Ready for take off: How InsurTech start-ups are poised to transform insurance

By Chris Smith

It is the second year of our collaboration with Startupbootcamp InsurTech. Last year we predicted that the InsurTech sector had the potential to be ‘transformational for the wider insurance industry’. Is it living up to this prediction? We think it is.

Our joint report with Startupbootcamp provides insight into the InsurTech sector based on the 633 applications the accelerator received last year and our position at the heart of the InsurTech world.

Fasten your seat belts

And that insight suggests that InsurTech is ready for take-off. We are not only seeing more start-ups but we are seeing increasingly sophisticated start-ups. They are now offering solutions across the insurance value chain and they are more closely aligned to what insurers are looking for. A thriving ecosystem has emerged through collaboration and it is well placed to help InsurTechs improve the insurance experience for customers as well as improve the bottom line for insurers.

InsurTech is still a young sector, but the remarkable rise we’ve seen reflects the pace of change that is the new normal in the world today. This pace of change is the reason the insurance industry must be agile and jump at the opportunity that InsurTech presents to deliver for the good of all - new entrants, incumbents and - most importantly - customers.

Our key findings include: 

• A second wave of InsurTech start-ups is emerging, tackling more complex and wide-ranging problems that are more closely aligned to insurers’ needs;
• Insurers have recognised that collaboration is the best way to release value, both in terms of growing revenue and reducing costs. In 2016, just 28% of insurers were exploring partnerships to work with InsurTech, but in 2017 45% are directly engaging in such partnerships;
• Collaboration is not a smooth process, but both sides – start-ups and insurers – are learning quickly;
• Start-ups are using emerging technologies more regularly with artificial intelligence as a focus;
• InsurTech is still not attracting the diverse talent it needs. Just one in six (16%) of the individuals driving the start-ups applying to Startupbootcamp InsurTech in 2017 were women;
• Collaboration could become disruption, if insurers or start-ups struggle to deliver value and lose patience within the window of opportunity.

If you would like to read the full report, you can download it here. Please feel free to get in contact with me if you have any questions on the findings or insights, I’d love to hear from you!

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Comments

[Daryl]

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