We are pleased to announce the launch of The InsurTech Fund (the “Fund”,www.insurtechfund.com), a partnership of PLG Venture Capital, LLC (PLGVC), and InsurTech NY (ITNY). 

PLGVC is a New York-based venture capital firm with over 70 years of combined experience among its partners as operators, investors, and entrepreneurs in the financial services sector, including insurance.

ITNY is a leading ecosystem of insurtech innovation, supporting startups through an annual pitch competition and an annual accelerator program.  ITNY also hosts public events throughout the year and an annual insurtech conference every March.

The Fund will invest in early-stage companies from seed through series A. The team will focus on investments in the insurance sector in the U.S. and Canada.  For more information, please contact Erick Pereda at erick@plgvc.com.

InsurTech NY, the largest InsurTech community in North America, announced today its second growth-stage InsurTech accelerator cohort.

15 startups were chosen to participate in the hybrid virtual and in-person insurance accelerator program. The program will provide resources to help startups with traction, talent, and financing. Founders will work with insurers seeking to provide risk capital to digital MGAs and to pilot new technologies.

“We are proud to welcome our second cohort into the program to accelerate their growth,” said David Gritz, InsurTech NY Managing Director. “They are fortunate to be supported by a strong alumni base that has already raised more than $210 million of follow-on funding and completed one acquisition.”

Selected startups include:

Life, Health, and Benefits Lines: 360F, Amplify, Bright Dime, Manifest, PerfectQuote, Spring, Sqwire, and Trusty.care

Property and Casualty Lines: Humn.ai, Innoveo, JAUNTIN’, Joshu, Safely, Steadily, and a stealth startup

“The hybrid accelerator format made it possible for Amplify, a San Francisco Bay Area startup, to access the global network organized by InsurTech NY,” said Hanna Wu, Co-founder of Amplify. “We will seize the opportunity to collaborate with the program mentors to accomplish our mission — enabling the next generation to build wealth through permanent life insurance.”

For traction, more than 30 members and mentors from insurance carriers and brokers will work closely with startups to establish partnerships and support investment. Participating startups had the opportunity to participate in 2 full days of networking and education in New York City on September 22 and 23. The program will continue to run virtually until its culmination at a Demo Day in NYC on November 16. 

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.

NEW YORK, NY, July 19, 2020 — InsurTech NY, the largest InsurTech community in North America, announced today that they will be conducting a benchmark study on Corporate Venture Capital.

InsurTech NY has partnered with the IQONIC Hub for Entrepreneurship Research & Education at Tilburg University in the Netherlands to study the organizational structure, best practices, and common themes across insurance carrier and broker affiliated corporate venture groups.

The research will be aggregated, anonymized, and shared at the Corporate Forum organized by InsurTech NY on September 21 in New York City. The IQONIC Hub for Entrepreneurship Research will analyze the data and compare it to their existing body of research on corporate venturing across several industries including broader financial services.

“The corporate venture community in insurance is one of the fastest forming investment groups. Insurance industry venture capital went from near non-existence in 2013 to more than 200 insurance entities having made investments in startups today,” said David Gritz, Managing Director at InsurTech NY. “We want to learn from the segment’s rapid growth over the past decade and apply the learnings to future initiatives.”

“The IQONIC Hub for Entrepreneurship Research is one of the only academic institutions worldwide to dedicate research efforts to understanding corporate venturing,” said Joshua Eckblad, Director of the IQONIC Hub for Entrepreneurship Research. “My research focuses on the practices of corporate venturing units and on the knowledge flows between large established firms and startups. InsurTech is one of the true examples of a symbiotic relationship between incumbents and startup firms working together to grow the industry.”

The research study will include a range of participants from super-regional carriers to Top 5 carriers and brokers. It will include a variety of portfolios, from insurers who have made ad-hoc off-the-balance sheet investments to established corporate venture funds working on their second or third funds.

