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Apr 10, 2023 · 16m · top-founders

How SafetyWing Doubled ARR to $24m and Closed Series B at $195m Post Money Valuation

Sondre Rasch · 8m spoken Nathan Latka · 5m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this interview, Nathan Latka sits down with SafetyWing co-founder and CEO Sondre Rasch to discuss building a global, borderless social safety net for remote workers and digital nomads. Rasch shares insights on product evolution, surviving pandemic disruptions, scaling ARR to $24 million, and completing a disciplined $35 million Series B funding round.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 37.4% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 4.6 Guest teaching 3.8 Guest disagreement 1.4 Nathan pushing back 3.2
05100:0010:001:32–5:02 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Origins of SafetyWing and Global Labor Infrastructure Latka explores how Rasch transitioned from Superside to SafetyWing. Rasch explains the structural gap in cross-border labor infrastructure based on his background with the Norwegian social safety net.5:02–8:31 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 International Healthcare Economics and Claims User Experience Latka pushes hard on the practical friction of reimbursement, questioning whether users actually bother submitting minor receipts. Rasch clarifies international medical provider network economics and notes that insurance fundamentally protects against catastrophic multi-thousand-dollar liabilities.8:32–11:09 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Revenue Growth, Active Policies, and Pandemic Market Dynamics Latka does quick mental math on 25,000 policyholders at forty-five dollars a month, leading Rasch to reveal their higher-tier enterprise health product that doubles their revenue run rate to twenty-four million dollars.11:10–14:08 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Revenue Milestones and Future Product Roadmap Latka drills into valuation multiples and dilution during the 2022 Series B raise, prompting Rasch to share exclusive metrics including their one hundred ninety-five million dollar post-money valuation in a plunging venture market.14:08–15:27 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Team Composition and Educational Company Resources Latka wraps up with rapid-fire questions covering team composition, engineering headcount, and the standard Famous Five closing segment.1:32–5:02 · Guest teaching 4/10 Origins of SafetyWing and Global Labor Infrastructure Latka explores how Rasch transitioned from Superside to SafetyWing. Rasch explains the structural gap in cross-border labor infrastructure based on his background with the Norwegian social safety net.5:02–8:31 · Guest teaching 6/10 International Healthcare Economics and Claims User Experience Latka pushes hard on the practical friction of reimbursement, questioning whether users actually bother submitting minor receipts. Rasch clarifies international medical provider network economics and notes that insurance fundamentally protects against catastrophic multi-thousand-dollar liabilities.8:32–11:09 · Guest teaching 5/10 Revenue Growth, Active Policies, and Pandemic Market Dynamics Latka does quick mental math on 25,000 policyholders at forty-five dollars a month, leading Rasch to reveal their higher-tier enterprise health product that doubles their revenue run rate to twenty-four million dollars.11:10–14:08 · Guest teaching 3/10 Revenue Milestones and Future Product Roadmap Latka drills into valuation multiples and dilution during the 2022 Series B raise, prompting Rasch to share exclusive metrics including their one hundred ninety-five million dollar post-money valuation in a plunging venture market.14:08–15:27 · Guest teaching 1/10 Team Composition and Educational Company Resources Latka wraps up with rapid-fire questions covering team