FUTURE AMERICAS A carefully curated list of rising insurtechs driving innovation across insurance - Insurtech Insights
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
FUTURE AMERICAS A carefully curated list of rising insurtechs driving innovation across insurance Insurtech Insights Future 50 1
In partnership with JobsOhio FUTURE AMERICAS A carefully curated list of rising insurtechs driving innovation across insurance 2
CONTENTS T H A N K YO U 4 F O R E W O R D BY S Ø N R 5 HOW WE CHOOSE OUR WINNERS 6 O U R J U D G I N G PA N E L 7 1 N AY YA H E A LT H 8 27 SOFÍA 47 2 AG E N T S Y N C 12 = 2 8 C I R C U LO H E A LT H 48 3 J O OYC A R 14 = 2 8 E V O LU T I O N I Q 49 4 POLICYME 16 =30 BRELLA 50 5 SAMI 18 =30 HUCKLEBERRY 52 6 ROZIE AI 20 32 S AYATA L A B S 53 7 SAFEKEEP 22 33 WESTHILL 54 8 THIMBLE 24 34 TENSORFLIGHT 55 9 INSPEKT LABS 26 35 BRIZA 56 10 COWBELL CYBER 28 36 F LY R E E L 57 37 T H E C L I M AT E S E R V I C E 58 A WORD FROM JOBSOHIO 30 38 AV I N E W 59 =39 ZEGURO 60 11 FORESIGHT 31 = 3 9 S A LT Y 61 12 RESILIENCE 32 41 THE DEMEX GROUP 62 = 1 3 I A N AC A R E 33 42 INSURIFY 63 =13 SAIVE 34 43 BRANCH INSURANCE 64 15 UNUM ID 35 44 VERIKAI 65 = 1 6 B E T T E R F LY 36 45 T R U S T L AY E R 66 =16 CLAIM GENIUS 37 =46 HIGH DEFINITION VEHICLE 18 N E P T U N E F LO O D 38 INSURANCE 67 19 THINKSEG 39 =46 DIGISURE 68 =20 FENRIS 40 48 N U R A LO G I X 68 =20 LEDGER INVESTING 41 49 SPROUTT INSURANCE 70 22 B OX X I N S U R A N C E 42 50 W E L LT H 71 23 INSHUR 43 24 Z E S T Y. A I 44 C O N TAC T 7 6 25 EDGYBEES 45 26 H E A LT H [ AT ] S C A L E T E C H N O LO G I E S 46 2 Insurtech Insights Future 50 3
T H A N K YO U TO O U R F O R E WO R D FUTURE50 WINNERS Since launching Insurtech Insights in 2018, We’re about to see more changing in the next 5 to 10 years than anything we’ve witnessed in the past few the startups and scaleups reshaping insurance, and intelligence on how other insurers are innovating. our vision has always been to surface exciting, hundred. And that leads me nicely on to the Future50 series. talented insurtechs who are reimagining the The plot twist is this change won’t be coming from the insurtechs. It will be coming from a mix of I truly believe there has never been a more critical time to track and monitor emergent startup activity future of insurance. BigTech, retail and reinsurers. It’s these new entrants who will start to own the customer relationships, across the world. The Future50 Americas has been carefully curated from tens of thousands of candidate fundamentally re-architect the product of ‘protection’ startups, with input and critical analysis from some Nothing could epitomise that vision better than the Insurtech Insights’s global network and mission to and move incumbents into a back-office function. of the most experienced and influential names in winners of our first Future50. This book is a showcase provide actionable insights makes us the number the industry. of the most innovative examples on the market one catalyst for innovation in the insurance industry. So what of the insurtechs? at the moment. In this edition, we are focusing on We are already excited to be researching the Naturally as the market evolves at such a pace, the Americas, but we will soon be announcing our Future50 Europe. Who knows what the landscape Well, they may well hold the key to ensuring there will already be updates to these companies winners in Europe and Asia, too. will look like then. incumbent insurers remain relevant and competitive. by the time you’re reading this. As such we’ve Big insurers recognise the need to innovate. And yet collated the 50 into a Watchlist which you can We were blown away by the wealth of insurtechs We will be integrating the Future50 initiative as most still struggle to step out of incrementalism when access and subscribe to within Sønr: sonr.global/ to choose from. Thousands were nominated, and part of our events in Europe, US and Asia as they it comes to transformation or innovation activities. future50americas. If you have any questions on the whittling them down wasn’t easy. It was only natural start to return in 2022 – so look out for them there. What’s become clear is the most effective and rapid companies selected or would like to subscribe to that we partnered with Sønr – the world’s leading I personally look forward to seeing you at one of route to innovation is through Open Innovation by Sønr, please do get in touch. market intelligence platform for the insurance sector our next events, too. partnerships with innovative startups. – to rank our Future50. The first big thanks must go Best regards, to them. Thank you for your continued support. Why try to build in-house when a) you’re not set up for it and b) there is already an insurtech in-market Matt We are also indebted to our panel of industry-leading Kristoffer perfectly aligned to your strategy? Plus, depending judges, all of whom have been so generous with on the stage of the startup, there’s a very good Matt Connolly their time and expertise. There is more on who our Kristoffer Lundberg chance it’ll already have product-market fit and be Founder and CEO at Sønr judges are and how they rated each company on the CEO of Insurtech Insights looking to partner with an incumbent. sonr.global following pages. On each of our winners’ pages are insurtechinsights.com also selected notes from our judges. At Sønr we’ve built a business to help insurance companies discover and create new business This book shows how fertile the insurtech industry opportunities. It is, by now, the world’s number one is, and how much change is currently going on in insurtech scouting and open innovation management, insurance. We think these companies will shape the used by some of the best known insurers globally insurance landscape for a long time to come. To help including Allianz, Bupa, Munich Re and Tokio Marine. you make sense of the winners, we have dived into their backgrounds and spoken to their founders. Sønr tracks millions of companies around the world and provides insight on the latest market trends, 4 Insurtech Insights Future 50 5
HOW WE CHOOSE OUR WINNERS O U R J U D G I N G PA N E L We thought we’d share some of the methodology for The Sønr Index evaluates millions of data points N AT H A N S H A N AG H Y EDDIE AHMED selecting the Future50 Americas. across the following criteria: Chief Operating Officer Chairman, President and CEO • People: The key people across the business, AON UK MassMutual International Who is included? taking in factors such as where they have studied, their past involvement with startups or notable companies, their known network, B E N LU C K E T T J OA N N E S A F O As we were keen to feature the emergent innovation Chief Innovation Officer Global Chief Innovation Officer coming out of the Americas, we limited our selection and whether they are considered experts in their field. Aviva Digital Partners at Munich Re (Group) to those that met all of the following three criteria: • A head office in either North or South America, • Product: Including the core tech stack of with a founded date within the past 10 years the business, patents they have registered, FRANK DESVIGNES PAU L T Y L E R • If the company has raised venture capital then the customer problem they have overcome Global Head of Open Innovation Chief Marketing Officer their latest investment stage must be no later and any exceptional tech or experience they have AXA Next Nassau Financial