Insurtech company, Hippo, has raised $14 million in a Series A funding round led by Horizons Ventures; firm provides online home insurance offerings at a more affordable market price due to its online business model and direct to consumer offerings; says its policies are customized to meet the needs of modern lifestyles; plans to use the funding for product development and marketing for its launch to customers in California in 2017. Source
Lemonade has raised $34 million in a Series B funding round led by General Catalyst; the Series B round brings the total funding to $60 million; the company plans to use the funding for state expansion with California as its next target. Source
The insurtech industry is expected to grow significantly in 2017; insurtech startups are increasingly seeking to take advantage of a $4.5 trillion industry through new offerings and technological innovation; big data, Internet of Things, mobile technology, artificial intelligence, social networking and blockchain are some of the technologies driving startups in insurtech; Let's Talk Payments provides a list of 101 insurtech companies currently evolving in the insurtech business. Source
Opportunities to utilize technology in the insurance market are increasingly abounding and one area of the market that could benefit from greater technological innovation is the market for healthcare asset management; healthcare providers track an abundance of data on drugs and healthcare services; they are also creating new funds; third party service providers and asset managers are currently working to utilize this data as well as support healthcare investments; many of the processes connecting healthcare companies and third party service providers have yet to be fully explored by financial innovation and could be highly profitable for financial technology companies. Source
In a press release this week, marketplace lender, SoFi, provided more details on its partnership with Protective and announced the launch of a new term life insurance offering for millennials; product provides life insurance for up to $1 million and features a 20 minute application and approval process. Source
Juniper Research has released a study titled, "Fintech Futures: Market Disruption, Leading Innovators & Emerging Opportunities 2016-2021"; study finds that fintech platform revenues generated from supporting the insurance industry will total approximately $175 billion in 2016; the analysis projects that these platform revenues will grow at an annual rate of 34% with revenue of $235 billion globally by 2021; Juniper Research says growth will be driven by machine learning, increased use of mobile apps and blockchain technology. Source
New insurtech startup, Zensurance, has raised $1 million in seed funding from Ferst Capital Partners; the funds will be used to help grow the business and hire new employees; Zensurance is an online commercial insurance broker which offers a full range of products to small businesses, with a particular focus on digitizing businesses and technology startups. Source
Two of Europe's largest incumbent insurance companies, Munich Re and Allianz SE, have begun investing in insurance startups; the deals show that insurance giants are beginning to see how technology is affecting their industry and they want to get in early; currently the focus has been on small investments into many companies; the startups focus on different areas of the market like insuring mobile phones or small electronics; similar to banks, it is worth keeping an eye on how insurance companies handle disruption and innovation. Source
Insurance and insurtech companies are seeking synergies in the industry as technology is evolving; at the Intelligent InsurTech Europe conference this week in London, industry participants discussed the many ways companies are partnering and developing new services; the industry conference revealed many large companies are investing in insurtech through incubators and direct investment; in-house innovation labs are also a prevalent trend occurring with large insurance companies; most large insurance companies are finding it important to partner and invest with insurtech companies in order to stay current with the industry’s evolving landscape. Source
The Chinese insurance market has doubled in size the last six years and according to China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) it will grow on average 13% for the next four years; these growth numbers will allow for technology disrupters to enter the space and for the insurance market to be transformed; the market is split into three different segments, which include online delivery of traditional insurance, technological upgrades to products and new ecosystem oriented products from insurtech startups; though there is tremendous opportunity, the key question will be, do the state-owned enterprises and traditional insurers create their own tech or partner and absorb these new firms. Source