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Bought by many, Bright health, fundraising, InsurTech, Oyster, uk, Worker's Comp

Insurtech Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing – InsurTech Upstarts at the Gate

Isometric Healthcare and technology concept banner. Medical exams and online consultation concept. Medicine. Vector illustration.

The Theme last week was China opening up its insurance market.

The Theme this week is InsurTech Upstarts at the Gate. The end of 2018 is coming. In the past we have often covered the moves from the big Insurance and Reinsurance Incumbents, who have been surprisingly agile and innovative given their size and legacy. This week we cover the moves by the VC funded startups.  

For more about the Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing, please click here.

For this week we bring you three stories illustrating the theme of InsurTech Upstarts at the Gate.

There was a lot of important Insurtech news to process this month. There were  many fund raising deals that did not make our constraint of 3 stories per week. These include Clyde raising $3m, MioAssicuratore $1.7m, Corvus $10m and ELEMENT $26m.

The three stories that were most significant were:

Story 1: Insurtechs launch new UK body

Extract, read more on Insurance Times:

“A group of 31 companies have banded together to launch InsurTech UK.

The core aim of the group is to support the UK insurtech sector and promote the benefits of insurtech.

The group held its inaugural meeting on Wednesday, with 20 members in attendance for the launch.

Members include Anorak; Azur; Bikmo; Bought By Many; Buzzmove; Canopy; Claim Technology; Concirrus; CoVi Analytics; Drover; Equipseme; Floodflash; Hokodo; Honcho; Kasko; Konsileo; Laka; Marmalade; Meet Sherpa; Urban Jungle; Pluto; Polaris; PolicyCastle; Shepherd; So-sure; Tapoly; Track My Risks; Worry and Peace; Wrisk Yulife.”

UK has always been a major market for insurance with numerous renowned insurers. But when it comes to InsurTech, it seems a little behind, not only in global but also in Europe. With startups forming up a union, maybe we can expect a super InsurTech force in UK in next a few years.

Story 2: Insurtech Oyster Opens up Its Pay-as-You-Go Workers’ Comp Model in California

Extract, read more on Insurance Journal:

“A new insurtech wants to provide pay-as-you-go workers’ compensation to as many small businesses in California as possible, and it hopes to use the momentum it’s built following a quiet launch in the East earlier this year to do just that.

Oyster Insurance, which started providing workers’ comp to 70-plus classes of business in New York and New Jersey without much fanfare or media coverage in January, began operating in California this week.”

Oyster’s expansion in California has already attracted a dozen companies to sign deals with them in a few days’ time. They have licenses in 26 states and plans to get more in 2019. So they are obviously only in the beginning.

Story 3: Insurance startup Bright Health raises $200M at ~$950M valuation

Extract, read more on Techcrunch:

“A flurry of digital-first insurers are betting they can surpass industry incumbents with a little help from technology and a lot of help from venture capitalists.

The latest to land a massive check is Bright Health, a Minneapolis-headquartered provider of affordable individual, family and Medicare Advantage healthcare plans in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, New York City, Ohio and Tennessee. The company, founded by the former chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare Bob Sheehy; Kyle Rolfing, the former CEO of UnitedHealth-acquired Definity Health; and Tom Valdivia, another former Definity Health executive, has brought in a $200 million Series C.”

US InsurTech startups are growing both in numbers and scales. There have already been 94 deals in 2018 globally and 2 billion USD raised in US.

The big raise this week is from USA, from the massive broken Health Insurance market.

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Zarc Gin is an analyst for Warp Speed Fintech, a Fintech, especially InsurTech-focused Venture Capital based in China.

Get fresh daily insights from an amazing team of Fintech thought leaders around the world. Ride the Fintech wave by reading us daily in your email.

 

 

allianz, axa, AXA Tianping, china, Foreign insurer, InsurTech, regulation

Insurtech Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing – China opening up

AXA

The Theme last week was Artificial Intelligence trends.

The Theme this week is China opening up its insurance market. This is actually a gradual process and now we are witnessing an upgrade from joint ventures to the approval of fully independent foreign insurers in China.

For more about the Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing, please click here.

Editors Note: Insurtech is normally Thursday. We changed to Wednesday this week because this news is big.

For this week we bring you three stories illustrating the theme of China opening up its insurance market.

