Insurtech weekly: Lemonade, Atidot, HSB, Getsafe, Willis Towers Watson

13 June 2019

Lemonade launches in Germany in partnership with Axa

Who’s involved: Lemonade, a US-headquartered property and casualty insurtech, which offers home and renters’ insurance; and Axa Germany, which is part of the Axa Group.

What’s happening: Lemonade has launched in Europe by entering the German market and partnering with Axa Germany. The partnership will offer contents and liability insurance to consumers in Germany.

Significance of development: Lemonade said Germany will be the first country to offerLemonade’s Policy 2.0, which it describes as a “consumer-friendly departure from the dense and dated policies available”.

The partnership with Axa Germany involves a multi-year reinsurance agreement to share insurance-related risk.

Timeline: With immediate effect.

 

Atidot partners with iPipeline for customer analytics

Who’s involved: US-headquarteredinsurtech Atidot, which offer data and predictive analytics tools for the life insurance industry.

What’s happening: Atidot has agreed an exclusive partnership with iPipeline, a US-headquartered provider of cloud-based software for the life insurance and financial services sector.

Significance of development: As part of the partnership,the InsureSight In-Force Service powered by Atidot, will be available as a module for iPipeline’s data and benchmarking product, in order to help insurers in North America better understand customer needs.

Timeline: With immediate effect.

 

HSB and CNA collaborate to offer IoT technology

Who’s involved: The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company (HSB), which is part of Munich Re; and commercial property and casualty insurer CNA.

What’s happening: HSB has collaborated with CNA to offer Internet of Things (IoT) technology solutions to CNA’s small and mid-size commercial policyholders to help prevent or reduce property damage and business interruption loss.

Significance of development: HSB’s remote sensor monitoring programme will be tailored for small and mid-sized commercial clients, and aim to provide real-time alerts, such as identifying water leaks, temperature extremes and power outages.

Timeline: With immediate effect.

 

Getsafe raises €15m to launch digital insurance app for millennials

Who’s involved: German insurtech Getsafe, which offers liability and contents insurance; venture capital investor Earlybird and CommerzVentures, the corporate venture capital fund of Commerzbank Group.

What’s happening: Getsafe has raised €15m ($17m) in a series A funding round led by Earlybird. CommerzVentures and other existing investors also participated in the round.

Significance of development: The investment will help Getsafe expand in Europe and hire more staff. By the end of this year, Getsafe plans to enter the British market. The insurtech also plans to grow its team from currently 50 employees to more than 100 with a focus on customer care, software development and data science.

Timeline:  By the end of this year, Getsafe intends to sell 180,000 policies and defend its market share of almost 10% in the target group of 20 to 35-year-olds.

 

Willis Towers Watson launches venture capital and growth initiatives

Who’s involved: Advisory, broking and solutions company Willis Towers Watson.

What’s happening: Willis Towers Watson has launched two initiatives targeting organic and inorganic growth. The first is WTW Strategic Ventures, an initiative aimed at creating strategic growth opportunities by investing in emerging digital and technology-enabled businesses across insurance, risk and human capital.

Willis Towers Watson has also announced the formation of a new growth board to increase the company’s organic innovation efforts by supporting early-stage ideas.

Significance of development:  The investments aim to unlock new growth possibilities in strategically relevant businesses and enable Willis Towers Watson to enhance and expand the ways in which it interacts with our clients and business partners.

Timeline: With immediate effect.