“NFP Ventures is excited to contribute to this body of research,” said Adam Blumencranz, VP at NFP Ventures. “We are preparing to launch our second fund with NFP and additional capital partners, and the insights we gain from this aggregate research will help us refine investment themes and internal best practices.”

“Transverse started as a venture investor off its balance sheet and now has a venture capital group and special purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC) to help augment our value proposition to Digital MGAs,” said Mark Hong, Managing Director at Transverse Insurance. “Better understanding our peers will help us to continue to expand our platform to provide the optimal mix of services for our InsurTech partners.”

The assessment can be found at https://cvc2021.paperform.co.

About InsurTech NY

InsurTech NY is an international gateway to bring together the insurance innovation community. It brings together carriers, brokers, investors, and InsurTech startups via educational and networking events, a competition, and an accelerator. InsurTech NY’s mission is to accelerate corporate innovation, drive talent to insurance, make regulation innovation-friendly, and improve access to investment. See more at www.insurtechny.com or follow us on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/insurtechny).

About Tilburg University IQONIC Hub for Entrepreneurship Research & Education

The IQONIC Hub for Entrepreneurship Research & Education offers 12 programs, including a physical Creativity Studio on the Tilburg University Campus in the Netherlands and the Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation (E&BI) Bachelor’s degree program. See more on corporate venturing research at: https://www.corporateventuringresearch.org/

NEW YORK, NY, July 7, 2020 — InsurTech NY, the largest InsurTech community in North America, announced today that it will be accepting applications for its growth-stage InsurTech accelerator.

The application window will be open from July 7 to August 2 and applications will be accepted through the InsurTech NY website. The program is designed for growth-stage companies, with an existing customer base, in funding stages between Seed and Series B. Last year, applications were accepted from over 20 countries.

“The InsurTech NY program is built for the moment in time when startups are transitioning from surviving mode to thriving mode”, said David Gritz, InsurTech NY Managing Director. “InsurTechs from our past cohort have gone on to raise over $100 million in follow-on funding and find fruitful partnerships with our carrier and broker partners. This cohort will have the same opportunity.”

The accelerator will follow a “no-fluff” model providing InsurTechs support in the areas they need to scale – market traction, recruiting talent, and raising funds. The program will provide startups with access to insurance carriers and brokers looking to provide capacity and reinsurance and to identify software solutions to their technology challenges. Cohort members have the opportunity to meet rockstar InsurTech founders who have taken their companies public or sold their companies. 

“The InsurTech NY accelerator provides a unique formula for matchmaking that supports carrier core initiatives and removes the bloat of typical time-consuming accelerator programs,” said Steve Bernardez, Partner at Avanta Ventures, the venture capital arm of CSAA Insurance Group. “We look forward to the opportunity to work with InsurTech NY to spot our next unicorn investments and partnership opportunities for CSAA Insurance Group.”

The program will feature more than 20 carriers, brokers, and their affiliated venture arms including Avanta Ventures, CNO Financial, Gallagher, Greenlight Re, Lockton, Nationwide, and Transverse. The 2021 cohort will run as a hybrid model, partially virtual and partially in-person over a six-week period. The program will close with a demo day to more than 20 dedicated InsurTech investors. InsurTechs can apply at insurtechny.com/accelerator.

About InsurTech NY

InsurTech NY is an international gateway to bring together the insurance innovation community. It brings together carriers, brokers, investors, and InsurTech startups via educational and networking events, a competition, and an accelerator. InsurTech NY’s mission is to accelerate corporate innovation, drive talent to insurance, make regulation innovation-friendly, and improve access to investment. See more at www.insurtechny.com or follow us on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/insurtechny).

NEW YORK, March 12, 2021 — InsurTech NY, announced the winners of its 2021 Early-Stage InsurTech Competition at the InsurTech Spring Conference. Winners were selected by judging panels grouped by their background – angel investors, venture capitalists, carrier and brokers, and the Bermuda BDA. The winners received prizes worth $200K in total.