Group than Series A at the time of judging created. • They have not been acquired or are a publicly • Performance: Growth metrics such as downloads, listed company partnership, investments and traction. And other INJI CHARKANI FRANK EIJSINK attributes including financials, market sizing and Chief Innovation Officer President and CEO performance traction to date. AXA Partners NN Life Japan How did we collect data? This allowed us to refine the list down to To make this the most credible insurtech ranking 100 companies. DR. ALEXANDER W I L L P R I TC H E T T globally, we needed to start our research with BOCKELMANN Group CIO the most credible data in the market. Royal London Group Whose opinion did we seek? Group Chief Transformation Officer Baloise And for that, there is only one company – Sønr Global. We then assembled a group of world class industry M A S A S H I N A M ATA M E experts to act as judges and made sure each startup MARK GLENN Group Chief Digital Officer, Sønr is the world’s number one startup scouting and was critically evaluated and scored by at least four Global Chief Transformation Officer Managing Executive Officer, open innovation management platform designed independent experts. Bupa Tokio Marine Holdings specifically for insurance. It tracks more than two million companies globally and has clients across Ultimately this provided us with a ranked top 50. DAV I D P R I E S T LY the Americas using it to source new opportunities R YA N K I M Chief Digital Officer for growth and innovation. And finally... Group Chief Digital Officer Vitality FWD Working with Sønr we were able to evaluate Ranking the Future50 Americas was a process that M AG DA R A M A DA thousands upon thousands of insurtechs across took months to complete and the final 50 were STEPHEN RHEE the Americas. selected on 1 June 2021. Undoubtedly, by the Chief Digital Officer SARASOLA PhD time you read the final report, a number of these Gallagher InsurTech Innovation Leader (EMEA) How did we rank them? companies will have already raised a Series B or Willis Tower Watson have been acquired. S T E V E N Z UA N E L L A Once we had compiled a longlist of potential We’re okay with that. We see it as a validation of the Group Chief Digital Officer STEN SAAR companies, we scored them using the Sønr Index Chief Executive Officer – a technology developed by Sønr which scores quality we’ve selected! Generali Zego startups on their propensity to succeed. To make sure you’re included in the Future50 Amerias 2022 or have any questions on the MORGAN SPILLANE methodology please contact future50@sonr.global. IT & Change Mgmt Director Legal & General 6 Insurtech Insights Future 50 7
Founded in 2019, Nayya is a software TOTAL DIS CLO S E D F U N D I N G $13.7m* and data infrastructure company focused on decision support and engagement for LO C AT I O N New York, USA employee benefits. FOUNDER It offers tailored guidance on selecting different Sina Chehrazi, health insurance options, HSA/401(K) education, Akash Magoon and finding cost-effective healthcare. Nayya states it uses over three billion external data points, including around 200 million rows of claims data, and thousands of data integrations to simplify the customer journey for employees choosing and using a personalised benefits plan. Its employee engagement product tracks spending to guide consumers when filing claims, manage spending accounts, and helps users find the best prescription locations. Nayya’s customers and partners include Guardian Life, Unum and American Public Life, and it has alliances with seven of the 15 largest national benefit firms in the US, including Acrisure and NFP. It reaches tens of millions of people through its various partners and integrations, FUTURE50 and, since 2020, has tripled its team size. SCORE: Nayya raised $11m (£7.8m) in Series A funding in January 2021 led by Felicis Ventures, with other participating investors including Guardian Life and Unum Group. In Q1 2021, Nayya achieved its strongest quarter to date, tripling its recurring revenues in three months. *Total disclosed funding following Series B: $50.7m Pictured: Sina Chehrazi 8 Insurtech Insights Future 50 9
FOUNDER Q&A “Get comfortable with the unknown and don’t worry about the noise. As a founder and CEO, you will always be forced to make a decision without fully understanding what may come next.” Why is now an exciting time to be The funding also represents a shift in the entire Name one mistake that you have What problem did you see in the a rising insurtech? ecosystem. The future of insurance started 15 months made, and what you learned from it? market that led you to create Nayya? ago in Covid and will continue for four to five years. It’s such an exciting time to be a rising insurtech It will be a painful shift towards the consumerisation As a CEO, you need to make sure that you are open Beyond just the natural confusion and stress that because the stakes have never been higher – of insurance. It will affect brands and how they are to feedback and to different perspectives. At the comes along with choosing your benefits during open and what I mean by that is, we have the ability to created, products and how they are constructed – end of the day, it means that you aren’t just asking enrollment, the financial burden associated with our solve real problems that everyday Americans face we will sit between you as the consumer and the for feedback but are willing to take the time to healthcare is just mind boggling. With over 600,000 when it comes to their healthcare and benefits. insurance world and make it less painful. absorb it. A huge part of our success at Nayya is our Americans filing for bankruptcy every year due to commitment to feedback as a company, embracing it, medical bills, we knew there was an obvious problem so we can continue to execute on diversity of thought and we wanted to solve it immediately. That’s what What has been the highlight of your If you could meet yourself on the to achieve our goals. led to the creation of Nayya and what is driving our career to date? day you started your business, efforts moving forward. At the end of every quarter I ask the entire company what would you tell yourself? to share feedback on the work that I am doing. We just raised a $37m (£26.6m) series B round, co-led by ICONIQ Growth and SVB Capital. While it was Get comfortable with the unknown and don’t worry What should I start doing? What should I stop doing? How will the product evolve What should I continue doing? I literally post extremely satisfying to be able to raise such a round about the noise. As a founder and CEO, you will everyone’s feedback on me to the whole company. from here? with these types of leading investors, I’d say that always be forced to make a decision without fully The mentality culturally here is that everyone the highlight of my career has been working with so understanding what may come next. And at the including me is a masterpiece in progress and At Nayya our northstar is, and always will be, the many talented people here at Nayya. Our success same time, you need to remain focused on the through open discussion through what is working consumer – and that guiding principle will lead our is a testament not only to our commitment to growth task at hand. Building a company is hard enough, we can all improve. product innovation efforts. Our mission at Nayya is but in driving innovation forward on behalf of the but