Inside Ominimo: The AI-Powered Insurtech That Went from Bootstrap to $220M in 12 Months

When Zurich Insurance Group announced its investment in a EU startup with Serbian roots that is redesigning car insurance, at a $220 million valuation, the reaction from many in the European tech world was a mix of curiosity and disbelief.

Who was this startup called Ominimo? How did they, in just one year, grow from bootstrapped zero to 300,000 policies sold and 7% market share in Hungary - one of Europe’s most traditional and low-margin insurance markets? And what made Zurich, a global giant, back them with both capital and operational partnership?

We sat down with Laslo Horvath, Co-founder and CTO of Ominimo, to ask those exact questions. What followed was a rare, behind-the-scenes look at how a group of McKinsey alumni, data scientists, and engineers quietly built a company that not only rethinks insurance, but may help rewire it for the next generation.

From Consulting Frustration to Reinvention

The idea for Ominimo wasn’t born in a garage or brainstormed over beer. It was forged in PowerPoint decks and corporate war rooms.

“Our founding team spent years building digital products for insurers across Europe,” Laslo tells us. “We kept finding massive opportunities - ways to use data more intelligently, to price risk better- but legacy systems and internal bureaucracy always got in the way.”

One project became a turning point. The team had identified clear paths to better risk selection and pricing, yet the insurer couldn’t implement them. Not because the strategy was flawed, but because their tech stack was. “We realized: if we want to do this right, we have to build it ourselves - from scratch.”

Laslo joined with one goal: turn that idea into a scalable, tech-first company. The result? A fully digital insurer built on a proprietary no-code/low-code platform designed for modularity, speed, and real-time adaptation.

Zurich Didn’t Buy the Pitch. They Bought the Proof.

When we ask Laslo why Zurich backed Ominimo, his answer is as no-nonsense as the company’s internal culture.

“Everyone in this space claims they’re doing things differently,” he says. “We just actually did it.”

Ominimo didn’t market itself with futuristic promises. It focused relentlessly on one thing: performance. Within 12 months, it had achieved what most insurtechs struggle to do in five - scale profitably. That combination of growth, margin discipline, and execution turned heads.

“Zurich wasn’t the only big name to approach us,” Laslo reveals. “But they were the ones who looked beyond surface-level metrics and understood the depth of our platform. They saw not just a company, but an engine.”

No Flash, Just Function

The secret to Ominimo’s rapid traction lies in an insight most tech founders might overlook: insurance is boring on purpose.

So, Ominimo focused where it mattered most - becoming the best offer at the point of sale. That meant better pricing models, cleaner execution, and a lean operational setup. No frills. Just results.

While other startups chased buzzwords and burned cash on branding, Ominimo doubled down on underwriting discipline and cost efficiency. “It wasn’t about raising eyebrows,” Laslo notes. “It was about being boring and brilliant, at the same time.”

Under the Hood: Mathletes, Machine Learning, and a Custom OS for Insurance

If there's a single area where Ominimo stands apart, it's in how deeply technical its DNA is.

Their pricing engine uses hundreds of variables and non-linear inference models, powered by a team that includes mathematics Olympiad medalists - a fact Laslo drops casually, almost reluctantly.

“We didn’t just buy some AI tool off the shelf. We built our entire platform from the ground up,” he explains. “That includes our pricing algorithms and even our core insurance system. Most insurers spend tens of millions buying vendor platforms that are rigid and slow. We chose the hard road - building our own.”

Why? Because flexibility is the real superpower. Every time Zurich or another partner wants to launch a new product, tweak a variable, or pivot to a new market, Ominimo can adapt in days, not quarters.

“This is what makes our model different,” Laslo says. “We’re not faster because we’re smarter. We’re faster because our tools don’t slow us down.”

No Middle Management, No Titles - Just Builders

One of the most surprising things about Ominimo’s culture is its rejection of traditional hierarchy.

“We focus on doers, not managers,” Laslo says. “I still write code every day. So does our CEO. We’re a flat org. If an intern challenges the CEO in front of the whole team and they’re right? Great. That’s how we grow.”

It’s an approach rooted in ownership and meritocracy. Titles mean little. Output means everything.

The model only works, Laslo adds, because they hire for autonomy and fire fast when politics or optics creep in. “You don’t get a free pass here. You earn your seat every day by doing real work.”

From Budapest to Berlin: What’s Next for Ominimo

With Zurich on board, Ominimo now plans to expand into 10+ markets, starting with Poland, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The initial focus remains on auto insurance, but property coverage is on the roadmap.

But Laslo isn’t in a rush to expand too fast. “We’ve seen the WeFox story. Growth without control kills companies. We’ll scale, but only with the same discipline we used in Hungary.”

Their partnership model also reflects that mindset. Zurich will act as the risk carrier; Ominimo, as the managing general agent (MGA). It’s a way to retain operational speed while leveraging Zurich’s balance sheet and reputation.

“It’s the best of both worlds,” Laslo says. “We get scale, they get innovation.”

Why Eastern Europe Could Be the Next Silicon Valley of Insurance

Laslo sees something bigger brewing beneath Ominimo’s success: a shift in where the world looks for innovation.

“Central and Eastern Europe is full of amazing technical talent,” he says. “But too often, they end up working for foreign companies remotely instead of building something new.”

The region lacks risk capital, role models, and startup infrastructure. But the talent is real - and Ominimo is quietly proving what’s possible when it’s given a mission.

What AI Can and Can’t Fix in Insurance

As for the future of AI in insurtech, Laslo is refreshingly grounded.

“We’ve seen the hype cycles,” he shrugs. “AI won’t revolutionize insurance. But it will make it smarter - through better pricing, automated claims, and faster customer service.”

The real challenge, he says, is embedding AI into real workflows not just using it as window dressing.

“It’s not about sounding clever in a pitch deck. It’s about making the business work better, day by day.”

Final Words: Advice from a Builder

When asked what advice he’d give his younger self, Laslo doesn’t hesitate.

“Don’t try to look impressive. Just do the work,” he says. “Learn how things really work. Get your hands dirty. Build something real.”

It’s the kind of advice that defines Ominimo. Quietly powerful. Deeply grounded. And, if their trajectory holds, likely to reshape the insurance landscape from behind the scenes, one boring, beautiful algorithm at a time.