Story 1: AXA to acquire the remaining 50% stake in AXA Tianping to accelerate its growth in China as the #1 foreign P&C insurer

Extract, read more on AXA press release:

“AXA announced today that it had entered into an agreement with the current domestic shareholders of AXA Tianping Property & Casualty Insurance Company Ltd (“AXA Tianping”) to acquire the remaining 50% stake* of the company.

Total consideration for the acquisition of the 50% stake would amount to RMB 4.6 billion (or Euro 584 million*), representing an implied 2.4x FY17 BV* multiple, of which, subject to regulatory approvals, RMB 1.5 billion (or Euro 190 million*) should be financed through a capital reduction of AXA Tianping to buy back shares from the current domestic shareholders.”

AXA Tianping was jointly founded in 2004 by AXA’s subsidiary in China and Tianping Auto Insurance. After 14 years, it has become the biggest foreign property insurance company in China. This purchase, if approved by Chinese regulators, will make AXA Tianping a fully-owned subsidiary of AXA group and help AXA move further in Chinese market.

Story 2: Allianz China unit given regulatory go-ahead

Extract, read more on Reinsurance News:

“Insurance giant Allianz has received approval from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission for the preparatory establishment of an insurance holding company in China.

Based in Shanghai, Allianz (China) Insurance Holding Company Limited will be the country’s first ever insurance company wholly owned by a foreign insurer.”

This happened a day before the AXA news. But Allianz’s plan was approved by the regulator already. The approach is different, since AXA is achieving it through equity acquisition while Allianz is starting from scratch. But the goal is same, to make presence in Chinese market.

Story 3: China moves closer to allowing foreigners to control insurance ventures

Extract, read more on Reuters:

“China will accept applications early next year from foreign insurers seeking to take control of their local joint ventures and is even weighing giving them full ownership earlier than flagged, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The regulator is expected to publish its final guidelines as soon as the first quarter of 2019 and would begin taking applications from interested foreign insurers soon after that, they said”

This article was released last Monday, and certainly it’s a signal. Our first two news proved that things are moving much faster in China.

China has already drawn its roadmap of opening up for the financial sector. Insurance industry is obviously executing the plans with efficiency and determination. I believe there are still huge potentials in Chinese insurance market and the future of insurance market in China will be shaped by Chinese and foreign insurers together.

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Zarc Gin is an analyst for Warp Speed Fintech, a Fintech, especially InsurTech-focused Venture Capital based in China.

Get fresh daily insights from an amazing team of Fintech thought leaders around the world. Ride the Fintech wave by reading us daily in your email.

AI, artificial intelligence, germany, InsurTech, ipo, patent

Insurtech Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing – Artificial Intelligence trends

AI_Insurance

The Theme last week was P&C InsurTech trends in the industry.

The Theme this week is Artificial Intelligence trends in Insurtech. AI has always been a critical subject of not only InsurTech, but also the whole digital age. Let’s see some AI-related Insurtech news this week.

For more about the Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing, please click here.

For this week we bring you three stories illustrating the theme of Artificial Intelligence trends .

Story 1: German Insurer DFV Eyes IPO in Bid to Disrupt Allianz & Co.

Extract, read more on Bloomberg:

“With ambitions to challenge insurance giants like Allianz SE, newcomer Deutsche Familienversicherung AG needs 100 million euros ($116 million) in fresh funds to finance its expansion plan. An initial public offering is one path that Stefan Knoll, founder and chief executive officer, is considering.

DFV uses artificial intelligence to decide which insurance claims are legitimate and which are not. In partnership with Frankfurt-based startup Minds Medical GmbH, it developed an algorithm that can read so-called ICD-10-Codes, used by doctors and hospitals to categorize their bills.”

The news was from June, a recent interview on DFV founder Dr. Stefan M. Knoll was released on InsurTechnews, one of the biggest feature of DFV is that they use AI to process claims.

Editors Note: medical insurance claims has long been a hairball of complexity that causes a lot of pain for customers/patients. The most broken big market today is America, but the politics around Health Insurance are so divisive in America, that it is possible that the breakthrough will come from another market like Germany.    