remaining comfortable and focused is key to to give all consumers financial peace on their best consumer. being successful. I got feedback early on about the sales process. days, and confidence on their worst. But our vision Sometimes you spend so much time recruiting sales is to make sure that everyone’s healthcare is simple, This series B funding will help us to mobilise. Most I hope in 10 years time I can look back on now people that are “full stack” – when you treat them personalised and stress-free. And we will continue people when they see our product their response is and say “We built a great place to work”. If Nayya just as salespeople they are perceived only as to evolve and enhance our product to improve the something synonymous with “Wow”. That’s because continues at this rate of growth it will be a very big salespeople. Sometimes what they need is space. healthcare experience and journey for everyone. our close to 70 customers and counting think of company. If you don’t build a great place to work, One thing I love, if you work in business development Nayya as the best kept secret in the world. would it have been worth it? I would like for our at Nayya, people don’t see you as a salesperson, The secret is becoming less of a secret, and the legacy to be that this is a place that people came, they see you as a consultant. funding was a reaction of people who saw what was spend a chapter of their careers and were motivated going on and said “How can that still be a secret?”. to overcome challenges and move onto bigger and better things. We are doing a good job so far. But it is always a work in progress. 10 Insurtech Insights Future 50 11
FOUNDER Q&A “Never underestimate, or be intimidated by, the complexity of the industry.” Why is now an exciting time to be What has been the highlight of your Founded in 2018, AgentSync provides a TOTA L D I S C LO S E D F U N D I N G a rising insurtech? career to date? $36.1m digital platform to contract and onboard At AgentSync, we believe that technology will Niji: In 2018, I decided to take the leap to found new insurance agents for agencies, LO C AT I O N enable scaled innovation across a massive, AgentSync, which was a fairly radical departure carriers and managing general agents Colorado, USA fragmented industry. We’re tackling one segment of the industry – the broker ecosystem – enabling from my prior roles in Sales Operations. Making this massive life decision is a highlight Jenn and the seamless adoption of modern systems that I share as we made the decision together over (MGAs). FOUNDER enable interconnectivity, increase efficiency, dinner in the kitchen that became AgentSync’s remove barriers to entry for newcomers and first office. Niranjan Sabharwal, unlock growth for incumbents. AgentSync integrates directly with the National Jenn Knight Insurance as an industry is over 300 years old, If you could meet yourself on the day you started your business, what would you tell yourself? Insurance Producer Registry as well as Salesforce, which drastically reduces the amount of time spent and the massive US insurance market is valued onboarding new agents as well as centralising data at over $1.32tr (£950bn). The insurance industry Jenn: Never underestimate, or be intimidated by, and submissions for licensing. has remained much the same for decades and is the complexity of the industry. The most fun build deeply fragmented and entrenched in antiquated is the one you didn’t think could possibly happen. They have a monthly subscription model, with clients systems, manual processes, and mind-boggling including Hippo, Lemonade, The Zebra as well as complexities. The task of delivering an insurance Niji: Hire more engineers. corporates such as Centene. product is rife with dozens of steps which, with the existing systems and processes, require tedious Name one mistake that you have AgentSync has seen significant growth in recent manual management. Every step of the process years. The founders say their revenue grew six- is slow-moving, manually handled and prone to made, and what you learned from it. fold in 2020, and ten-fold in 2019. The venture also human error which can lead to lost revenue and At the beginning we over-indexed on “exciting” multiplied their valuation 10 times to $220m (£155m) pose compliance risks. in the space of eight months: raising a $25m (£17.6m) automation, which overlooked some very Series A round in March 2021, less than a year real considerations our customers have when Recently, insurtechs have focused on truly solving after raising a ‘Seed-Extension’ of $6.7m (£4.7m) in determining how to move forward with agent insurance problems and have gained enough December 2020 and a $4.4m (£3.1m) seed round onboarding at scale. While we know that traction to make real change, to raise the bar. in August 2020. automation has a role to play, we had to take a Systems have never been more integrated and FUTURE50 step back and map out a more practical approach have never been more connected. SCORE: for reducing manual touches while preserving the need for strong oversight in the flow. It was AgentSync is one piece of this broader evolution. a powerful reminder that in order to truly solve We’re modernising one very specific, very the customer’s problem, you have to deeply antiquated piece of the insurance process: understand where they are today. how brokers and insurers connect. Pictured: Niranjan Sabharwal, Jenn Knight 12 Insurtech Insights Future 50 13
FOUNDER Q&A “Every time that we chose the secure and comfortable path, we should have turned instead to the bold and transformative option.” Why is now an exciting time to be Founded in 2014, Jooycar has developed TOTA L D I S C LO S E D F U N D I N G turned instead to the bold and transformative option. When we follow the path of innovation $3.9m a rising insurtech? a B2B2C connected car platform, offering Insurtech companies are delivering growth and we succeed. customised insurance services for both LO C AT I O N innovation into the industry. Moreover, they are What problem did you see in the personal and commercial lines customers. Santiago, Chile redefining the role that insurance plays in society. market that led you to create By changing the playing field from risk transfer Jooycar? FOUNDER to risk prevention, insurtechs,in collaboration with incumbents, are making the world safer It’s a telematics-based offering – comprising device and app, enabling them to offer both pay-per-mile Maria Gillet, and expanding insurance coverage to Our founders, Maria Paz Gillet and Emilio Figueroa, identified a market inefficiency in that and behaviour-based policies. Emilio Figueroa underserved segments. two out of three safe auto insurance customers overpay and subsidize one-third of risky drivers. The device and app also provide information on We are excited to be a rising insurtech within the Therefore a usage-based insurance platform could maintenance needs as well as proactive guidance automotive insurance industry, improving driving provide access to better prices, more transparency on how to improve driving style. Jooycar has also behaviour, reducing CO2 footprint, and providing and trust by changing the paradigm of the developed a fleet-focused offering, Fleetr, designed access to new options for insurance. traditional way of pricing auto insurance products. for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) It would also provide access to insurance