InsurTech funding volume totalled $985m during Q2 2017 – driven by a record number of transactions, as well as several large investments in capital intensive carrier start-ups globally.
These are the headline figures according to Willis Towers Watson’s second Quarterly InsurTech Briefing
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The $985 million was invested across a new record high of 64 transactions in Q2 2017 – nearly double the 38 transactions completed in the first quarter of this year.
The latest research, produced by Willis Towers Watson Securities and Willis Re in collaboration with CB Insights, outlines how the use of technology, developed internally by incumbents and accessed through partnerships with InsurTech start-ups, can revolutionise claims management, by helping insurers transition from a model focused on payments and cost control to one of claims mitigation and risk management.
Focus on claims management
The report predicts this will lead to higher client satisfaction and retention, with claims representing one of the most critical customer interactions with the insurance value chain.
Rafal Walkiewicz, CEO of Willis Towers Watson Securities commented: “The claims management conversation with a client provides the greatest insight and opportunity to improve risk mitigation, making it increasingly core to the evolving, consumer focused, insurance value chain.
“We believe claims management could assume additional prominence at the expense of other functions including distribution, underwriting and capital management. Effectively harnessing this conversation through technology, whether developed internally or through partnerships or acquisition, will be a key source of differentiation for incumbents going forward.”
“Change is coming”
Andrew Newman, president and global head of casualty at Willis Re, said: “The $985m that was invested in InsurTech in the second quarter of 2017 serves as another indication that change is coming to the industry.
Whether disruption beckons or opportunity unfolds is primarily a matter of perception relative to each company’s position in the insurance value chain. It is not the technology that is disruptive, but the degree to which a competitor can successfully wield that technology compared to another.”
