InsTech - insurance & innovation with Matthew Grant & Robin Merttens

Traditional insurers’ minimum premiums, small transactions and subsequent inability to absorb clients’ portfolio volatility leave MGAs vulnerable. Accelerant provides insurance capacity, technology and investment for MGAs in property and casualty insurance. Jeff Radke, Co-founder and CEO of Accelerant, speaks to Matthew about the role of Accelerant in championing the latest technology and supporti...

PitchBook is a financial data and software company that provides insights on private and public markets to help clients better evaluate opportunities. Robert Le, a Fintech Analyst at PitchBook, talks about how it gathers, defines and categorises different sources of information in its databases. He reviews what public market investors expect from insurtech and established technology companies and...

While weather-related catastrophic events are on the rise, insurance policies and federal aid are still inaccessible for many globally. Jonathan Gonzalez is the CEO and co-founder of Raincoat, a platform to support insurers in the development and distribution of parametric insurance solutions for consumers in at-risk countries and regions. He joins Matthew on Podcast 183 to explain how scalable pa...

The healthcare industry has faced monumental changes over the past two years, with the pandemic affecting both the provision of services and consumer behaviour. Increased demand and Covid-19 lockdowns led to the acceleration of digital health technology, which in turn is now presenting fresh challenges and opportunities for insurers. Robin talks to Joan Cuscó , Global Head of Transformation at MAP...

Jupiter Intelligence has achieved rapid growth since its launch five years ago and is now providing analytics on the impact of climate change to insurers, governments, and corporations worldwide. CEO and Co-founder Rich Sorkin joins Matthew to discuss how his experience of extreme weather events motivated him to launch the company. Their conversation covers the products and services Jupiter offers...

Data has never been so important or abundant in insurance but finding the right information is still a major challenge for insurers. That has led to opportunities for companies like VIPR, which is providing extraction and ingestion solutions to help standardise data from third parties and creating analytics to improve underwriting accuracy. CEO  Paul Templar  joins Matthew on Podcast 180 to discus...

Alex Hearn, founder of insurance news and insights platform Slipcase, joins Matthew on Podcast 179 to share his experience of growing a successful business. Formerly a broker at Willis, Alex left the company to develop a digital environment to connect insurance industry professionals. The result, Slipcase, is now an established platform collating and sharing information from insurers, brokers, and...

Thousands of UK property claims are made every year related to unseen perils below ground, with climate change already increasing the risks facing homeowners and insurers. Dr Tim Farewell is the Director of Science and Communications at Terrafirma, a Dye & Durham Solution, and one of the UK’s leading authorities on ground risks. He joins Matthew on Podcast 178 to discuss what is causing the proble...

Embedded insurance was one of the hot topics of 2021, with a growing number of successful propositions emerging that target potential customers with insurance at the point of purchase. ARMD is one of a crop of new companies putting embedded insurance into action. It offers theft and damage insurance to UK tradespeople purchasing tools through its online shop and supplies IoT sensors to help protec...

For start-ups and scale-ups, funding is the fuel for growth. But after a record-breaking year for insurtech investment, what can we expect to see in the investment space in 2022? Ruth Foxe Blader and Matthew Jones from venture capital investor Anthemis join Matthew to discuss the current financial markets and the opportunities that are attracting investors right now. Talking points include: Assess...

With climate-related risk becoming a top priority for insurers, Podcast 175 examines where the industry is right now in terms of identifying the specific challenges and opportunities ahead. Matthew talks to Katie Lennon, Head of ESG, UK & Lloyd's at AXA XL, about how processes for measuring and managing climate impact are developing. The conversation covers how Environmental, Social and Governance...

As the financial risks from climate change continue to increase, insurers are having to come to terms with both the short-term impact of large catastrophe events and new regulatory requirements. Podcast 174 features insights from our Climate Change Risks and Opportunities Today live event, sponsored by S&P Global Market Intelligence, which focused on practical solutions and real examples of how in...

