Transparency Updates: 30 August 2026

Bowtie Management Team

A Message to the Bowtie Community: The Key Strategy Behind Our Rapid Growth

At Bowtie, we believe in transparency, and that includes sharing the key driver behind our growth and numbers. Compared to traditional insurance companies, Bowtie operates a different customer acquisition and engagement model, focuses on different products, and has a different revenue model. We wish to share this context so you can have a clearer understanding of the insurance company you are choosing.

Since being authorized by the Insurance Authority in December 2018, we have rapidly scaled while keeping our initial purpose: To provide insurance protection to more people in more affordable means, and help close the insurance protection gap in Hong Kong. FY2025 and the months since have been the strongest stretch in our history, our growth demonstrates acceptance of this new operating model:

Insurance revenue: Our insurance revenue achieved rapid growth, increasing 125% year-on-year, from HK$227.0 million to HK$511.8 million¹.

Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR): Crossed US$100 million, with more net new ARR added in FY2025 alone than in our first five years combined.

Number of customers: Trusted by over 150,000 customers, roughly 1 in every 50 Hong Kong residents.

Total protection amount: Over HK$150 billion, up 25.5% year-on-year.

VHIS growth momentum: VHIS ARR grew 45% year-on-year, with over 50,000 in-force policies.

Efficiency: Achieving significant ARR growth while our cost to acquire a new policy stayed essentially flat.

Customer retention rate: Over 93%.

In the same spirit of transparency as last year, we are sharing the details behind our growth. We believe this is what a modern company should do to help our customers understand how we operate. These insights are published alongside our required annual Audited Financial Statements ('AFS') and Disclosure Statement.

Reasons Behind the Growth

VHIS ARR Growth: +45% year-on-year. This is driven by:

Continued pressure on public healthcare capacity, pushing more residents toward private medical protection.

Premium increases from other providers, making our offering more competitive by comparison.

Ongoing market consolidation, with leading players capturing a growing share of the market.

B2B ARR Growth: +226% year-on-year. This is driven by:

Strong demand from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a segment that has traditionally been underserved and is increasingly seeking more digital experiences.

Offering better employee benefits to support talent retention is becoming a market norm, fuelling further growth in this segment.

Protection, Not Just Premiums

When we book HK$1 in ARR, all of it reflects protection revenue. A customer paying for the service of financial safety, not a savings or investment product. That is a meaningfully different business than a traditional insurer whose revenue is often driven by Assets Under Management.

Put simply: the over HK$150 billion of protection we now provide is not an abstract number. There are tens of thousands of households and businesses that know a serious illness or accident will not mean financial ruin, and it is the reason we started Bowtie in the first place.

Our Financials in Context

Bowtie is a well-capitalized leader in digital health insurance.

Financially, we and our investors understand that building a new insurance company operating a new model requires an upfront investment. We are fortunate to have anchor shareholders who share our purpose and also believe that digital insurance can be a new sustainable model. From day 1, our goal has been to build a sustainable model that provides real differentiated value to our policyholders, while being financially sustainable so that continued investments can be made into our products, systems and services. A variety of metrics below demonstrate the economics of our business model:

Access to Capital

To date, we have raised over HK$1.2 billion from Sun Life Hong Kong Limited (‘Sun Life’) and Mitsui & Co. The Series C round of HK$546 million is the largest funding round for a direct-to-consumer digital health insurer in Asia.

Strong Unit Economics

We are careful to monitor marketing spending to ensure our growth is sustainable. We target a 2-4x Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratio. This means for every marketing dollar we spend to acquire a customer, we expect to earn HK$2 to HK$4 over their lifetime. Even as we achieved satisfying ARR year-on-year growth, our cost to acquire a new policy stayed essentially flat, which is a sign that our growth is becoming more efficient.

Solvency Ratios

As of July 2026, our estimated solvency ratio is well above 200%, and meets all the requirements of the Insurance Authority. This represents a strong capital foundation for Bowtie to invest into our people and technology to better serve our customers, and to fulfill our claim promises.

Our Commitment to Claims and Customer Value

Our business is built on trust. We believe in being transparent about our ability to pay claims, which is a key driver of our high customer retention.

Competitive Premiums: By removing sales commissions and streamlining our processes with modern technology, we can save our customers up to 40% on VHIS premiums².

The claim approval rate of our VHIS products is at 98%, demonstrating we have been a fair payer on legitimate claims. The remaining 2% are primarily due to health conditions and non-disclosures. Across all our products, we have processed over 210,000 claims, 99% of cases are picked up and assessed within 5 working days, and 95% are approved for settlement within the same timeframe³.

Retention Rate: Our 93%+ retention rate shows that customers are not just buying our policies, they are staying with us.

Key Performance Indicators as of 31 July 2026

ARR: Over US$100 million

Unit Economics: 2-4x CLV:CAC ratio

Retention Rate: >93%

Number of customers: Over 150,000

Claim Approvals: 218,914

Customer Satisfaction: 91%

Operational Efficiency: HK$800 million in protection per employee

Zero Commissions: We have zero sales commissions and zero surrender charges.

Our Vision for the Future

Bowtie is simultaneously achieving larger scale and faster growth, which validates our unique business model and reflects strong trust from the public in our commitment. We are a mission-driven insurer, leveraging technology to better serve customers with simple, transparent products in a friendly, digital setting. Going forward, Bowtie will continue to benefit from Sun Life’s strong capital base and shared purpose of helping clients live healthier lives. We are confident that our transparent, customer-first approach will drive both financial success and industry transformation.

Disclosure Archive

2025

Financial Statements

Disclosure Statement

2024

Financial Statements

Disclosure Statement

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Remarks

¹Insurance revenue is stated on the HKFRS 17 basis per our FY2025 Audited Financial Statements. It differs from the "gross premiums" figure in our Disclosure Statement, which is prepared under the Insurance (Valuation and Capital) Rules on a different basis and is not directly comparable.
²The premium comparison data above is based on market research conducted using publicly available information as of February 25, 2025. It covers similar VHIS plans at the Standard Room level that include "Supplementary Major Medical" and a "Room and Board" limit of HK$800 – HK$1,200, calculated based on the standard annual premium for a non-smoking male aged 30 to 55. Coverage scope and benefit limits vary among different medical insurance plans; please refer to the relevant policy documents and their terms and conditions for details.
³As of December 2025, the average claim approval rate for Bowtie's VHIS "Standard Plan," "Flexi Plan - Regular," "Flexi Plan - Plus," and Bowtie Pink was 98.0%.