to safe with light-vehicle fleets. drivers who could not afford it before. What has been the highlight of your At time of publication, they have processed over 63.5m miles, and insured over 17.5m trips. Jooycar career to date? As we grew, with HCS capital as our strategic investors, we discovered that small fleet owners has partnerships with multiple insurers, including are another underserved segment that is often Consorcio, Quálitas, and Sura. The Chilean insurtech The most important achievement in my career has been the execution of a bold strategy at Jooycar, overcharged for auto insurance due to losses of has also expanded to Mexico and Peru, and launched leading to 300% growth per year, expansion of our the larger fleet segment. in the United States in 2021. footprint to four countries and the development of a top notch and diverse management team. How will the product evolve If you could meet yourself on the from here? day you started your business, The product will evolve to provide tools and FUTURE50 what would you tell yourself? incentives for personal drivers and fleet owners to SCORE: reduce their total cost of ownership and increase Keep believing in people and maintain a passion safety. We will use rewards and scoring to report for winning and scaling a business. on drivers’ behaviours and suggest ways to improve it. In addition, we are moving to offer more products and services to drivers and fleet owners, Name one mistake that you have such as re-sale data, insurance payback and auto- made, and what you learned from it. parts discounts. Looking back, every time that we chose the Pictured: Maria Gillet, Rodrigo Labbe, secure and comfortable path we should have Emilio Figueroa 14 Insurtech Insights Future 50 15
FOUNDER Q&A “It’s important to get something out there for your users to test and give you feedback on.” Why is now an exciting time to be Name one mistake that you have Founded in 2018, PolicyMe offers TOTA L D I S C LO S E D F U N D I N G a rising insurtech? made, and what you learned from it. $3.3m Canadians a digital life insurance product, The landscape for insurtech startups has never I would say we have really learned to divide enabling users to purchase up to $5m LO C AT I O N been better. B2C offerings are still in their infancy and conquer. At the beginning, you want every (£3.5m) in coverage. Toronto, Canada and make up a very small share of the insurance market. However, given the willingness of aspect of the business to be perfect and you want consensus on everything. Nowadays, we trust millennials to trust fintech products, we can only the product and technology owners and focus on FOUNDER expect this market to become more mainstream moving forward as quickly as possible. in the coming years. We’re excited to see what Initially starting its journey as an online distributor, the company has since launched its own fully digital Andrew Ostro, innovation comes next – both from us and from insurance product. Jeff McKay, our peers. What problem did you see in the Laura McKay market that led you to create The startup helps consumers understand how much coverage they require and what policy length What has been the highlight of your PolicyMe? they should purchase by taking them through a career to date? In a world where almost anything can be bought short, simple quiz assessing their lifestyle and financial status. with a few taps of a smartphone, we noticed that Launching our exclusive insurance product this this simply wasn’t happening with one of the most year! This new offering allows Canadians to buy important products – life insurance. If the industry The company focuses on transparency – in 2020, up to $5m (£3.6m) in life insurance coverage doesn’t meet the changing expectations of newer PolicyMe revealed it had advised 26% of its 30,000 quickly and entirely online. When we started generations, everyone loses out. users to not buy a product as they didn’t require PolicyMe in 2018, we knew we wanted to life insurance coverage. revolutionise a decades-old industry by making We know that our customers are busy, and buying Once they understand what level of coverage easy-to-understand, affordable products that life insurance is only one to-do on a long list of is necessary, users receive an estimated rate didn’t take weeks to buy. Watching that come priorities. They are new homeowners, parents of within seconds of entering their details, to life has been extremely rewarding. toddlers, or in a rush to replace a policy that’s and get an instant decision. about to expire. Our purpose is to make this traditional and entrenched industry easier, PolicyMe raised a $3.3m (£2.3m) seed round in If you could meet yourself on the more transparent, and more affordable for March 2020. anyone who needs it. day you started your business, what would you tell yourself? FUTURE50 I once had someone tell me, “If you are proud How will the product evolve SCORE: of your minimum viable product, you waited too from here? long to launch it”. We had so many hypotheses early on that were completely wrong about. But Today, we’re focused on pushing life insurance just starting is the hard part – it’s important to get into the digital age right here in Canada. something out there for your users to test and give you feedback on. The earlier you can get that feedback the better, even if it means that all the bells and whistles aren’t ready yet. Pictured: Andrew Ostro, Laura McKay, Jeff McKay 16 Insurtech Insights Future 50 17
FOUNDER Q&A “Healthcare is getting impossible to afford and no-one can assess the quality of what they are paying for.” Why is now an exciting time to be Name one mistake that you have Founded in 2018, Sami is a health TOTA L D I S C LO S E D F U N D I N G a rising insurtech? made, and what you learned from it. $16.8m insurtech offering users access to a In the past, venture capital funds were more We underestimate the impact the pandemic would full health platform in addition to LO C AT I O N focused on non-regulated or less regulated have on our team at the beginning. We should their coverage. São Paulo, Brazil markets. At the same time, customers were more afraid of buying a traditional product from have invested in more frequent online gatherings and relationships. a company they never heard of. Times have FOUNDER changed and the environment is now much This includes access to a dedicated team of Vitor Asseituno, more friendly for us to create and deliver truly What problem did you see in the innovative products. medical professionals and 24/7 text, audio or video market that led you to create Sami? telemedicine access. Luiz Berardo Healthcare is getting impossible to afford and The Brazilian startup also provides free access What has been the highlight of your no-one can assess the quality of what they are to thousands of gyms as well as access to an career to date? paying for. ecosystem of 27 apps that focus on physical, mental and nutritional health. It pushes a preventative Sami for sure. It’s a dream coming true to use narrative, proactively encouraging healthy habits. technology to improve the lives of so many How will the product evolve people. When I think that 66% of our members Sami raised $15.5m (£10.9m) Series A funding in didn’t have a health plan before, I see how from here? 2020, with the startup revealing that four of the five much value we are creating to people around most active funds in the country participated. We expect data will have a growing role each day us. When I see them using our plan to go to the at Sami, as membership and usage keep growing gym, I see how much we are contributing to and leveraging our understanding about our change a purchase behaviour and the customer’s members and our own operation. understanding of what a health plan is. If you could meet yourself on the day you started your business, what would you tell yourself? FUTURE50 Keep looking for the best people you can find. SCORE: It’s totally worth it. Pictured: Vitor Asseituno, Luiz Berardo 18 Insurtech Insights Future 50 19