Matthew talks to author, coach, and speaker Bryan Falchuk on Podcast 173 about his background in insurance and insurtech, and the innovation challenges for insurers and start-ups in 2022. Bryan began his career at Liberty Mutual Insurance and worked for Beazley, McKinsey and Hiscox before branching out as an author. His two books titled The Future of Insurance look at the lessons learned by incumb...

What can the insurance industry expect in 2022? We’ve gathered a panel of 16 innovation experts to give us their predictions for the year ahead. Podcast 172, sponsored by Fadata , covers topics, themes and opportunities including the insurtech investment scene (valuations and opportunities), increase in mergers & acquisitions activity, ESG and climate change, operational excellence, talent war, cr...

Matthew and Robin wave goodbye to 2021 by reflecting on some of the key insurance, insurtech and innovation themes from the past 12 months. Their Partners’ Chat - New Year special includes thoughts on a record year for insurtech investment, why now is a good time to be an MGA, and predictions for data and technology developments in 2022. Talking points include:  Unicorns, angels and securing early...

InsTech London was really pleased to be involved in a panel discussion on Allyship in the workplace hosted by The Camelot Network’s Inclusion & Diversity Think Tank and sponsored by Genasys. The diverse panel explained what Allyship is, how to action it and the impact it can have in creating a truly inclusive society. The speakers include: Rebekah Bostan – Director of Research and Insight, InsTech...

The global pandemic and the shutdown of the Suez Canal in March highlighted the importance of the global supply chain and the risks involved in shipping goods around the world.  Tracking what happens at sea is a major challenge, however, innovations in data and technology are now allowing insurers and businesses to track ship and cargo movements from start to finish.  Matthew is joined on Podcast...

In October 2021, Getsafe extended its Series B funding round to $93 million, including investment from Swiss Re. The start-up is now a fully licensed insurer in Germany and operates as an MGA in the UK, targeting younger generations with personal lines insurance products. Robin talks to co-founder and CEO Christian Wiens about how Getsafe has scaled since being founded in 2015, the company's plans...

This week, we’re bringing you the highlights from our recent live event featuring companies providing and using near real time hazard data to speed up claims handling, reduce costs and provide more accurate underwriting. Data is only any good if it can be easily embedded in the workflow - so we get practical and specific with all our guests to explore real case studies and challenges they have ove...

When it comes to innovation, claims technology has not always got the level of focus it deserves. That situation is changing though with several companies, including this week’s podcast guest, providing new technology solutions to speed up and improve claims processes. Matthew talks to Jeremy Hyams , CEO and founder of Claims Consortium Group, about building a claims service provider, innovating a...

Descartes Underwriting, founded in 2018, has scaled quickly to provide parametric insurance against climate risks to corporate clients around the world. Co-founder & Head of Underwriting Sébastien Piguet joins Matthew on Podcast 165 to discuss trends in parametric insurance and Descartes' experiences with its clients. Talking points include: Why some corporates are replacing indemnity policies wit...

Start-ups looking to sell insurance products often struggle to secure the insurance capacity from incumbent (re)insurers they need as a managing general agent (MGA). Ensuro is piloting an alternative source of insurance capital: using cryptocurrency funds from investors, locked in smart contracts on a blockchain, to underwrite risks. Founder and CEO Marco Mirabella joins InsTech London's Henry Gal...

The Managing General Agent (MGA) model has become a successful way for many insurtech startups to establish themselves, but the subject of this week’s podcast is a bit different to other MGAs in the marketplace. Pen Underwriting was created by bringing together 12 companies in 2014. Its work covers claims, pricing, and distribution with more than £650 million in gross written premium per year. Chi...

We're bringing you the highlights and key insights from our property risk event at The Steel Yard in London. ‘Property Risk - What’s New and What Works?’ brought together experts in flood forecasting, digital twins, rebuild costs, remote assessment and more, to discuss new data and analytics solutions that are helping insurers understand the physical characteristics and risks of properties. The ep...

Liberty Mutual Insurance is a global insurance company that embraces innovation, with a strong track record of building successful partnerships with technology companies. Matthew talks to Brendan Smyth, SVP, Global Risk Solutions Innovation, and Premal Gohil, Head of Innovation Partnerships & Investments, to understand how Liberty approaches innovation projects and works with third parties to unde...