Ten insurtech start-ups to watch in 2018
https://www.postonline.co.uk/technology/3395776/ten-insurtech-start-ups-to-watch-in-2018-part-oneInsure Pal
Pitch: “Distributed social proof insurance. If your friends trust you, we trust you”
Every market has its failures; and insurtech is no different. And one of the most talked about in terms of the UK market has been the demise of peer-to-peer start-up Guevara.
Not to be put off though, Slovenian-based Insure Pal is not only planning to launch in the P2P space. But it is powered by blockchain platform Ethereum; and raised $18m through a cryptocurrency crowdsale earlier this month.
P2P, blockchain and bitcoin, that is some heady combination.
Don’t worry if you missed out on the the initial coin offering [it sold out in an impressive 80 seconds] Insure Pal notes these ‘IPL tokens’ will soon be listed on several exchanges. Therefore, Insure Pal will start trading almost immediately, giving latecomers the opportunity to buy them.
The USP behind Insure Pal is to only accept customers that have been endorsed by family and friends who needs to offer a financial guarantee, like a credit card, on behalf of the policyholder.
Insure Pal believes that form of peer pressure could drive down the risk for the company, and accordingly, the premium.
In terms of going live, Insure Pal CEO and co-founder Matt Peterman claims it has already had talks with several insurers and the UK regulator ahead of a UK motor pilot within six months.
I wonder if the fact the only [re]insurer its follows on Twitter is Munich Re [as of Friday 19th January] might be an indicator of where some of its potential capacity may come from?
Peterman is a veteran of working in insurance and private equity and is currently on the board of detection company Salviol, while his co-founder Tom Volk was involved in insurance IT start-up Adacta.
Among the executive management team are former Neos chief marketing officer Gavin Conway [who is chief growth officer] and the former managing director of Langton Syndicate Management at Lloyd’s, Thomas Manson [chief insurance officer]. Also along for the ride is adviser Damian Arnold who worked for Direct Line for over a decade both in the UK and Italy.
