$2T Insurance Tech: ‘Pie is Big (Enough) for Everyone’
By Dennis Clemente
NEW YORK – One can expect more fusion of tech and insurance (insurance tech) as the companies see opportunities in tackling the $2 trillion insurance industry. This was the topic at the NewFinance (NY Chapter) meetup with guests PolicyGenius, Extraordinary Re and Softheon last October 6 at Rise.
Now, why would anyone even bother using insure-tech when the traditional way of buying insurance still exists? Most of the presenters think the pie is big for everyone.
“No winner takes all. The important thing is to find out your core competency and to find the crack (where you can go in),” said Eugene Sayan, founder, chairman, and CEO of Softheon.
If it means less people are working as insurance agents, David McKay, chief technology officer of PolicyGenius, made this clear: “The average age of an insurance agent in the US is 59.”
“We are not an aggregator, he said, adding later that “we earn the same way as an insurance agent.”
Established In 2014, PolicyGenius last raised $15 million to expand its price comparison insurance brokerage platform. It offers a path to life insurance, long-term disability insurance, renters insurance and pet insurance through tailored advice and no-pressure purchasing. And who doesn’t want that last part, right?
How much does giving advice play a part in its business? It sounds a lot, the way McKay said that “about 18 million people are stuck shoppers.”
On the site, one will find online quotes for policies and an application process as well as other information.
Set for launch in early 2018, the next presenter, Will Dove, CEO of Extraordinary Re, is building the first trading platform that creates a liquid market for $22 trillion of insurance liabilities. It has reportedly two US patents and substantial work completed.
As a trading platform, it will concentrate on facilitating the coverage of (re)insurance and capital markets.
Dove said investors will have direct access to broad range of insurance risks, be able to customize an insurance investment portfolio, offer a new tradable instrument, with liquidity that enables investors to trade in and out of long-tail risks, plus have non-correlated returns.
For (re) insurance companies, it will hopefully simplify, accelerate and reduce cost of accessing capital markets; reach capital to finance innovative contracts not supported by actuarial models; broaden scope of risks that can be transferred to capital markets; offer new tools for Risk & Capital management, trading insurance exposure on the platform and foster new product innovation.
Last presenter Softheon is engineering the next generation of health plan solutions with innovative and easy-to-use products that revolutionize the way everyday people access healthcare insurance.
It carries five platforms to help its partners quickly adapt to industry standards, manage client data, and grow its membership. This year, it collaborated with health plans, brokers, employers, and governmental organizations in all 50 states to care for over 1.6M lives.
The meetup was hosted by Ashish Singal.
