? 

Regulatory compliance is at the heart of every financial decision insurers make, and at Vitesse, it’s a responsibility we take seriously. We have built compliance into every layer of our business—from how we develop our platform to how we train our teams—because when insurers trust us to manage and move hundreds of millions of dollars, that trust must be earned every day. Being a trusted custodian of our clients’ funds means leading the way in security, transparency, and financial integrity, and ensuring that every transaction is safeguarded within a fully regulated, controlled environment.

Our regulatory approvals in the UK (FCA), US (NYDFS), and EU (DNB) reinforce the trust that insurers, brokers, and TPAs place in us to handle their payments and liquidity with the highest level of oversight. But strong governance isn’t enough on its own—compliance must also enable efficiency and scale.  That’s why we’ve built real-time fund tracking, automated reconciliation, and audit-ready reporting directly into our platform, to allow insurers to operate with complete financial control while meeting regulatory requirements without friction.

This commitment goes beyond technology. Compliance is embedded in our company culture, shaping how we think, work, and deliver for our customers. Every member of our team, from product development to claims operations, understands that execution builds trust. We empower our people to think, act, and innovate within a regulatory-first mindset, to ensure that as the industry evolves, we’re always ahead of the curve.

What do you predict for the future of payments in the insurance sector, and how is Vitesse positioning itself for that future? 

The way money moves through the insurance value chain is evolving. Payments are becoming a strategic asset that impacts efficiency across carriers, brokers, TPAs, and policyholders. Insurers are recognizing that capital management plays a crucial role in strengthening financial performance, reducing friction, and improving customer outcomes.

As the industry shifts, financial connectivity across the insurance ecosystem is becoming a priority. Funds need to move smoothly between stakeholders, loss funds must be optimized and claims payments must be settled quickly without unnecessary delays. The demand for real-time visibility and better liquidity control is reshaping how insurers think about payments—not as a back-office function, but as a key part of their financial strategy.

Vitesse is leading this transformation by aligning payments and treasury with the way insurance operates. Our platform ensures that insurers, TPAs, and brokers can move funds with greater speed, control, and transparency. By removing inefficiencies and strengthening financial infrastructure, we are creating a system where capital flows efficiently, supporting a more connected and responsive insurance claims funds value chain.

Looking ahead, where do you see Vitesse in the next five years, and what’s the ultimate goal you hope to achieve with the company? 

Vitesse is building the financial infrastructure of the insurance industry, creating a world where insurers have complete control over how funds move through the value chain. Over the next five years, we see Vitesse becoming the trusted global standard for treasury and payments in insurance, powering seamless fund flows, optimizing liquidity, and strengthening financial resilience for insurers, TPAs, and brokers alike.

A major focus of this growth is expanding our presence in the US. The US insurance market is vast but highly fragmented, with outdated processes and legacy providers slowing down payments and restricting capital efficiency. We are bringing a modern, scalable alternative that gives insurers and their partners the ability to manage and move funds with greater precision, speed, and transparency. The momentum is already there, and as adoption grows, we are driving a fundamental shift in how the industry thinks about financial control.

Beyond the US, our goal is to establish Vitesse as the financial backbone of the insurance sector worldwide. We are creating a network effect, where more industry players connect through our platform, streamlining fund movement across borders and driving operational efficiency at scale. The focus goes beyond payment speed to transforming how insurers manage and optimise capital across the entire insurance ecosystem.

Vitesse was built to solve a problem that had gone unchallenged for too long. Over the next five years, we will continue to push the industry forward, to ensure that payments and treasury work together as an intelligent, connected system that empowers insurers to operate with greater financial strength and agility.