Carrier/Broker Prize: Tide Foundation
VC Investor Prize: Loadsure
Angel Investor Prize: Delos Insurance
Bermuda BDA Prize: RemitRix

Over 120 eligible startups applied to the competition. Startups were eligible if they had less than $250,000 in annual revenue. The judges selected winners who showed the most commercial potential. The selection process employed 26 judges including Avanta Ventures, Greenlight Re, Nationwide Ventures, Transverse Insurance, Gallagher, MGV, SixThirty, Park City Angels, and Anthemis.

“We are proud to highlight the 2021 global winners,” said David Gritz, Managing Director of InsurTech NY. “Helping high-potential early-stage startups ‘get discovered’ is necessary to foster a dynamic and sustainable InsurTech ecosystem.”

“Programs like this provide a crucial platform for emerging technologies,” said Michael Loewy, co-founder of Tide Foundation. “We plan to use this exposure to strengthen our position in the insurance vertical and expand our technology to reduce global cyber liability.”

“We are excited and honored to be selected as the angel investor prize winner,” said Kevin Stein, CEO of Delos Insurance. “New MGAs in markets like ours benefit from broad exposure because we can help provide new products for reinsurers, insurers, and brokers, and change the lives of policyholders that were non-renewed because of misclassification in wildfire zones.”

The four winners were selected from the top 13 finalists that presented at the InsurTech Spring Conference on March 10, 2021. The other nine original finalists included: Claimspace, Coastal Risk, Coverhero, Digisure, Dockflow, Finaeo, HealthyHealth, Safekeep, Startsure.

NEW YORK, Jan. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — InsurTech NY has opened the application window for their annual 2021 InsurTech Early-Stage Competition (www.insurtechny.com/competition).

The competition will award $200,000 in prizes to three winning teams. Startups will compete for the title of the company with the most commercial potential. Top teams will have the opportunity to present their business to a panel of judges at the InsurTech Spring Conference held March 10th-11th, co-hosted by InsurTech NY and InsurTech Hartford.

The finalists from last year’s competition gained investment and broad exposure to their business as a result of the competition. “The InsurTech NY competition has been a tremendous opportunity for us to get many more people excited about our unique offering,” said Itai Ben-Zaken, CEO of Agilius and winner of the 2020 early-stage competition.

Judges for the competition will be evaluating startups for potential investment or pilot opportunities. They comprise angel investors, venture capitalists, and insurance carriers including New York Angels, Park City Angels, Anthemis, Sure Ventures, Transverse, Nationwide, GreenlightRe, and Grange Insurance.

“The hardest part for any InsurTech is gaining the initial traction and relationships necessary to get to a first customer,” said David Gritz, co-founder of InsurTech NY. “By supporting the next crop of early-stage InsurTechs, we can create a sustainable ecosystem for insurance innovation.”

Early-stage companies eligible for the competition are InsurTechs that had less than $250,000 in revenue in 2020. The top 10 finalists will be invited to present at the InsurTech Spring Conference and will be announced in early March 2021. The deadline for submissions is January 29, 2021.

NEW YORK, Oct. 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — InsurTech NY, the largest InsurTech community in the New York metro area, announced today its growth-stage InsurTech accelerator cohort.

22 startups were selected to participate in its insurance carrier and broker sponsored program that focuses on providing resources to support traction, talent, and financing. The program will provide access to insurance carriers and brokers looking to deploy new technologies and provide financial backing to digital managing general agencies (MGAs).

“Our member carriers and brokers worked closely with us to hand-select startups that align with their organizational goals,” said David Gritz, InsurTech NY Managing Director. “The goal of the program is to help startups accelerate the process of building long-term strategic relationships and gain knowledge on the best way to do so.”

