The venture capital arm of a Bermudian-based company has led a $15 million Series A funding round by the fintech company Inclined Technologies Inc.

Inclined said it aims to democratise a $150 billion market by helping consumers to significantly enhance the value of their life insurance policies.

HSCM Ventures is the venture capital arm of Hudson Structured Capital Management Ltd doing its re/insurance business as HSCM Bermuda, which is a registered investment adviser focused on alternative investments in the re/insurance and transportation sectors.

The funding round included participation from Anthemis Group as well as several new and existing investors.

Inclined said there is approximately $150 billion borrowed against whole life policies today in ways that are inefficient, resulting in suboptimal compounding of the cash value and ultimate death benefit of these policies.

The company said it helps policyholders realise more value out of their whole life investment by giving them quick and efficient access to the equity they have built in their whole life policy.

Inclined’s initial focus is to work with whole life advisers to offer policyholders a secured, revolving line of credit collateralised by the cash value in their whole life policy, within a fully automated experience.

The Inclined line of credit can be drawn or paid back iteratively at the convenience of the borrower. The borrower never pays any fees on the Inclined platform, and the process of applying for a loan takes less than 15 minutes.

Through its proprietary technology platform, Inclined said, it manages customer acquisition and enables a network of banks to originate the lines as a turnkey line of business.

Inclined handles all requirements around policy assignment and perfection of the collateral to the bank, while continuing to service the lines.

Inclined said it partners with a network of financial institutions who are attracted to the quality of the asset, the demographics of the borrower, and the opportunity to be part of the value enhancement to their policy and overall financial picture.

Vikas Singhal, partner at HSCM Ventures, will be joining the Inclined board of directors.

He said: “We strongly believe in the Inclined mission and are excited to partner with the team.

“Inclined is engaging carriers, policyholders and lenders in a very aligned and coordinated manner and we see policy loan refinancing as just the beginning of what can be unlocked through those integrated relationships.”