FOUNDER Q&A “Envision your service offerings if you could scale the performance of your organisation’s best agent for all of your policyholders.” Why is now an exciting time to be Founded in 2016, Rozie AI is an TOTA L D I S C LO S E D F U N D I N G a rising insurtech? partners and clients that we serve. Alignment of – values is essential as you select companies to artificial intelligence-powered customer The culture of customer engagement has become work and grow with over time. engagement platform that enables LO C AT I O N increasingly focused on personalisation and Name one mistake that you have enterprises to design, deliver and North Carolina, USA on-demand service, and insurance is a critical industry on this landscape. As agents and made, and what you learned from it. service teams strive to establish their competitive manage more human interactions FOUNDER offerings, Rozie enables organisations to create Working alongside a client, the details of a specific problem can consume the field of vision. It is their own interactive experiences. Envision for their customers across all of Sudha Meghan your service offerings if you could scale the imperative to remember that we are on a journey to solve the problem for many. Perspective is performance of your organisation’s best agent, their engagement channels. for all of your policyholders, with continuity critical, and it is helpful to zoom out when working on specific deployments to consider the patterns across departments, from billing to claims and of challenges we are addressing. consultative sales. This includes both a concierge service to provide What problem did you see in support and guidance directly to end-customers as FUTURE50 well real-time intelligence and coaching to front-line What has been the highlight of your the market that led you to create SCORE: staff such as contact centres. career to date? Rozie.ai? The startup, which was part of Hartford Insurtech Customer experiences in insurance are In 2018, Rozie won the ACORD Global Innovation Hub’s first cohort, works across insurance and fragmented and siloed, leading to interactions that Prize and it was a springboard to meet with benefits, health, travel and financial services. are disjointed and generic, often when people are Within insurance, it offers educational marketing and insurance leaders relating to best practices of customer advisory and engagement. at their most vulnerable moments. We reimagined pre-claim consultation, guided shopping and lead the canvas of customer care, where you did not qualification experiences. Rozie AI can also offer have to repeat your story every time you were insights based on customer sentiment, engagement During the pandemic, Rozie was able to quickly mobilise to serve individuals in an interactive and transferred to a different department, or spoke to and adoption. a different agent. By remembering a customer, supportive manner, and it has certainly been the highlight of our contributions to date. from their preferences to their journey, Rozie has Rozie AI has over 15 clients and engagement partners demonstrated how customer relationships and – including Fortune 50 and Global 2000 companies – loyalty can be nurtured. Our clients, from Fortune and a global daily user audience of over five million. 100 to Global 2000 companies, have recognised If you could meet yourself on the over $10m (£7.3m) in annual savings or revenue day you started your business, growth. Rozie enables organisations to create what would you tell yourself? personalised customer engagements in a scalable manner, by enabling intelligent self-service as The team that you assemble is pivotal to the well as guided advisory for agents and support success of the firm. We are grateful for an personnel. Business growth and competitive incredible team, where our collective expertise, success can be realised by better delivering on intelligence, and skill is rivaled only by our the insurance promise. kindness and dedication to our mission. While the importance of the team is a principle traditionally applied to the company, also important are the Pictured: Vijay Dheap, Sudha Meghan 20 Insurtech Insights Future 50 21
FOUNDER Q&A “Early in our customer interactions, we used to mistake a “No” as final. But when we spoke to the business, we’d discover a different story.” Why is now an exciting time to be Founded in 2019, Safekeep helps carriers TOTA L D I S C LO S E D F U N D I N G a rising insurtech? of building subrogation units. Our chief data – scientist is Tom, a trained medical doctor who did maximise net recovery through the I’m most excited about the plethora of challenges his post-doc research at Harvard Medical School and spent his career applying machine learning subrogation process with their cloud- LO C AT I O N insurers still face in driving growth and profitability in healthcare. And Gabriel, Safekeep’s chief customer officer, is masterful at empathising based Claimflo platform. New York, USA while simultaneously improving policyholder experiences. As an insurtech, if you carefully look with customer needs and spotting talent. for points of friction in the value chain, there is still FOUNDER room to be the best-of-breed solution. Our journey began by co-designing a subrogation solution with Name one mistake that you have Claimflo provides a range of support for claims teams, by enriching claims data and extracting valuable Tom Korach, an innovative insurer. We then found repeatable made, and what you learned from it. data from claims notes using semantic search built Jeffery To, ways to increase recovery potential up to 37% with other insurers. That was when we became on patent-pending sentence encoding. It can also Early in our customer interactions, we used to run predictive models for each line of business, and Valerio Zhang a real company… almost by serendipity. mistake a “No” as final. For example, a CIO might monitor regulatory rules across all the US states. say, “We’re already great at NLP and predictive Finally, it enables effective management of the claims models. Our data scientists outnumber you. We process with triage and workflow tools. It plugs into What has been the highlight of your don’t need you. Go away.” But when we spoke to carrier’s in-house systems as well as third party solutions like AWS, Duck Creek and ServiceNow. career to date? the business, we’d discover a different story. The highlight of my career was when I left my day The startup claims growth in recoveries inside carriers by more than 30%, increase recovery job as the global head of insurance at Salesforce. How will the product evolve My family thought I was crazy. Things were going from here? potential by more than 20%, and accelerate payback by three months. great. But I had a persistent itch to scratch. Since then, Safekeep won the Global Gold Award in We are continuously