Swiss Re grants 6 tech start-ups $15,000 each

Swiss Re, the $30-billion global reinsurance provider, is adopting a four-pronged approach to engage with Indian tech start-ups, to help solve business problems in the insurance industry, in order to further grow its revenue.

The company cherry-picked six start-ups that were given $15,000 each in grant money this July, to be a part of its first 16-week, insurance-focused, virtual accelerator programme christened InsurTech. The selected start-ups are Arya.ai, Datasigns, eKincare, GOQii, Niki.ai and Touchkin.

“This is not only Swiss Re’s first global accelerator programme but also India’s first insurance-focused accelerator programme. A global team short-listed the start-ups from a pool of 80 applicants from around the world. Every start-up was assigned a business mentor and a CXO level leader to work with.

“While the business mentors ran them through the business problems that need to be solved by giving them real use cases, the CXO leaders provided them with strategic insights into the business, validating the operating business model and coaching the founders” Amit Kalra, Head – Strategic Initiatives and Senior V-P, Global Business Solutions, Swiss Re (India), told BusinessLine .

In addition, the start-ups were given the opportunity to discuss their ideas and go-to-market strategies with Norwest Venture Partners and the Pacific Investment Group.

Asked if Swiss Re will consider investing in any of the six start-ups that have now successfully completed the InsurTech programme, Jason Richards, Head Property & Casualty Business Management, Swiss Re, who leads all Fintech initiatives for the company globally and is the sponsor for InsurTech said: “We do invest in start-ups and have invested in five tech start-ups in the last 12 months globally; of which one was an outright acquisition and the other five were investments for minority stakes. We are exploring different models to engage with these start-ups. We could invest, partner, co-develop products or acquire them.”

Stating that the six start-ups came to Swiss Re for the company’s domain expertise and insights into the insurance sector as they lacked knowledge of the sector and not for money which they can easily get from VCs, Richards said, “We are presenting these start-ups with a new market opportunity – the insurance sector, that is growing fast especially in emerging markets like India, China, Africa and LatAm.”

Emerging markets are major contributors to the company's 5-10 per cent Y-o-Y revenue growth.

Richards pointed out that some of the solutions developed by start-ups in emerging economies like Africa for instance, or Touchkin for instance, can be taken to developed markets like the US and the UK.

A Demo Day was organised for the six start-ups to pitch their ideas to VCs, including Ideaspring Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Matrix Partners and Leapfrog Investments, in the presence of senior leaders from Swiss Re.

Globally, insurance is a $4.4 trillion industry, and in India, it is a $85-billion industry. Insurance premiums as a percentage of GDP in India stands at 3.2 per cent against 6.4 per cent globally.

“There’s a huge potential to grow the insurance business in India, where we see a lot of mis-selling, claims not being paid out in the right manner, and basic lack of awareness about insurance, all of which can be solved with innovative technology solutions from start-ups,” added Kalra.

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