Story 2: Insurers must think strategically about AI

Extract, read more on Digital Insurance:

“Much of executives’ enthusiasm is justified. AI is already being deployed in a range of arenas, from digital assistants and self-driving cars to predictive analytics software providing early detection of diseases or recommending consumer goods based on shopping habits. A recent Gartner study finds that AI will generate $1.2 trillion in business value in 2018—a striking 70 percent increase over last year. According to Gartner, the number could swell to close to $4 trillion by 2022.”

Despite the growth momentum, AI is unlikely to help insurers yield big results in the  short term. The decision on when and where to adapt AI will be a key decision senior executives have to make.

Story 3: Huge rise in insurtech patents

Extract, read more on ITIJ:

“According to analysis from global law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC), 2017 saw a 40-per-cent jump in the number of insurtech patents being filed worldwide. RPC found that 917 insurtech patents were filed globally last year, compared with 657 in 2016.

Telematics, artificial technology and machine learning, and P2P insurance were among the most frequent subjects of patent protection last year.”

Telematics, artificial technology and machine learning all involve a certain degree of AI. And the growth of patent numbers signifies a positive growth on InsurTech adaption.

AI application in Insurance is still premature, but Rome was not built in one day, there will be a process. And it’s good to see that insurers featuring AI have been well received by the capital markets. This can inspire more startups and insurers to adapt AI.

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Zarc Gin is an analyst for Warp Speed Fintech, a Fintech, especially InsurTech-focused Venture Capital based in China.

Get fresh daily insights from an amazing team of Fintech thought leaders around the world. Ride the Fintech wave by reading us daily in your email.

 

 

auto insurance, car insurance, home insurance, InsurTech, p&c, property, property & casualty

Insurtech Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing – P&C InsurTech trends

property-casualty-insurance

The Theme last week was agitation in the industry.

The Theme this week is P&C InsurTech trends. The P&C (Property & Casual) segment of Insurance, especially personal lines, are going through a profound change. Changes are made both by tech ventures and incumbents.

For more about the Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing, please click here.

For this week we bring you three stories illustrating the theme of P&C InsurTech trends.

Story 1: Emerging Technology in Personal Lines

Extract, read more on Insurance Thought Leadership:

“Five technologies have emerged as “power players” for personal lines insurers, based on insurer activity and the potential for transformation.

They are AI, Drones, IoT, New User Interaction and New Payment Technologies.”

We heard a lot about AI, IoT, a little about Drones. New User Interaction and New Payment Technologies, which are responsible for the communication of customers are relatively new.

Story 2: The Switzerland of Mobility

Extract, read more on Coverage:

“Transit, a Canadian startup that offers a mobile app to simplify urban mobility by combining modes of transportation, has raised $17.5m in a series B round from Accel, Alliance Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures, and Real Ventures, bringing the company’s total funding to date to $26.6m.”

Transit is working towards building a car-free future. Public transportation, ride hailing, bike sharing and scooter sharing are its weapons. Car insurance will be impacted if they succeed.

Story 3: Personal Home Maintenance Service Setter Raises Series A

Extract, read more on Coverage:

“Setter, a personal home maintenance service from Canada, has announced a $10m Series A round co-led by Sequoia Capital and NFX, with participation from Hustle Fund, to expand across North America. This brings the company’s total funding to date to $12m following a $2m seed round from Sequoia, Hustle Fund and Avichal Garg last year.”

With the help of home maintenance platforms like Setter, home insurers can know better about their customers’ homes. Potential improvements for pricing and claims.

Editors Note: interesting to see 2 out of 3 coming from Canada, America’s northern neighbour.

Property & Casualty insurance is shaped by the way people move and live. When they change, P&C will have to keep the pace and change together. Sooner better than later.

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Zarc Gin is an analyst for Warp Speed Fintech, a Fintech, especially InsurTech-focused Venture Capital based in China.

Get fresh daily insights from an amazing team of Fintech thought leaders around the world. Ride the Fintech wave by reading us daily in your email.

InsurTech, lemonade, life insurance, marsh, rgax, social unrest insurance, state farm, Uncategorized

Insurtech Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing – Agitation

agitation

The Theme last week was InsurTech action from China

The Theme this week is agitation. The  insurance industry is rattled. This week we bring you three stories that show customers, InsurTech ventures and  incumbents all agitated; but all for different reasons.

For more about the Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing, please click here.

For this week we bring you three stories illustrating the theme of Agitation.