improving our predictive In 2020, Safekeep took part in the 2020 Zurich’s Innovation Championship, won the Global models, rules, workflows and subrogation services MassChallenge Fintech program and Plug and Play Silver Award from Efma & Accenture, and has unit. The goal of “Subro for everyone” is about Silicon Valley, while in 2021 the venture announced worked with over nine co-design insurers globally helping insurers and insurtechs who are not it was joining the sixth cohort of the Lloyd’s Lab through the Fintech Innovation Lab, Lloyd’s Lab, maximising their net recoveries with their existing accelerator and the Fintech Innovation Lab. FUTURE50 MassChallenge, and Plug and Play Tech. third-party administrators and internal subrogation They also partnered with Root in 2021. SCORE: functions. They don’t have the time or resources to maintain subrogation centres of excellence. If you could meet yourself on the Safekeep is the quickest way to increase day you started your business, what recoveries with minimal hassle and cost. Safekeep will evolve, not as a software company, would you tell yourself? but as a movement. Leave no dollar behind. It’s good for insurers. And it’s good for policyholders. I’d say, “Be the best at one thing, find the best talent, hire and fire fast.” I’ve kissed a lot of frogs, but I’m super lucky. Kevin, our chief claims officer came from Allianz and was the former president of the National Association of Subrogation Professionals. Our head of products, Andrew, spent over 15 years at Liberty with a track record Pictured: Jeffery To 22 Insurtech Insights Future 50 23
FOUNDER Q&A “When you can remain calm in a highly stressful situation, you’re more likely to see the situation for what it is and you can act accordingly.” Why is now an exciting time to be What problem did you see in Founded in 2015, Thimble offers on- TOTA L D I S C LO S E D F U N D I N G a rising insurtech? the market that led you to $28.9m demand small business insurance for Now is an exciting time to be a rising insurtech create Thimble? over 120 professions. LO C AT I O N because the space is growing at a rapid pace. I have a passion for improving spaces that are New York, USA The pandemic greatly accelerated digital transformation, and also spurred more on-demand highly regulated by making them more consumer- friendly. My previous startup, Hailo, connected taxi and convenient solutions like ours. For example, drivers with passengers through a virtual platform Potential customers need only answer three questions online, and can have their Certificate of FOUNDER this past year we saw a huge explosion in our new (so it was similar to what Uber is now). There month-to-month service, Thimble Monthly. Clearly, Insurance within 60 seconds. Jay Bregman, there’s a strong demand for our type of solution. were plenty of regulations that made it difficult for us to build and scale Hailo, but we were It has sold over 100,000 policies, which can last Eugene Hertz Throughout the pandemic, we were also able to eventually able to break through to make the app an hour, day or week (depending on the type of successful. It was a very similar experience with insurance), or can be purchased via a monthly or introduce a string of products to support small Thimble, but to an even greater extent. Insurance annual subscription. Insurance can be managed via businesses during a critical time, including Thimble is consistently slow to innovate because it’s simply a mobile app. Monthly and Thimble Pause. It’s been exciting set up that way. There are hundreds of regulatory to be able to play a critical role in helping to put barriers that make it hard for companies like They also launched a Partner API in mid-2020, control back into the hands of business owners. ours to introduce new, innovative products to enabling automatic quotes through any platform. the market. But at Thimble, with the help of our It has sold over $175bn (£123bn) in insurance incredible team, we’ve been able to bring down coverage since its inception, and is used by If you could meet yourself on the those barriers to ensure our customers have more than 30,000 small businesses. access to flexible insurance coverage for their day you started your business, what business, when and how they need it. Their partners also include Hiscox (since June 2020) would you tell yourself? as well as more recent agreements with London Underwriters and Bold Penguin. I would tell myself to always remain calm in the face of adversity. This is a lesson I’ve learned How will the product evolve Thimble raised $22m (£15.5) Series A funding in 2019, throughout my career. Being the founder of two from here? led by IAC and with participation from AXA Venture previous startups, it’s easy to get stressed out Partners, among others and was part of the Lloyd’s when something doesn’t go your way. I was We plan to continue finding ways to improve Lab in 2020. actually the founder of a company when the 2008 our products in a way that makes the insurance financial crisis hit and it completely brought my buying process as quick and easy as possible FUTURE50 business down. I lost a lot of sleep over it. for business owners. SCORE: This past year during the pandemic paralleled that experience in the way that it felt like everything changed overnight. But now, having more experience under my belt, I’ve realised that when you can remain calm in a highly stressful situation, you’re more likely to see the situation for what it is and you can act accordingly. This has helped me immeasurably in the way that I’ve been able to manage the rest of my team in the past year. Pictured: Jay Bregman, Eugene Hertz 24 Insurtech Insights Future 50 25
FOUNDER Q&A “Any customer can capture a 360 degree video of a car using a smartphone, and within a few seconds, we respond back with an inspection report.” What would being named a Future50 What problem did you see in the Founded in 2019, Inspektlabs is a platform TOTA L D I S C LO S E D F U N D I N G insurtech mean for you? market that led you to create $0.72m leveraging patent-pending computer Insurtech Insight’s Future50 is the most credible Inspektlabs? vision technology to automate inspections LO C AT I O N rankings of insurtech startups in the world. Being a Insurers collect a large quantity of images through of any physical assets – initially for the Delaware, USA part of Future50 would mean a lot to Inspektlabs in terms of industry recognition. assessors and customer apps. However, they don’t have the capability to process the inspections in an automated manner. auto and insurance industries. FOUNDER Devesh Trivedi, Why is now an exciting time to be a rising insurtech? How will the product evolve End-users are guided through capturing a 360 Sanchit from here? degree video of a car on their smartphone, and Insurtech is transforming the insurance industry, Inspektlabs can then offer a damage assessment, reducing costs and improving customer service. car valuation, claim value estimation, fraud analysis Inspektlabs is a computer vision platform focused Historically, the insurance industry has been on automation of inspections using photos and and more within 15 seconds and over 98% accuracy. largely conservative, but is now opening up to videos. Our key capabilities include damage By doing this they claim they can reduce the time technological innovation across the world. This assessment, car valuation, claim value estimation, required