The index will assist InsurTech companies in selecting optimal partners

InsurTech NY, the leading resource for the InsurTech Community in the New York Metro Area, today announced the launch of its Insurance Collaboration Index™. Based on input from InsurTech executives, the index scores insurance and reinsurance companies on their willingness and ability to partner with startup insurance technology companies. It provides a rigorous and objective measure of how easy it is for a carrier and a startup to work together.

“InsurTech startups strive to attract the attention of a carrier or a reinsurer, but not all carriers and reinsurers are prepared to enter into a productive and ultimately successful partnership,” says David Gritz, InsurTech NY co-founder. “The Insurance Collaboration Index™ is a tool to help make all-important decisions about choosing and working with a partner. It also helps carriers understand their strengths and weaknesses, and what they need to do to be better partners.”

Carriers are evaluated on executive buy-in and sponsorship, competent project management, clear objectives, effective communications, and other factors. In addition to providing startups valuable input about potential partners, survey results will help carriers assess how prepared they are to work with startups across a wide range of criteria and offer insights to strengthen their policies and procedures.

Led by InsurTech NY founders Tony Lew and David Gritz, the project draws on the expertise of an advisory board representing a broad cross-section of the insurance and innovation ecosystems. Advisory board members include Scott Hawkins and Alan Walters, Conning; Bryan Falchuk, Insurance Evolution Partners; David Bradford, Iosis Consulting; Mark Gardella, Zephyr Innovation Advisors; Mike Fitzgerald, CB Insights; Irene Yang, Finesse Consulting; and Cynthia Hardy, Pivot Global Partners.

“I am pleased to see InsurTech NY undertake this important project,” says Avi Tuschman, founder of Pinpoint Predictive. “Not only will the Insurance Collaboration Index™ help technology companies like Pinpoint Predictive make smart decisions about their business partners, but the overall insurance industry will also benefit from more effective partnerships and increased innovation.”

Phase I of the project, which is now underway, is data collection. InsurTech NY is surveying executives from more than 200 InsurTech companies about their experiences working with various carriers and reinsurers. InsurTech executives are encouraged to participate in the survey, which can be found at https://index.paperform.co/. Survey participants will have early access to the results and will receive a customized report to help them optimize their choices of partners.

Since the beginning of the InsurTech wave in 2015, one theme has remained constant: “Distribution is King.”

The first InsurTech Startup Showcase in Silicon Valley at SVIA in 2015 featured Embroker (digital broker), Trov (embedded insurance), and Jumpstart (Earthquake focused MGA). In 2016, InsureTech Connect highlighted Lemonade’s CEO Daniel Schreiber as its keynote speaker.

The distribution thread continued as insurers like AXA, MunichRe, American Family, and SCOR developed labs and Corporate Venture groups to partner with and invest in evolving distribution models. American Family invested in Coverhound’s Series C. SCOR backed many of the rising stars including Branch and States Title. MunichRe incubated Tenzy, an internal project for embedded home insurance. And, AXA XL partnered with Slice to release an on-demand, cloud-based cyber insurance product.

Today, the Hudson Structured InsurTech Index (HPIX), which currently tracks 18 publicly traded InsurTechs, has become a bellwether for established InsurTechs. Of the 18 companies in the Index, 15 are primarily involved in distributing insurance.

To support the trend, InsurTech NY will be hosting an event focused on distribution on Oct 21. Learn about the evolution of distribution through marketplaces, internal innovations, cross-selling, and upgraded workflows. This event will take place in person in NYC and will be live streamed.

Full Event Details: https://distribution2021.eventbrite.com

Spotlight: See Us at InsureTech Connect (ITC)

The largest event in InsurTech is coming up in October. Everyone who is allowed to travel is planning on attending. You can find us at ITC in 2 places.

Innovation Alley – Find InsurTech NY Village in the Expo hall in the middle of Innovation Alley. Stop by and visit our startups who will have expo kiosks: BobTrak, Daylight, Gigaforce, Goose Insurance, OneClick Code, Pinpoint Predictive, Sensely, Stable Insurance, Verikai.

VIP Happy Hour – Join the number one ranked (on Google) ITC Happy Hour co-hosted by Airkit, Appian, Boost Insurance, Daylight, EIS Group, Microsoft, Relay, and Vymo. The Happy Hour will be at the Las Vegas Golf Center and Rockstar Bar. It includes unlimited food, drinks and golf at the range for attendees. You can only attend the event by receiving invites from the co-hosts listed above.

We have a couple remaining spaces for additional co-hosts. If you are interested please reach out to contact@insurtechny.com.

Upcoming InsurTech Community Events and Programs

Building Digital Distribution Channels
Oct 21 | 1:00PM – 6:00PM | New York (335 Madison Ave) + Virtual
– Featuring: CEO of Kin Insurance, CUO of Hippo, CMO of Nassau, and CEO of iptiQ Americas
– 4 High impact panels: Selling via InsurTech Marketplaces, Building Internal InsurTechs, Accelerating DIgital Workflows, and Reaching the Incremental Last Customer

Integrating Data to Save Lives – Wellness, Safety and ESG
Nov 16 | 5:30PM – 8:30PM | New York (23rd and 5th Ave) + Virtual
– Featuring: SwissRe Head of U/W Propositions, Marsh SVP, Casualty Advisor

InsurTech NY Sponsors

Thank you to our sponsors for supporting the community: Advantage Go, Appian, Avanta Ventures, Boost Insurance, Eversheds Sutherland, e2Value, EY, F-Secure, Levvel/Endava, and Locke Lord.

InsurTech New York Area Deals, Opportunities, and Partner Events

Discover a curated mix of August insurance financings, exits, partnerships, opportunities, and partner events on the East Coast.

InsurTech News and Deals

BriteCore ($20M Raised, Warburg Pincus): P&C. Web-based workflow management platform for agents and brokerages.

Sproutt ($26M Raised, MoreTech Ventures): Life Insurance. Wellness-based life insurance platform for fully underwritten products also offering simplified issue, and guaranteed issue life products.

Kalepa ($14M Raised, Inspired Capital and IA Ventures): Commercial Lines. AI based underwriting platform focused on decision support for existing underwriters.

DealerPolicy ($110M, Goldman Sachs): P&C Insurance: Embedded F&I platform providing automobile dealers a unified solution to cross sell additional products during the financing process.

Trustlayer ($15M, Craft Ventures): RPA and AI: Business focused automated verification system for reviewing insurance coverage and licenses.

Blueprint Title ($16M, Forté Ventures): Title Insurance: Native software platform offering streamlined title searching, documentation, underwriting, and policy issue.

Partner Events

Insurtech Pathways: How insurtech can scale into the US market (Sept 28): Register for virtual event hosted by InsurTech Australia here.

InsureTech Connect (Oct 4-6): Save $200 off published tickets, register here.