ottonova

ottonova is a direct-to-consumer private health insurance carrier licensed under BaFin (German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority), offering full and supplementary health insurance products to individuals in Germany. Founded in 2015 by Dr. med. Roman Rittweger, Sebastian Scheerer, and Frank Birzle, the company entered the German market as its first purely digital private health insurer, serving employees, self-employed individuals, students, civil servants, and expatriates.

The company operates through a mobile-first platform with app-based claims processing targeting a 2-day reimbursement turnaround, digital document management, and online physician consultations via TeleClinic integration. Its technical infrastructure runs on a microservices architecture using PHP, Golang, Node.js, PostgreSQL, AWS, and Kubernetes-compatible orchestration. ottonova publishes its technology stack publicly, a transparency measure unusual among European carriers.

In FY2025 ottonova reported EUR 54M in premium revenue, representing 41% year-over-year growth, with the insurance technical result approaching profitability. The company has raised EUR 159M across six funding rounds, with investors including Earlybird Venture Capital, Cadence Growth Capital, b2venture, and HV Capital. It has been named the private health insurer with the highest customer satisfaction in Germany four consecutive years in the KUBUS study (2019-2022).