for inspections by 95%. decade is the most exciting time to be an Insurtech. hygiene check and odometer-VIN readings. The US-based startup has development centres in Delhi and Jaipur, and is currently working with Any customer can capture a 360 degree video multiple companies in the US, Japan and India. If you could meet yourself on the of a car using a smartphone, and within a few This includes partnering with Liberty General day you started your business, seconds, we respond back with an inspection Insurance in March 2021 to help automate auto report. Currently, it takes two to three minutes for policy renewals and claim assessments. what would you tell yourself? us to process a car inspection. We want to move to real-time damage and claim assessment of a car. Focus on the business problem rather than Inspektlabs took part in the 2020 Barclays Accelerator, powered by Techstars, as well as the the technology. Chiratae Ventures Innovators Program. That same year the company raised a $600,000 (£423,000) pre- Series A round led by Better Capital and Titan Capital. FUTURE50 SCORE: Pictured: Devesh Trivedi 26 Insurtech Insights Future 50 27
FOUNDER Q&A “Being the vanguard of progress creates challenges that are both exciting and rewarding.” Why is now an exciting time to be Founded in 2019, Powered by data, TOTA L D I S C LO S E D F U N D I N G a rising insurtech? address the challenges faced by organisations when they search for relevant cyber coverage. $23.6m AI and continuous risk assessment, Every minute of every day, organisations However, managing our growth while retaining our organisation core values of product excellence, Cowbell Cyber is an insurance MGA LO C AT I O N of every size have to contend with new and innovation and speed in responding to customer demand is challenging. Our team and our corporate dedicated to cyber risks. California, USA innovative cyber threats. It has become clear that a comprehensive approach to cyber risk culture that emphasises diversity, inclusion, quality management must include cybersecurity and and urgency are our greatest strengths. FOUNDER cyber insurance as equal partners to mitigate the consequences of cyber attacks. Insurtech Founded in 2019, the company maps insurable threats and risk exposures using AI against a scoring Trent Cooksley, companies are rising to this challenge by offering Name one mistake that you have index – its Cowbell Factor. It assesses insurable Jack Kudale, new and original approaches not previously seen from traditional insurance companies. Being the made, and what you learned from it threats and maps them to risk exposures on a continuous basis, using both internal and external Rajeev Gupta vanguard of progress creates challenges that Nobody could have anticipated the pandemic. data sources enabling more accurate underwriting are both exciting and rewarding. We adjusted our outlook for a conservative and and proof of loss to an insurer. challenging year in 2021 while we experienced exponential demand for cyber coverage as cyber In January 2020, it launched Cowbell Prime 100, What has been the highlight of your criminals doubled down on their efforts to infiltrate a tool to enable insurance agents to issue businesses or lock them through ransomware personalised cyber policies. They have since career to date? attacks. My advice is stay on top of the market; partnered with Benchmark and Obsidian to launch the market will often dictate your pace of growth. While my career has offered me the opportunity to Prime 250 – a standalone cyber insurance product lead multiple organisations that have had positive to address the diversity of cyber incidents. The Californian company raised a $20.3m impacts on their customers, I believe that Cowbell (£14.3m) Series A in March 2021. Cyber has the potential to change the insurance How will the product evolve market in regards to how cyber risks are perceived from here? and accounted for. Starting such a business with a small team of founders growing rapidly, and now Cowbell Cyber envisions the day when cyber being recognised for our thought leadership in two insurance coverage and premiums can be matched to years in such a dynamic marketplace has been an organisation’s cyber risk in near real-time. Imagine fulfilling and extremely satisfying. a world where cyber risks are quantified as soon as they are identified and a policyholder is financially incentivised to remediate such threats as soon as FUTURE50 SCORE: If you could meet yourself on the possible by their insurer. We refer to this as a closed- loop management approach to cyber risk with a day you started your business, virtuous cycle: assess, insure, and improve, then repeat. what would you tell yourself? This requires tight collaboration between policyholders, security vendors and cyber insurance providers. Don’t underestimate the demand for relevant solutions to complex problems – or the challenges Forward looking policyholders are already engaging of growing a company founded on the concept us to provide risk visibility to their cybersecurity staff of closing insurability gaps. Cowbell Cyber’s with the goal to improve the company risk profile phenomenal growth has demonstrated that on a continuous basis and at all levels: technology, we have the right approach at the right time to process, and people. Pictured: Jack Kudale 28 Insurtech Insights Future 50 29
A WO R D F R O M J O B S O H I O Founded in 2020, this Californian startup TOTA L D I S C LO S E D F U N D I N G $20.5m provides state-of-the-art risk management technology to incentivise companies LO C AT I O N to achieve better safety results. California, USA As a leader in the financial services sector at JobsOhio focusing specifically on insurance and FOUNDER Targeting tricky-to-insure industries, such as David Fontain, Insurtech, my role is to create and oversee the construction, light industrial, manufacturing and agriculture, Foresight’s innovative platform ties safety Peter Grant strategy for growing existing Ohio businesses engagement to insurance savings. Proactive companies can save on their premiums within just one policy and attracting new businesses to the State. term. The Foresight platform supports easy claims reporting and management and includes the ability to contact medical professionals at the point of FNoL. FUTURE50 JobsOhio is Ohio’s economic development We are all probably familiar with the phrase SCORE: Foresight uses data from its sister company, Safesite, organisation with a mission to create a place where “It takes a village”. I believe there is strength in the to predict incidents, highlight risks and inform companies thrive and where individuals can enjoy community. Many components go into a financial underwriting. Safesite has been evaluated by a third- a higher standard of living. We serve as a catalyst services ecosystem – incumbents, technology, party actuarial firm and found to reduce workplace to accelerate growth by investing in communities, workforce, capital – and each play a significant role. incidents by up to 57%. Founded in California in helping businesses expand within Ohio and attracting While Ohio has strength in each component, my job 2020, total funding stands at $20.5m (£14.6m). other businesses to Ohio. is to further improve our position as the fifth largest ecosystem in the United States. The partnership between Insurtech Insights and JobsOhio makes sense because our strategies are I am extremely ambitious