composition, engineering headcount, and the standard Famous Five closing segment.1:32–5:02 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Origins of SafetyWing and Global Labor Infrastructure Latka explores how Rasch transitioned from Superside to SafetyWing. Rasch explains the structural gap in cross-border labor infrastructure based on his background with the Norwegian social safety net.5:02–8:31 · Guest disagreement 3/10 International Healthcare Economics and Claims User Experience Latka pushes hard on the practical friction of reimbursement, questioning whether users actually bother submitting minor receipts. Rasch clarifies international medical provider network economics and notes that insurance fundamentally protects against catastrophic multi-thousand-dollar liabilities.8:32–11:09 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Revenue Growth, Active Policies, and Pandemic Market Dynamics Latka does quick mental math on 25,000 policyholders at forty-five dollars a month, leading Rasch to reveal their higher-tier enterprise health product that doubles their revenue run rate to twenty-four million dollars.11:10–14:08 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Revenue Milestones and Future Product Roadmap Latka drills into valuation multiples and dilution during the 2022 Series B raise, prompting Rasch to share exclusive metrics including their one hundred ninety-five million dollar post-money valuation in a plunging venture market.14:08–15:27 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Team Composition and Educational Company Resources Latka wraps up with rapid-fire questions covering team composition, engineering headcount, and the standard Famous Five closing segment.1:32–5:02 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Origins of SafetyWing and Global Labor Infrastructure Latka explores how Rasch transitioned from Superside to SafetyWing. Rasch explains the structural gap in cross-border labor infrastructure based on his background with the Norwegian social safety net.5:02–8:31 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 International Healthcare Economics and Claims User Experience Latka pushes hard on the practical friction of reimbursement, questioning whether users actually bother submitting minor receipts. Rasch clarifies international medical provider network economics and notes that insurance fundamentally protects against catastrophic multi-thousand-dollar liabilities.8:32–11:09 · Nathan pushing back 4/10 Revenue Growth, Active Policies, and Pandemic Market Dynamics Latka does quick mental math on 25,000 policyholders at forty-five dollars a month, leading Rasch to reveal their higher-tier enterprise health product that doubles their revenue run rate to twenty-four million dollars.11:10–14:08 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Revenue Milestones and Future Product Roadmap Latka drills into valuation multiples and dilution during the 2022 Series B raise, prompting Rasch to share exclusive metrics including their one hundred ninety-five million dollar post-money valuation in a plunging venture market.14:08–15:27 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Team Composition and Educational Company Resources Latka wraps up with rapid-fire questions covering team composition, engineering headcount, and the standard Famous Five closing segment.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 61.8% · guest 38.2%0:00 · Nathan 61.8% · guest 38.2%3:00 · Nathan 17% · guest 83%3:00 · Nathan 17% · guest 83%6:00 · Nathan 28.9% · guest 71.1%6:00 · Nathan 28.9% · guest 71.1%9:00 · Nathan 31.9% · guest 68.1%9:00 · Nathan 31.9% · guest 68.1%12:00 · Nathan 36.3% · guest 63.7%12:00 · Nathan 36.3% · guest 63.7%15:00 · Nathan 74.4% · guest 25.6%15:00 · Nathan 74.4% · guest 25.6%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 7:20 Rasch rejects premise of insurance being measured by $50 reimbursements

