Latest InsurTech Headlines

All the headlines from our InsurTech Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Willis Towers Watson, Tech Firm Roost to Form Home Telematics Testing Consortium

May 31 2017 // Global insurance consultant Willis Towers Watson is partnering with technology firm Roost to establish a claims data sharing consortium to help insurers test the effectiveness of water and fire smart home technologies. The...

High Agency Valuations ‘Not a Fad,’ MarshBerry Exec Tells Conference

May 31 2017 // Valuations of insurance agencies are as high as they have ever been and there does not appear to be any lessening of interest among suitors, according to an industry mergers-and-acquisitions (M&A) consultant. John...

Munich Re, Aviva Ventures Invest in UK Connected Home Insurer Neos

May 30 2017 // Neos, a UK connected home insurer, announced last week it has secured a £5 million (roughly $6.4 million) series A investment led by Aviva Ventures together with strategic partner Munich Re. The strategic investment...

Toyota, MIT Lab Eye Using Blockchain in Insurance Rating of Driverless and Shared Vehicles

May 23 2017 // The Toyota Research Institute (TRI) is exploring blockchain and distributed ledger technology (BC/DL) for use in the development of driverless cars. TRI is collaborating with the MIT Media Lab and other industry partners...

UK Insurer Ageas Uses Artificial Intelligence to Manage Motor Claims

May 19 2017 // UK insurer Ageas has begun to use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to help manage its motor claims in partnership with AI specialist Tractable. In what it describes as “a first” for the UK market, Ageas...

Zurich Insurance Deploys Robots for Personal Injury Claims Handling

May 18 2017 // Zurich Insurance is deploying artificial intelligence in deciding personal injury claims after trials cut the processing time from an hour to just seconds, its chairman said. “We recently introduced AI claims...

AXA Launches Unit Focusing on Innovation, New Business Models with Phillips as CEO

May 17 2017 // AXA has appointed Joyce Phillips as chief executive officer of a new business unit dedicated to customer innovation and new business models. Phillips becomes a member of the management committee of AXA Group and reports...

AIG Agrees to Acquire Hamilton USA, Partner with Two Sigma, Grow Insurtech Attune

May 15 2017 // American International Group Inc. will acquire Hamilton USA as part of a memorandum of understanding with Hamilton Insurance Group and Two Sigma Insurance Quantified that is designed to further their investment in the...

Manufacturing’s Share of Workers’ Comp Premium Is High Relative to Exposure: NCCI

May 15 2017 // In 2016 in the United States, the manufacturing sector produced nearly 72 percent more goods than in 1990, but manufacturers achieved that milestone with only about 70 percent of the workers that were on factory floors two...

Tech Talk: How to Use Digital Body Language

May 15 2017 // “When the eyes say one thing, and the tongue another, a practiced man relies on the language of the first.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson Agents pride themselves on their sales skills — to meet a prospect...

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty Partners with Insurtech Firm to ID Liability Risks

May 11 2017 // Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE (AGCS), the corporate insurance unit of Allianz SE, is working with Praedicat, the Los Angeles-based insurtech analytics firm, to better predict key catastrophe liability...

Bunker, Startup Broker for Small Business, Contractor Insurance, Raises $6 Million

May 11 2017 // Bunker, a startup digital insurance broker focused on independent contractors and small businesses, has raised $6 million in Series A funding that will help fuel product development and expansion. Hiscox and American...

Startup Lemonade Enters California Homeowners, Renters Insurance Markets

May 10 2017 // Insurance startup Lemonade is now selling homeowners and renters insurance in California. California marks the third state of entry for the insurtech that is built on artificial intelligence and behavioral economics. It...

Will Technology Make Insurance Obsolete?

May 9 2017 // “Will technology make insurance obsolete?” That was the stark question posed by William Hartnett, a former Microsoft and ACORD executive, in his opening address to the 2017 Global Insurance Symposium, April...

Insurtech Slice Now Offering Homeshare Insurance in California

May 8 2017 // Slice Insurance Technologies, an insurtech company offering on-demand, short-term insurance coverage, is now selling its commercial lines insurance product for homesharing hosts in California. The California Department of...

Digital Property Inspection Startup Spex Gains J.S. Held as Backer

May 8 2017 // J.S. Held, a Jericho, N.Y.-based construction and property damage consulting firm, said it has become a majority owner in Spex, a digital property inspection and reporting platform for the property/casualty insurance...

Uber Builds Toronto AI Team, as It Awaits Outcome of Autonomous Car Lawsuit

May 8 2017 // Uber Technologies Inc., in the midst of legal battle with Alphabet Inc. over self-driving car technology, is building a new artificial intelligence team in Toronto to help improve its autonomous vehicle software. The team...

Startup Next Insurance Raises $29 Million from Insurers, Other Investors

May 3 2017 // Next Insurance, a digital insurance company for small to medium businesses, said it has raised $29 million in a Series A funding round led by Munich Re/HSB Ventures along with Markel, Nationwide and other existing...

Study Finds Insurtech Funding Dips as Startups Launch; Predicts Small Business Disruption Ahead

May 2 2017 // Total insurtech funding in the first quarter of 2017 was down, but the drop-off could be a result of the significant investments in 2016 now reaching the product launch phase, according to a report by Willis Towers Watson...

Virginia Tech Scientists: BP Oil Spill Caused $17.2B in Natural Resource Damage

May 1 2017 // The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill did $17.2 billion in damage to the natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico, a team of scientists recently found after a six-year study of the impact of the largest oil spill in U.S....