but I cannot pursue my goal focused on connecting the large number of innovators alone. A strategic partnership with Insurtech Insights FOUNDER Q&A out there to challenge the industry’s status quo. was on my radar immediately and I am impressed Insurance is one of the oldest financial businesses with the professionalism as well as the quality of Why is now an exciting time to be actually able to thrive in the places with historically little propensity to change. content. I look forward to the upcoming year and a rising insurtech? where legacy carriers experience their This has led to a hesitation to partner with startups I am positive great things are ahead for Insurtech. worst pain points. even though the industry is ripe for disruption. I think now is actually the most exciting Best regards, time to be a rising insurtech. Our The insurance industry is going through exciting predecessors proved the necessity How will the product evolve from here? changes. Witnessing the adoption of tech driven Ron and validity of insurtech; now we get solutions to innovate is certainly energising. to roll up our sleeves and do the work We’ll bring our safety-driven pricing With a strong incumbent presence, availability Ron Rock of honing in on each function of the model to more businesses through of venture capital funds, and robust tech talent, Senior Director of Insurance at JobsOhio insurance transaction, using data to expansion and of course, through Ohio is the place to be. make the process smarter. At Foresight, the appointment of broker partners where Workers Compensation is our eager to have a lasting impact on There is a place in the market for both larger bread and butter, we find that we are their clients’ companies. incumbents and startups alike so partnering together for the greater good, makes total sense. Pictured: David Fontain 30 Insurtech Insights Future 50 31
Founded in 2016, this AI-based risk TOTA L D I S C LO S E D F U N D I N G Founded in 2017, Ianacare is a healthcare TOTA L D I S C LO S E D F U N D I N G $37m $3.0m analytics platform combines cyber platform, specifically for the 50 million insurance with security measures to LO C AT I O N US caregivers – providing them with LO C AT I O N reduce risk for large companies with pre- California, USA practical and emotional support to help Massachusetts, USA breach, hardening and claims services. FOUNDER care for their loved ones. Vishaal Hariprasad, FOUNDER Their proactive approach of assessing an Raj Shah, This includes the ability to update family, seek Jessica Kim, organisation’s information security prior to writing advice on medical care, accessing benefits or local coverage enables them to work with clients to mitigate Davis Hake services, help with practical tasks like collecting Steven Lee vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. This helps groceries or prescriptions to coaching and support tackle the full range of cyber exposures from spear from professional caregivers. It is also available as an phishing attacks to ransomware and data breaches. employee benefit and partnered with Anthem in 2020 as well as raising $3m (£2.1) in seed capital. Company president Mario Vitale says: “Combining FUTURE50 FUTURE50 cyber security technology with senior underwriting SCORE: SCORE: talent mitigates risk prior to policy issuance and encourages insured companies to maintain a vigilant security posture.” Set up in 2016 in California, the company raised $37m (£26m) venture funding in 2019, with investors including Founders Fund. FOUNDER Q&A What has been the highlight of your If you could meet yourself on the day career to date? you started your business, what would you tell yourself? We have proactively seen changes in our clients throughout the lifecycle of I would tell myself that you never their policy. It’s wonderful to see that know when the market will shift from our value is helping our clients defend a soft market to a hard market, and against threats with an offering that we back again to a soft market. So stay have created. true to your vision and take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves each time. Pictured: Vishaal Hariprasad 32 Insurtech Insights Future 50 33
Founded in 2017, Saive is helping tackle TOTA L D I S C LO S E D F U N D I N G Founded in 2018, Unum ID enables users TOTA L D I S C LO S E D F U N D I N G $0.15m $2.9m one of Latin America’s biggest problems: to securely access and share verified road safety. LO C AT I O N identity data. LO C AT I O N Mexico City, Mexico California, USA In Mexico alone, 32 people die a day on average in Once encrypted, the user’s details can be used to traffic accidents, while the 500,000 yearly incidents FOUNDER automatically verify identity across channels within FOUNDER equate to $5bn (£3.5bn) in annual losses. Moses Maislim, a single or among multiple companies in seconds. As well as powering KYC processes it helps eliminate Aidan McCarty, Saive created a free mobile driver score that Salvador Rochin behavioural fraud and provides its users with Liam McCarty measures driver behaviour in order to provide low- unmatched privacy and security. Crucially, the user cost insurance. Potential users have their driving stays in control of their personal information. analysed and are scored on acceleration, braking, speed, cornering as well as distracted driving such The company raised undisclosed seed funding in as texting or looking at the phone. April 2021 from Franklin Templeton, was accepted for Plug and Play in 2021 as well as receiving backing Good behaviours translate into premium savings as from Samsung Next and Draper Associates. well as discounts and benefits from online stores and restaurants through the duration of the policy. Founded in Mexico City in 2017, Saive is now FUTURE50 FUTURE50 targeting the hispanic market in the USA, with total SCORE: SCORE: funding standing at $150,000 (£106,000). FOUNDER Q&A FOUNDER Q&A What would being named a Future50 Why is now an exciting time to be a Name one mistake that you have made, What problem did you see in the market insurtech mean for you? rising insurtech? and what you learned from it. that led you to create Saive? Insurance is the hidden glue that holds The biggest missing piece in our digital When I first became a Director, I tried to More than 70% of the car insurance our market economy together, and new world is trusted human identity. How do take on everything myself, from the day- price goes directly to pay for collisions. identity technology has the potential to you know with confidence who someone to-day operations to making all of the In Mexico insurers pay more than $5bn make it dramatically more effective. is online? Enabled with new technology, big decisions. I learned the hard way that (£3.6bn) annually due to material We are thrilled to play a part in bringing insurance is the perfect vehicle to the best leaders know how to delegate damages. This is why we are introducing that technology to market. establish real human identity on the and trust their team. Since then, we have car telematics to improve people’s web. Never has the need for verifiable better progress letting smart people help driving behaviour to reduce collision rate. digital identity been higher, and never me make the best decisions. has the time been more ripe. Pictured: Moses Maislin, Salvador Rochin-Saive Pictured: Liam McCarty, Aidan McCarty 34 Insurtech Insights Future 50 35
You can also read