Insurance is one of those things we forget about until we need it, much like a spare tyre. Yet, like that spare tyre, insurance is crucial when the unexpected strikes. This is why National Insurance Awareness Day, celebrated every year on 28th June, encourages us to review our current insurance policies and seek better rates. The experience of this in 2024 highlights the significant shift in how we engage with insurance companies. No more tedious form-filling, calling customer service hotlines, or making trips to your local insurance office. In the digital age, consumers now have a new avenue to interact with insurance, all thanks to technological advancements and mobile app-based platforms.
This transformation in insurance parallels many other industries. Take the taxi industry, for example. Once, getting a taxi meant standing at the side of the road, waving down a cab, or waiting in a queue at a taxi rank. Today, apps like Uber, Bolt, and Gett allow us to book a ride instantly from our exact location with unparalleled ease. Similarly, Insurtech innovators are revolutionising the insurance sector, reshaping traditional practices to meet the demands of emerging risks, shifting demographics, and new market entrants. Technology plays a key role as the primary driver of this transformation.
In honour of National Insurance Awareness Day, we asked Mark Warburton and Jon Rogers (Nexus Connect Community Ambassadors and industry-immersed tech recruiters for the specialty insurance sectors at Pioneer), to showcase five pioneers that are disrupting the industry with innovations and technological advancements poised to transform the insurance market for years to come.
Lloyd's Lab: The Epicentre of Insurance Innovation
https://www.lloyds.com/news-and-insights/lloyds-lab
Lloyd’s Lab is the heartbeat of innovation in the insurance world. This award-winning space is dedicated to accelerating and fostering new products and solutions tailored to the needs of customers globally. As we navigate the challenges of the AI age, Lloyd’s Lab brings together cutting-edge Insurtech’s, start-ups, and pioneering ideas, all united by the shared goal of managing risk to create a more resilient world.
As an Insurtech accelerator, Lloyd’s Lab’s mission is to help innovative ideas gain traction and success in the market. Nestled in the heart of the world’s specialist insurance market, Lloyd’s Lab offers Insurtech’s access to coworking spaces in their iconic building, enabling them to develop their ideas alongside their target audience.
Inigo: Illuminating the Science of Risk
Inigo aims to use advanced analytics and innovative data solutions to help us make better decisions and strategies. In a recent collaboration, Inigo teamed up with Samsara, the pioneer of the Connected Operations™ Cloud, to revolutionise insurance solutions for commercial fleets. Through the utilisation of Samsara's data, Inigo offers a data-driven product that significantly enhances the capabilities of the automobile sector.
Inigo’s approach involves deploying a new structured product that leverages telematics data at its core, offering large fleet pricing that reflects individual telematic outputs and safety metric performance. This integration of telematics data with complex modelling and sophisticated risk management ensures improved risk selection and bespoke pricing.
Vave: Precision Underwriting at the Speed of Light
https://vavemga.com/technology/
Vave is a Managing General Agent (MGA) that combines science, data, and precision underwriting to insure high-volume risk. With its proprietary technology, Vave provides near-instant quoting, producing instant bindable quotes through a suite of white-labelled API services. Agents can view and manage products online instantly, including binding and servicing them in real-time.
Since its launch in 2019 with the support of Canopius Group, Vave has been quoting on more than 10,000 risks per day, showcasing the efficiency and speed that modern technology can bring to the insurance sector.
Loro: Reimagining Insurance Distribution
https://www.loroinsurance.com/
Loro offers a no-code Insurtech platform enabling insurance companies, MGAs, and brokers to distribute and manage insurance policies online. Loro’s platform allows for fully customisable portals that match the brands of their distribution partners. By assigning bespoke ratings and commissions based on product line or territory, Loro provides a flexible and scalable solution for managing insurance distribution.
Loro’s approach ensures that customers have control over portal access, whether for brokers, agents, or direct clients, fostering a seamless and personalised experience in the insurance marketplace.
Marshmallow: Supporting the Unconventional
Marshmallow provides fairer car insurance deals tailored for newcomers to the UK, a demographic often overlooked by traditional insurers and underwriters, setting them apart in the industry. By building their own technology and developing unique pricing and fraud models, Marshmallow caters to these unique circumstances. Having sold over half a million policies and attracting hundreds of thousands of users annually on their mobile app, Marshmallow has emerged as one of Europe's fastest-growing companies.
As we mark National Insurance Awareness Day, it’s clear that the insurance industry is in the midst of a technological revolution. From AI-driven insights to instant quoting and personalised distribution platforms, Insurtech innovators are transforming how we perceive and interact with insurance. These advancements not only improve efficiency and customer experience but also lay the foundation for a more resilient and adaptable future in the insurance industry.
