The enthusiasm for insurtech seems to have hit a bit of a lull. Now that some have fallen by the wayside, while others are taking longer than hoped to deliver on their promise, there seems to be less buzz in the air.
But the failures and sometimes longer time horizons shouldn't be a surprise. Not all seedlings take root, and trees don't grow overnight. We know from history that some 90% of startups fail, and insurance will be no different.
Maybe the thinking is just maturing as we all see that, as an old boss of mine liked to say, "We're in a marathon, not a sprint." In any case, I can assure you that our monitoring of thousands of insurtechs as part of our Innovator's Edge platform shows that innovation continues apace.
As just a bit of evidence, here are our six Innovators to Watch for November. (Honorees from prior months can be found here.) Onward!
AOC Insurance Broker
Paris-based AOC Insurance Broker helps individuals and companies to evaluate and find international private medical insurance plans for expats, meeting their coverage needs while on international work assignments. In addition to comparison tools to find the best coverage options from 30 multinational insurers, AOC also offers an mHealth solution to provide medical advice, guide preventive care and healthy behavior and provide rewards for user engagement that can result in a premium discount. Leveraging such technologies as machine learning, chatbots and wearables, AOC delivers a robust solution for a growing niche market. The company also recently launched its solution via a mobile app. Learn more about AOC Insurance Broker.
Gain Compliance
Gain Compliance, based in Des Moines, Iowa, is a cloud software company focused on making it easier for the insurance industry to gather and organize information for compliance. The company’s solution aims to help insurers that struggle with outdated processes and technologies to gather and report the massive amount of information required for statutory reporting. The result is a dramatically more efficient process and higher-quality data. The initial focus of Gain Compliance is helping carriers comply with the notes section of a company’s annual statutory financial report, which entails following a package of instructions, data requirements and formatting guides that typically runs to more than 100 pages for companies. Learn more about Gain Compliance.
Hello Zum
Hello Zum aims to make insurance more efficient by digitally restructuring how information is collected, shared and analyzed by brokers, carriers and policyholders, with the needs of the customer as the focus. In the process, the Lima, Peru-based insurtech sees significant savings for the insurance market over existing workflows, which today can involve managing multiple carrier requirements as well as a wide variety of information and document formats. Hello Zum is a Saas platform that sits in the middle of all stakeholders, organizing the information digitally. Its solution currently is live in Peru, and it is working with local and international insurance distributors—not only brokers, but also banks and department stores that sell insurance—carriers and regulators. Learn more about Hello Zum.
Insurance Agent App
Helping customers stay connected to their independent agents and helping agents get connected to the digital channel is the focus of Insurance Agent App. The Charlotte, N.C.-based company aims to put the insurance agent at the center of communication between policyholders and their insurers and, in the process, make independent agents more competitive with direct writers and captive agents. Insurance Agent App recently was named winner of the 2017 ACORD Insurance Innovation Challenge for Startups/Disruptors. Judges recognized the company for a pilot program with Selective Insurance that allows a policyholder to transmit to its insurer directly via the app a first notice of loss that automatically keeps the independent agent in the loop on the claim, using ACORD data and real-time messaging standards. Providing claims notification will join a suite of services that policyholders can access with the app. Agents using the app also gain software tools to better communicate and manage customer relationships and integrate with agency management systems. Learn more about Insurance Agent App.
Neosurance
Neosurance hopes to make insurance more relevant to the lives of consumers by presenting coverage offers at the right time and right place using push notifications in a mobile app. The initial focus of Milan, Italy-based Neosurance is on-demand protection for travel-related risks, including lost baggage protection and medical coverage while traveling abroad. The company applies behavioral science and machine learning technology, along with smartphone sensors and contextual data, to identify when to present an offer, such as when a user is at an airport, not when a ticket is purchased months earlier. Neosurance uses a B2B2C model, aiming to serve digital communities of users, such as associations, rather than directly sign up individuals. Additional use cases for its solution beyond travel are in development. Learn more about Neosurance.
Pindrop
Pindrop provides anti-fraud and authentication solutions that help insurance call centers reduce the risk of false claims and fraud attacks originating in the call center. Atlanta-based Pindrop technology goes beyond caller ID and knowledge-based answers that call centers typically use to authenticate customers. Pindrop multi-factor technology can pinpoint where callers are coming from and what device they are using and generate risk scores to authenticate callers and reduce potential fraud. For insurers, the solution minimizes the risk of someone using a phone to, for example, make fraudulent claims, cancel policies or take over accounts. It also improves efficiency and satisfaction by reducing the time it takes to authenticate and serve customers. Learn more about Pindrop.
The Innovators to Watch honorees are drawn from among the thousands of insurtech companies that are featured in Innovator’s Edge, a technology platform created by ITL to drive strategic connections between insurance providers and insurtech innovators. From this growing pool, only those companies that have completed their Market Maturity Review—a series of modules designed to help insurers conduct baseline due diligence on the innovator and make a more informed connection—are eligible to be considered for Innovators to Watch, helping them to stand out in this crowded diverse field.
If you are insurtech innovator that has not yet taken advantage of Innovator’s Edge to boost your company’s visibility to the insurance market, we encourage you to get started today. Contact us at info@insurancethoughtleadership.com if you have any questions.
