12 December 2018

Insurtech weekly: Lloyd's, Zesty.ai, Apicil, OAV, Plug & Play Ventures, Certua, Sherpa

Lloyd’s searches for next group of insurtech innovators

Who’s involved? Lloyd’s Lab and L Marks, a corporate innovation and early-stage investor specialist

What’s happening?  Lloyd’s Lab has launched a global search for the next group of insurtech innovators. The initiative is being led by L Marks

Significance of deal:  The second Lloyd’s Lab insurtech group will be offered the opportunity to develop their ideas, with access to a co-working space located in the Lloyd’s building in London, potential investment and the chance to develop products, platforms and processes, which will help shape Lloyd’s

Timeline: With the inaugural Lloyd’s Lab cohort’s programme finishing on 12 December, applications for the second Lloyd’s Lab insurtech group will close on 3 February 2019

 

Zesty.ai closes $13m funding round

Who’s involved?  Zesty.ai,an artificial Intelligence (AI) startup based in the San Francisco Bay area; Luxembourg-based private investment fund, Blamar; and venture capital fund Plug & Play Ventures

What’s happening? Zesty.ai has closed its series A financing round of $13m. Blamar led the financing while Plug & Play Ventures and existing investors also participated in the round

Significance of deal: Zesty.ai uses AI to help property and casualty re/insurers, managing general agents and insurtechs better assess risk. The company leverages satellite and aerial imagery, combined with structured data sources, to capture billions of data points on buildings

Timeline: Zesty.ai will now use the capital infusion to expand its data science, engineering and customer success teams

 

Apicil and OAV launch insurtech fund

Who’s involved?  Odysseus Alternative Ventures (OAV), the private equity and venture capital arm of Reech Corporations Group; and French mutual insurer Apicil Group

What’s happening?   OAV and Apicil have launched an insurtech fund with a commitment of €10m. The fund will invest in French and European start-ups seeking to develop new technologies, new business models and new forms of delivery for the insurance sector

Significance of deal: In the future, it is hoped to use the Insurtech Capital Fund in partnership with other European insurance companies in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the UK.

Timeline: Apicil said the partnership fits within its 2020 strategic plan, which aims to accelerate the digitalisation of its activities

 

Certua rolls out enterprise insurance platform

Who’s involved?  UK-based financial technology company Certua; personal risk management firm Sherpa; reinsurer Gen Re; and mutual insurer Scottish Friendly

What’s happening? Certua has launched its enterprise insurance platform, which companies can access via an application programming interface (API)

Significance of deal: The platform is designed to allow insurers looking to distribute new insurance products to get to market quickly and access digital markets by removing technological barriers to entry

Timeline: Sherpa is the first distribution partner to use the platform. Insurance cover sold by Sherpa is underwritten by Gen Re and administered by Scottish Friendly