 Story 1: Some life insurers unsure they can get results from digital

Extract, read more on Digital Insurance:

“Life insurers are still lagging other industries and even lines of insurance when it comes to leveraging data in the enterprise, including on the sales side, according to a report from RGAX.

Nearly a third said it is too expensive to introduce or expand digital marketing efforts, mostly because their companies aren’t equipped to recover the cost, RGAX found.”

The survey was conducted among small-to-mid size life insurers who hope to create a breakthrough with the help of digitalization. The cruel reality is that there is a high capital barrier for them to go through first.

Story 2: Customers Vote: State Farm or Lemonade?

Extract, read more on Insurance Thought Leadership:

“A recent social media dust-up between renters and homeowners insurance technology upstart Lemonade Insurance and old-line insurance industry stalwart State Farm motivated us to look at what their respective customers are saying about their experiences with the companies.

A little context: State Farm recently aired a television commercial poking fun at technology-focused entrants to the marketplace. Specifically, the commercial made fun of the use of bots (artificial intelligence) used to process claims.”

State Farm probably just wanted to stress the importance of real-person agent. But it got interpreted in another way. It could mark a significant moment of agitation between incumbents and startups.

Story 3: Marsh rolls out social unrest insurance coverage

Extract, read more on Life Insurance International:

“Marsh has introduced a standalone social unrest insurance plan that offers financial protection to businesses in event of losses.

The product, which is underwritten by Chaucer, provides coverage of up to $20m for denial of entry/leaving a property caused due to terrorism, protests, civil unrest and strikes.”

When it comes to agitations among regular people, it’s good to see we can seek insurance for help.

When the whole industry is on a fast track, some may be afraid of being left behind, some may worry that their efforts are made in vain. Thus agitation appears. It could be a good thing for customers if agitation induces more innovation, and more discounts.

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Zarc Gin is an analyst for Warp Speed Fintech, a Fintech, especially InsurTech-focused Venture Capital based in China.

Get fresh daily insights from an amazing team of Fintech thought leaders around the world. Ride the Fintech wave by reading us daily in your email.

 

china, ecosystem, InsurTech, munich re, plugandplay, smart car, zhong an

Insurtech action from China

Actions around China

The Theme last week was Tech giants are serious about insurance

The Theme this week is Insurtech action from China. The Chinese market is a fast growing one for InsurTech. It can be enlightening to see, compare and learn from the Chinese market. We look at 3 news stories illustrating this theme. These stories illustrate actions made by China, from China and for China.

For more about the Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing, please click here.

For this week we bring you three stories illustrating the theme of Insurtech from China.

Story 1: Insurtech is the future infrastructure of insurance, says ZhongAn CEO

Extract, read more on Reinsurance News:

“A joint report by the recently-launched Fintech Research Institute of China’s largest online-only insurer ZhongAn and the financial advisory firm KPMG claims insurtech will enable a more efficient, compatible, balanced and humane insurance ecosystem.”

This is more like a perspective by China (Zhong An), but it is a perspective based on actions in motion. Zhong An has been building its multi-industry ecosystems including auto service, consumption, financing etc. since its founding. Ecosystem is all about partnerships and collaborations, and InsurTech is the core of those partnerships.

Story 2: China’s Attention to Israel Smart Vehicle Market Creates Insurtech Opportunities

Extract, read more on The Times of Israel:

“The Chinese auto industry is yearning for smart-car technologies. In December 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s chief economic planning agency, revealed a three-year plan highlighting the development of the smart cars industry as a national priority. Without a doubt, by 2020 one in every two new cars sold in China, the world’s leading car market, will be an intelligent one.

Despite popular hype pertaining to autonomous cars, most people don’t understand how highly dependent these cars are on a sense of place. This means that if the map the autonomous car is relying on to navigate is wrong, then the autonomous vehicle is bound to make mistakes as well. French mega insurer AXA for example, is one of the many car insurers tackling this issue.”

The causality chain is a little long here. In short, the promotion on electric cars in China can create new business opportunities for auto insurance and InsurTech can be a big part of it. This is actions from China.

Story 3: Munich Re strikes Insurtech partnership with Plug and Play in China

Extract, read more on The Intelligent Insurer:

“Munich Re has partnered with Plug and Play, a Silicon Valley-based accelerator and corporate innovation platform, to collaborate with emerging Insurtech startups in China.”