Rasch directly pushes back against Latka's skeptical scenario, pointing out that insurance value lies in mitigating catastrophic five-figure bills and evacuations rather than minor receipt claims.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 6:58 Latka challenges user friction in filing medical receipts

Latka refuses the clean UX narrative, bluntly asserting that nobody wants to waste time submitting receipts for small claims and pressing for exact volume processed.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 5:19 Rasch explains international provider network pricing disparity

Rasch educates Latka on why global insurance can be priced at $45 a month, highlighting how US medical provider networks artificially inflate baseline costs compared to international systems.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 9:26 Latka checks unit economics and calculates run rate on the fly

Latka immediately calculates that 25k users at $45/month only equals $1.1M/month, compelling Rasch to acknowledge their higher-priced enterprise tier and double the implied revenue figure.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Origins of SafetyWing and Global Labor Infrastructure 4412 Latka explores how Rasch transitioned from Superside to SafetyWing. Rasch explains the structural gap in cross-border labor infrastructure based on his background with the Norwegian social safety net.
International Healthcare Economics and Claims User Experience 5636 Latka pushes hard on the practical friction of reimbursement, questioning whether users actually bother submitting minor receipts. Rasch clarifies international medical provider network economics and notes that insurance fundamentally protects against catastrophic multi-thousand-dollar liabilities.
Revenue Growth, Active Policies, and Pandemic Market Dynamics 6524 Latka does quick mental math on 25,000 policyholders at forty-five dollars a month, leading Rasch to reveal their higher-tier enterprise health product that doubles their revenue run rate to twenty-four million dollars.
Revenue Milestones and Future Product Roadmap 6313 Latka drills into valuation multiples and dilution during the 2022 Series B raise, prompting Rasch to share exclusive metrics including their one hundred ninety-five million dollar post-money valuation in a plunging venture market.
Team Composition and Educational Company Resources 2101 Latka wraps up with rapid-fire questions covering team composition, engineering headcount, and the standard Famous Five closing segment.

Statements from this episode (11)

Insight
Rasch: Traditional local social safety nets fail cross-border remote workers
“The Internet labor market, like. You know, it's global, goes across borders, but all the infrastructure that supports the labor market, it kind of works as if it's local. And so a lot of the infrastructure does, just doesn't work, right? So it's like, if you'r…”
Sondre Rasch Apr 10, 2023 ▶ 2:17
Assertion Supported
SafetyWing launched B2B insurance dashboard in 2020 after 100 inbound requests
“A lot of companies reached out and said, Hey, this nomad thing, the global health insurance, that looks cool. I want to buy that for my global team. And then we said, after we got that request a hundred times, we said we got to build it. So we made a dashboard…”
Sondre Rasch Apr 10, 2023 ▶ 4:39
Insight
Rasch: US medical provider networks drive the majority of health insurance costs
“The medical provider networks in the US charge a very high price and internationally medical provider networks have chart have no price, but it's like a majority of the cost of insurance.”
Sondre Rasch Apr 10, 2023 ▶ 5:45
Disclosure
SafetyWing is developing a direct-payment card for medical purchases
“We are making later this year hopefully we'll be ready, something called like a save to win card so that you can pay then at the point of purchase with the save to win card. So even if you're not referred there by us you don't have to pay out of pocket”
Sondre Rasch Apr 10, 2023 ▶ 8:13
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SafetyWing counts approximately 25,000 active policies per month
“Active policies like last month is I thought 25,000.”
Sondre Rasch Apr 10, 2023 ▶ 8:58
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SafetyWing generates roughly $2 million in monthly revenue
“Like twice as much. Yeah.”
Sondre Rasch Apr 10, 2023 ▶ 9:52
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SafetyWing doubled its revenue in 2022 compared to 2021
“We've doubled. There's a 2022 versus 21. I looked it up the other day.”
Sondre Rasch Apr 10, 2023 ▶ 10:02
Assertion Not checkable as stated
SafetyWing grew 3x in five months after introducing COVID-19 coverage
“First, it was very bad because a third of our customers evacuated and we lost them. So how a huge drop. And then, but then come August in 20, 20, we had this massive growth three X in five months. Due to introducing COVID coverage”
Sondre Rasch Apr 10, 2023 ▶ 10:32
Assertion Supported
SafetyWing crossed $1 million in revenue in its first year
“We launched in 2018. So, 2017 was just when I started tinkering with that idea. 2018 was when we launched. It was about a year, a little over a year, yeah.”
Sondre Rasch Apr 10, 2023 ▶ 11:16
Disclosure
Rasch: SafetyWing has raised a total of $53 million in capital
“We have raised, so we've raised a total of fifty three million dollars, actually quite a bit through a series run, so we raised, we did Y Combinator in 2018, seed run three and a half, 2019 in 2020 series A eight million, and now in 2020 series B thirty five m…”
Sondre Rasch Apr 10, 2023 ▶ 12:22
Disclosure
Rasch: SafetyWing closed its Series B at a $195M post-money valuation
“I think the like post when valuation was like one 95.”
Sondre Rasch Apr 10, 2023 ▶ 13:00
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