Australian insurtech start-up, upcover, has announced the launch of its new insurance payments offering, providing flexible pay-per-month options for small and medium-enterprises (SMEs) and sole traders.

The new in-house offering eliminates the need for a third-party financial provider, streamlining the processes for upcover customers to access the insurance products that suit their needs.

“We’ve been working hard over the last eight months to build the tech required to implement monthly payment options in-house because we know this is important to our customers,” Anish Sinha, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of upcover, said.

“Alongside offering quick, jargon-free insurance, our top priorities at upcover are affordability and accessibility. We’re now enabling more SMEs and sole traders to access the insurance they need without being left out of pocket.

“We know that times are tough for all business owners right now, the last thing we want is someone not protecting themselves or their business because they can’t afford the annual insurance premiums upfront.”

The new payments options also remove the requirements for finance approvals, complex forms and redirections to third-party providers. The launch also comes after upcover’s recent $4.7 million seed round, which also included $2 million in debt financing from ethical lending financial services firm, Etika.

“We’re proud to be backing upcover and enabling the team to launch their monthly payment capabilities,” Raf Uy, Etika’s Global CFO, said.

“upcover’s approach to business insurance has always been customer focused and this latest launch highlights their commitment to ensuring SMEs and sole traders have a quick, easy, and streamlined business insurance experience.”