Actions for China. Munich Re has been cultivating in Chinese market for a long time. Plug and Play just started its InsurTech program in China this year. They are tapping into Chinese InsurTech from all aspects from accelerating startups, sharing innovation with incumbents etc.

As a market, China has great potential both in individual business and corporate business. As an innovation base, Chinese InsurTech is equipped with mobile Internet features. Either way, it is an attractive destination for global insurance industry.

Zarc Gin is an analyst for Warp Speed Fintech, a Fintech, especially InsurTech-focused Venture Capital based in China.

Get fresh daily insights from an amazing team of Fintech thought leaders around the world. Ride the Fintech wave by reading us daily in your email.

 

amazon, google, InsurTech, Softbank, Tech giants

Insurtech Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing – Tech giants are serious about insurance

SGA

The Theme this week is Tech giants are serious about insurance. Tech giants making moves into insurance is not new, but continuing news update can prove that they are pretty serious.

The Insurtech Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing is all you need to know for the week, jargon free for executives, entrepreneurs and investors who want a piece of this huge, fast changing market. Each week we select one theme illustrated by 3 news items, because we know that you are busy. Our job is to filter out the noise, so you can read the signal. We bring you the raw news plus our take on why it is significant.

For this week we bring you three stories illustrating the theme of Tech giants are serious in insurance.

Story 1: Softbank Plans Big Push into Insurance Investments

Extract, read more on Insurance Journal:

“Softbank’s Vision Fund plans to pump more money into insurance, a sector it sees as both ripe for disruption and a potential booster for its bigger bets in cars, health and financial services, a Vision Fund executive told Reuters.”

Softbank is not a typical tech giant, they have contributed a lot in telecommunications, but they are better known for their investments in Alibaba, Uber, Boston Dynamics etc. They also invested in Zhong An. With Softbank’s huge fund ($100 billion) and successful investments to date, their moves into Insurance will be worth watching.

Story 2: Google Invests in Insurance Agency Software Firm Applied Systems

Extract, read more on Insurance Journal:

“Giant Google’s investment arm has purchased a minority stake in Applied Systems, a provider of insurance technology and cloud-based software for independent agencies.

The investment in Applied Systems is being made through CapitalG, the growth equity investment fund of Google’s parent Alphabet, which has also financed companies including Lyft, Airbnb, SurveyMonkey and Zscaler.”

Google’s comparison site didn’t pan out. Fortunately for the industry they are still watching and investing.

Story 3: Amazon makes another insurance move and partners with Vitality

Extract, read more on Life Insurance International:

“Vitality has announced a partnership with Amazon with gives its Active Rewards programme a boost.

As a result, members will receive a month’s access to Amazon Prime for every 160 Vitality activity points they earn. This can lead to savings of up to £79 ($104) a year.”

Amazon made several moves before, such as investing in Acko and the joint action with Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan into Healthcare. Partnership with Vitality seems relatively a small one, and more like a pilot cooperation. But it might turn out to be critical since it involves actual insurance work.

Since the day the word “InsurTech” was invented, tech giants have been making moves to enter insurance. They have suffered a few setbacks (e.g. Google Compare), but they are the leaders in the “Tech” part. When they have a deeper understanding in insurance, their technologies might start playing major roles.

Zarc Gin is an analyst for Warp Speed Fintech, a Fintech, especially InsurTech-focused Venture Capital based in China.

Get fresh daily insights from an amazing team of Fintech thought leaders around the world. Ride the Fintech wave by reading us daily in your email.

 

 

borderless, HCS, InsurTech, Italy, Jooycar, Prima, simplesurance

Insurtech Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing: InsurTech doesn’t stop at borders

global

The Theme this week is InsurTech doesn’t stop at borders. This indicates that InsurTech is truly a global trend.

The Insurtech Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing is all you need to know for the week, jargon free for executives, entrepreneurs and investors who want a piece of this huge, fast changing market. Each week we select one theme illustrated by 3 news items, because we know that you are busy. Our job is to filter out the noise, so you can read the signal. We bring you the raw news plus our take on why it is significant.

For this week we bring you three stories illustrating the theme of InsurTech doesn’t stop at borders

Story 1: Berlin Insurtech Startup Simplesurance Sets Sights on U.S. for Future Expansion

Extract, read more on Insurance Journal:

“Based on the edge of Berlin’s trendy Mitte district in bright, open offices, Simplesurance is yet another insurtech startup seeking to transform insurance. It is also eyeing the U.S. for future expansion.

