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.

NEW YORK, NY, June 24, 2020 — InsurTech NY, the largest InsurTech community in the New York metro area, announced today the upcoming launch of the InsurTech NY Accelerator, the first dedicated NYC-based accelerator for growth-stage InsurTech startups.

Scheduled to begin operations in October, the accelerator will start taking applications from growth-stage startups that have revenue and customers in late July.

“Growth stage InsurTechs will benefit from a dedicated advocate to help them navigate the partnership process with insurance carriers and brokers,” said David Gritz, InsurTech NY Managing Director. “Our community has been there to support the needs of the InsurTech ecosystem. We are pleased to introduce a platform for those that want to rapidly expand their business through our partners.”

InsurTech NY Accelerator will focus on the three things that matter most to growth-stage InsurTechs: 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).

“New York is known as the home to three InsurTech unicorns: Lemonade, Oscar, and Policy Genius,” said Paul Tyler, CMO of Nassau Re. “We hope to use the InsurTech NY platform to find and support the next set of InsurTech unicorns.”

The initial carriers and brokers in the program include Arch Capital, Flagship Insurance, Greenlight Re, Nassau Re, Nationwide, Swiss Re, Transverse Insurance, and five others to be announced. Participating corporations will rotate in hosting InsurTechs during the program. The first cohort will run for six weeks, and InsurTech startups will not give up equity to be part of the program.

About InsurTech NY

InsurTech NY supports the insurance innovation community in the New York metro area. InsurTech NY brings together carriers, brokers, investors, and InsurTech startups via bi-monthly programs. InsurTech NY’s mission is to drive talent to insurance, make regulation innovation-friendly, attract InsurTechs to the New York metro area, and improve access to investment. See more at www.insurtechny.com/accelerator or follow us on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/company/insurtechny).

Contact: David Gritz

press@insurtechny.com

212-634-9516

InsurTech NY, the largest InsurTech community in the New York metro area, announced the winners of its 2020 InsurTech Competition (insurtechny.com/competition).  An expert panel selected six InsurTech startups out of 200 applicants and 20 finalists at the InsurTech NY Spring Conference.  The winners received prizes totaling $300K across two tracks: early and growth-stage companies.

Agilius, a commercial real estate insurance startup took the top prize in the early-stage category, along with Prostosure and Sigo, which ranked second and third, respectively. The winners for the growth-stage were Matterport, a 3D technology company, which ranked first, and Deadhappy and Weathercheck, tied for second place.

“Congratulations to the winners of this year’s InsurTech NY competition,” said David Gritz, Co-founder of InsurTech NY. “Insurance technology is one of the most robust and underserved investment areas, and competitions such as these highlight the most impressive companies that are pushing this industry forward.”

Over 200 startups applied to the competition. The selection process employed 24 judges from across the insurance value chain representing companies including NY Life Ventures, CT Innovation, Anthemis, Guardian Life Ventures, Plug and Play, Greenlight Re, and IA Capital.

“We are excited and humbled to win first place in the early-stage competition track,” said Itai Ben-Zaken, co-founder and CEO of Agilius. “InsurTech NY has been a tremendous opportunity for us to get many more people excited about our unique offering.”

“The InsurTech competition and exposure at the conference will help us solidify our position in the insurance vertical, a relatively new and exciting space for Matterport,” said Tomer Poran, director of business development. “Our 3D mapping technology is empowering adjusters, risk engineers, and contractors to be more accurate and efficient.”

About InsurTechNY
InsurTech NY supports the insurance innovation community in the New York metro area. Founded in 2019, InsurTech NY brings together carriers, brokers, investors, and InsurTech startups via bi-monthly programs. InsurTech NY’s mission is to drive talent to insurance, make regulation innovation-friendly, provide infrastructure to InsurTechs, and improve access to investment. Learn more at www.insurtechny.com or follow us on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/insurtechny).

Media Contact: 
David Gritz
236611@email4pr.com 
215-650-9400

Over 200 startups applied to compete in a two-track competition, pitting early and growth-stage companies against each other, for over $300,000 in prizes. Contestants are vying to be the most investable and the best carrier and broker partners respectively.

The selection process employed 24 judges from across the insurance value chain representing companies including NY Life Ventures, CT Innovation, Anthemis, Guardian Life Ventures, Plug and Play, Greenlight Re, and IA Capital.

“Our team was impressed by the startups in the competition this year,” said Adam Blumencranz, Vice President at NFP Ventures. “They rival the top startups we find in our scouting process.”

“Insurtech is one of the most robust and diverse areas of investment in today’s business climate, and this competition is a great way to meet exciting companies, make a difference in their success, and help advance the industry,” said David Gritz, Co-founder of InsurTech NY.

The finalists represent an assortment of ventures across the globe spanning technologies from artificial intelligence to cloud, big data, and no-code in life, health, and property/casualty industries:

Early-stage: JAUNTIN, Sigo Insurance, Micruity, Atidot, Agilius, WOOP!, Protosure, AdaptReady, SAIVE, and Kiwi Insure

Growth-stage: Zelros, WeatherCheck, Planckdata, DeadHappy, Pharm3r, Matterport Insurance, INSHUR, Wenalyze, EasySend, and Quick Insured

The finalists will present on March 19th at the InsurTech NY Spring 2020 Conference (insurtechny-mar19.eventbrite.com). Judges will select the winners for the early-stage and the growth-stage tracks.

About InsurTechNY

InsurTech NY supports the insurance innovation community in the New York metro area. Founded in 2019, InsurTech NY brings together carriers, brokers, investors, and InsurTech startups via bi-monthly programs. InsurTech NY’s mission is to drive talent to insurance, make regulation innovation-friendly, attract InsurTechs to the New York metro area, and improve access to investment. Learn more at www.insurtechny.com or follow us on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/insurtechny).

Contact: David Gritz
235387@email4pr.com 
215-650-9400