Selected startups include:

Life and Annuities Lines: Amenity Analytics, Best Fit, Breathe Life, Everyday Life, Fenris, Gerald App, Insurmi, IXN, Sensely, Sorcero, and Vymo

Property and Casualty Lines: Assurely, Dealer Policy, Ecopia, GradientAI, Guardhog, Harbor.ai, Honcho, Neural Metrics, Pinpoint Predictive, Relay, and TrustLayer

For traction, 18 member corporations will work closely with the startups to establish proof of concepts and partnerships. For talent acquisition, startups will be invited to present at the InsurTech Matchmaking Expo on Oct 29. For fundraising, startups will work with 17 insurance-focused corporate VCs, traditional VCs, and angel investors. The program will run for a total of six weeks, ending on November 12.

InsurTech NY, the largest InsurTech community in the New York metro area, announced today its Virtual Matchmaking Expo, the first dedicated virtual job fair and networking event for InsurTech startups and insurance industry professionals, to be held on October 29, 2020.

“In an environment of record unemployment, associations and technology-based communities need to step up and provide solutions,” said David Gritz, InsurTech NY Managing Director. “Hosting a virtual expo for InsurTechs is the safest and most effective way to match growing InsurTechs with prospective co-founders, executives, advisors, and board members.”

Research by InsurTech NY found that there are more than 1,500 advertised open positions at InsurTechs that are Series-A or later funding stages. These roles range from senior underwriters to data scientists to digital marketers. Behind the scenes, InsurTechs are also scouting for advisors and board members.

InsurTech NY has been a vital hub for the industry.  Its in-person and virtual events have grown and regularly attract thousands across the industry, including startups, carriers, investors, and other participants.

“We are actively hiring in our client solutions group from the insurance industry,” said Ben Caggia, Director of Talent Acquisition at Unqork, a no-code software platform. “The InsurTech NY Matchmaking Expo is an ideal way for us to discover talented individuals in the insurance industry to fill our roles.”

The Matchmaking Expo will be held virtually on a networking platform that creates a three-dimensional virtual environment where attendees can visit booths and dynamically join video conversations with exhibitors. InsurTechs participating in the Expo will be able to host a virtual booth and dedicated interviewing table to meet prospective new hires, advisors, or board members.

The program will feature association and educational partners including NAAIA New York, Advisen, Quesnay, St. John’s University, InsurTech Hartford, Insurance Underwriters, and CT Innovations. For more information about the Expo visit insurtechny.com/event_program/expo/

NEW YORK, July 21, 2020 — InsurTech NY, the largest InsurTech community in the New York metro area, announced today that it will be accepting applications for its growth-stage InsurTech accelerator.

The application window will be open from July 21 to August 17 and applications will be accepted through the InsurTech NY website. The program will focus on growth-stage startups that have existing customers and range in funding stage between Seed and Series B. It will be open to InsurTechs around the world.

“The InsurTech NY accelerator will focus on the critical moment in time for startups when they are crossing the chasm,” said David Gritz, InsurTech NY Managing Director. “Many InsurTechs are able to build a product and get their initial customers; however, the true test is how to scale their business. Our program is about helping InsurTechs to get to scale.”

The accelerator will focus on three areas necessary for InsurTechs to scale: market traction, talent acquisition, and raising funds. The program will provide access to insurance carriers and brokers looking to deploy new technologies and provide financial backing to digital managing general agencies (MGAs).

“The New York ecosystem has all the requisite infrastructure to lead the next wave of digital transformation in insurance,” said Erik Matson, CEO of Transverse Insurance. “We look forward to working with the accelerator to support the next crop of digital MGAs and transformative InsurTech solutions.”

The program will feature more than 15 carriers and broker members including Arch Capital, Flagship Insurance, Greenlight Re, Nassau, Nationwide, Lincoln Financial Group, Gallagher, Newton Insurance, Swiss Re, Transverse, Sompo, and Pacific Life. The October cohort will run virtually for twelve days over a six week period. InsurTechs can apply at insurtechny.com/accelerator.