Simplesurance began in 2012, employs more than 150 people, and its cross-selling software operates across Europe. E-commerce partners can sell insurance products by adding the option to purchase insurance for a device with just one click on the platform’s shopping basket. As well, Simplesurance now offers an insurance broker app in Germany.”

US is definitely a primary market for any companies who want to do a global business. And it’s time for Simplesurance.

Story 2: HCS Capital Deploys $3MM into Growing InsurTech Opportunity, Jooycar

Extract, read more on The VentureBeat:

“HCS Capital Partners (“HCS”) a Miami, FL based Private Equity and operating firm, announced today it has completed a $3mm investment in Jooycar, a fast growing Chilean company disrupting the auto insurance and telematics space in Latin America. This InsurTech investment marks the most recent for HCS, as they continue to deploy capital from their Tech Fund 1 into InsurTech and FinTech opportunities in the U.S. and South America.”

Jooycar is aiming to expand in US. The help from HCS should come in handy.

Story 3: Prima Italian Insurtech MGA Raises €100 Million from Goldman Sachs and Blackstone

Extract, read more on InsurTechnews:

“Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing along with several funds managed by The Blackstone Group’s Tactical Opportunities have invested €100 mln in Prima Assicurazioni, a Milan-based InsurTech start-up that sells auto insurance.”

Prima’s action is only one of them in Italy. After Germany, UK and France, Italy can be another influential force in the InsurTech community.

Countries like United States, China, Germany have been leading the digitalization age in the 21st century. It’s good to see more voices in InsurTech. And the mature market in US can be a good place to test new InsurTech models.

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Zarc Gin is an analyst for Warp Speed Fintech, a Fintech, especially InsurTech-focused Venture Capital based in China.

Get fresh daily insights from an amazing team of Fintech thought leaders around the world. Ride the Fintech wave by reading us daily in your email.

auto insurance, Bajaj Allianz Life, credit karma, flipkart, InsurTech, lemonade, wework, wlive

Insurtech Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing: Cross-Industry expansion

Cross-industry

The Theme this week is cross-industry expansion. This indicates that insurance is getting a higher degree of integration with our lives.

The Insurtech Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing is all you need to know for the week, jargon free for executives, entrepreneurs and investors who want a piece of this huge, fast changing market. Each week we select one theme illustrated by 3 news items, because we know that you are busy. Our job is to filter out the noise, so you can read the signal. We bring you the raw news plus our take on why it is significant.

For this week we bring you three stories illustrating the theme of cross-industry expansion:

Story 1: Credit Karma Makes Significant Move with New Insurance Experience

Extract, read more on Business Wire:

“Credit Karma today announced its expansion within insurance. Launching today in California and Texas, Credit Karma’s members will be able to see what they could be paying for auto insurance based on what members like them are paying for the same coverage.

This move will address the mis-pricing issue of Americans’ auto insurance policies and will soon arm its more than 80 million members with the information needed to make the best decision on their insurance policy, without the headache. Credit Karma estimates that Americans overspend on auto insurance by nearly $21 billion per year.”

Credit Karma is already providing auto-related services to its users such as loans and evaluation of their cars. This move into insurance is apt and can be effective.

Story 2: Flipkart forays into insurance space, teams up with Bajaj Allianz

Extract, read more on The Economic Times:

“E-commerce major Flipkart Sunday said it is foraying into the insurance segment after securing a corporate agent license. To begin with, Flipkart has partnered Bajaj Allianz General Insurance to offer customised insurance solutions to power its mobile phone protection programme for all leading mobile phone brands that are sold on its platform, Flipkart said in a statement.”

News from India that is globally significant because it is one more example of an e-commerce giant moving into insurance. Amazon from America and Alibaba from China are already making this move. India is a big market with it’s own local champions like Flipkart, but what makes India such an interesting market to watch is that it is a market that big global players, such as Amazon and Alibaba, are fighting over. India is a battleground market. If any of these e-commerce giants can make the user experience of Insurance as easy as the user experience of e-commerce, they will change the lives of billions and make fortunes.

