Octo Telematics, the the London-based provider of telematics for the auto insurance industry, announced it has completed its acquisition of the usage-based insurance (UBI) assets of Willis Towers Watson, which was announced on Oct. 11, 2017.
The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
This acquisition includes Willis Towers Watson’s DriveAbility solution and the DriveAbility Marketplace. Additionally, Geoff Werner, global telematics leader, will join Octo, reporting directly to Fabio Sbianchi, CEO of Octo.
DriveAbility aggregates and analyzes telematics and insurance data to provide a driving score to assist insurers to design, score, issue and bind telematics-based insurance policies, explained Octo.
Octo will form a strategic alliance with Willis Towers Watson, focusing on advancing UBI data analytics through algorithms and tools to provide insights to the insurance industry. The alliance will be led by Octo, under the guidance of an advisory board, chaired by Werner.
From Octo, Gianfranco Giannella, chief operating officer, and Jonathan Hewett, chief marketing officer, will serve on the board, alongside Willis Towers Watson personnel Duncan Anderson, global leader, Insurance Technology, and Tom Coughlin, national partner, Willis Towers Watson North America.
UBI policies will reach nearly 100 million worldwide by 2020, said Octo, quoting statistics from Ptolemus. In addition, PWC has predicted sales of connected car products will increase almost four times between 2015 and 2020, adding more than US$149 billion in revenues in the passenger car segment alone, Octo said, noting that 5.3 million cars are now connected to its platform.
“The increased amount of data being gathered means that more information than ever before must be analyzed swiftly and accurately through AI and algorithm technology in order to provide insurers with actionable intelligence,” said Fabio Sbianchi, CEO, Octo Telematics.
“DriveAbility is a welcome addition to the Octo product suite and the work we do with Willis Towers Watson will allow us to continue to build an insurtech ecosystem that provides ever-greater technological advantages to insurers,” he added.
Alice Underwood, global leader, Insurance Consulting and Technology, Willis Towers Watson said: “We are looking forward to working with Octo and continuing to pioneer the use of big data analytics for UBI. By combining the capabilities of our two companies, we will work together to develop the industry and open new markets, especially with the growth that is predicted in the UBI segment. This work in the field of data analysis will enable the driverless cars of the future.”
Source: Octo Telematics
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