Story 3: WeWork taps Lemonade to offer insurance to WeLive members

Extract, read more on Techcrunch:

“WeWork has partnered with Lemonade to provide renters insurance to WeLive members.

WeLive is the residential offering from WeWork, offering members a fully-furnished apartment, complete with amenities like housekeeping, mailroom, and on-site laundry, on a flexible rental schedule. In other words, bicoastal workers or generally nomadic individuals can rent a short-term living space without worrying about all the extras.”

This is a great example of two big innovative ventures innovating together to deliver unique customer value. It is a fine example of the art of the partner.  When your customers are almost from the same group, a partnership would be great to improve the quality of your service. That’s what Lemonade and WeWork are trying to accomplish. It is also another example of how Insurance is central to our lives and how if one makes what is essential but boring easy to buy and consume, then customers will buy.

Cross industry expansions can be actions like establishing a new business as well as building a partnership with players in other fields. Integration can amplify the value propositions for insurance industries. Tech giants like Amazons and Alibaba have done this in earlier times and I’m sure we will see more and more integrations between insurance and other industries.

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Zarc Gin is an analyst for Warp Speed Fintech, a Fintech, especially InsurTech-focused Venture Capital based in China.

Get fresh daily insights from an amazing team of Fintech thought leaders around the world. Ride the Fintech wave by reading us daily in your email.

InsurTech

What recent InsurTech early stage funding deals reveal about the market

Early Stage

The Insurtech Front Page Weekly CXO Briefing is all you need to know for the week, jargon free for CXO level business leaders and investors who want a piece of this huge, fast changing market. Each week we select one theme illustrated by 3 news items, because we know that you are busy. Our job is to filter out the noise, so you can read the signal. We bring you the raw news plus our take on why it is significant.

The Theme this week is early stage funding. This indicates that investors expect a robust growth for InsurTech.  A few weeks ago we looked at Insurtech Exits. The Exit is when all the hard work pays off. This week we travel back up the innovation funnel to look at 3 early stage funding deals in Insurtech, which may pay off in good Exits at some point in the future.

For this week we bring you:

Story 1: Slice Labs Raises $20M in Extended Series A to Globalize its On-Demand Insurance Cloud Platform

Extract, read more on Slice blog:

“Slice Labs (Slice), a leading on-demand insurance cloud platform provider, today announced it has raised an additional $20 million in Series A funding, led by The Co-operators with participation from XL Innovate, Horizons, Munich Re/HSB Ventures, SOMPO, Veronorte, the investment arm of Grupo Sura, and JetBlue Technology Ventures. This sizable, extended round will be used to execute on the higher than planned global demand for Slice Insurance Cloud Services (ICS).”

Hey! Compared with consumer-facing services, insurer-facing services like ICS seem to be better received among insurers. Incumbents want to be improved rather than disrupted.

Story 2: Insurtech Socotra Raises $5.5 Million Series A

Extract, read more on Crowdfund insider:

“Socotra has raised $5.5 million in a Series A funding round bringing total raised for to date to $12.8 million for the InsurTech startup. 8VC led the funding round with 8VC founding partner, Joe Lonsdale joining the Socotra board.

Socotra is a cloud-native backend with open configuration and APIs allowing insurers to deploy backend technology with their own engineering resources.”

Hey! Similar with the first piece of news. The next big leap for insurance might first be made by SaaS solution providers rather than direct-to-consumer ventures.

Story 3: Concirrus closes £5 million funding round to service customer growth

Extract, read more on Concirrus blog:

“Concirrus, the London based InsurTech company leading the Marine and Motor Analytics market change, has raised £5 million in equity funding, bringing the total raised to £12 million. The raise was co-led by Cambridge-based deep tech venture capital firm IQ Capital and specialist InsurTech investor Eos Venture Partners.

Concirrus, who have brokers, insurers, major fleets and reinsurers as clients, announced a global agreement with EY in April this year which sees the two working together to drive adoption of Concirrus’ technology in the market.  EY themselves are investing heavily in the insurance market through their Insurwave blockchain venture.”

Hey! Three in a row!  B2B SaaS solution providers seem to be resonating with early stage Insurtech investors.

The market  is open to B2B SaaS players with many different specialties. Insurers have strong demands in numerous aspects of their back offices. The digitization of core systems, scalability of internal engineering resources and data analytics offer many opportunities for startups.