(Fitbit Charge 2 is the newest device integrated and validated with Qualcomm’s 2net platform. Source: Fitbit.)

UnitedHealthcare (Hopkins, Minn.) and Qualcomm Incorporated (San Diego), through its wholly owned subsidiary Qualcomm Life, Inc., announced today at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017 that they had added enhancements and expanded UnitedHealthcare Motion, a wellness program that provides employees with wearable activity tracker devices at no additional charge and enables them to earn up to $1,500 per year by meeting certain goals for the number of daily steps.

Richard Migliori, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, UnitedHealth Group.

The two companies introduced UnitedHealthcare Motion in 2016 as a pilot in 12 states to select employers, using Qualcomm Life’s 2net Platform for what the companies characterize as medical-grade connectivity featuring multiple safeguards to help keep data secure. Following the successful test, the companies expanded the program to 40 states and will now include access to additional customized activity trackers through a ‘bring-your-own-device’ (BYOD) model. The program is now available to self-funded employers with five or more eligible employees, and companies with fully insured health plans with 101 or more eligible employees.

Qualcomm Life reports that it will use its global connected health ecosystem and connectivity expertise to provide secure data transfer from the devices, to the Motion app and to UnitedHealthcare. Qualcomm Life will also enable the BYOD model to allow the integration of more activity trackers into the 2net Platform and UnitedHealthcare Motion, providing participants with more choice. Integrated activity trackers will be customized to enable users to see on their wrists how they are tracking against the program’s three daily F.I.T. goals.

James Park, CEO and Chairman, Fitbit.

“The growth of UnitedHealthcare Motion showcases the value of providing companies and their employees with personalized, connected health and wellness resources,” comments Richard Migliori, M.D., chief medical officer, UnitedHealth Group. “Wearable technology can help encourage employees to walk each day and earn financial rewards at the same time, using secure technology that we believe is intuitive and convenient.”

Fitbit Charge 2 Integrated with 2net

The Fitbit Charge 2 is the newest activity tracker integrated and validated with 2net and UnitedHealthcare Motion within the BYOD model, according to UnitedHealthcare and Qualcomm. The custom feature can be activated during early 2017 on any Charge 2 device in market by any eligible program participant, the companies say.

“As the global wearables leader, we have taken another big digital-health step forward by collaborating with UnitedHealthcare and Qualcomm Life to enable people to fulfill their fitness goals and be rewarded for living a healthier lifestyle,” comments James Park, co-founder and CEO, Fitbit. “Our team custom-designed this feature to help give UnitedHealthcare Motion program participants activity insights right on their wrists, as part of our commitment to make our products integral tools to evidence-based consumer health programs.”

James Mault, VP, Chief Medical Officer, Qualcomm Life.

The Power of Wellness Programs

Employers are expected to incorporate more than 13 million wearable and fitness tracking devices into their wellness programs by 2018, according to technology consultancy Endeavors Partners. A related study published in Science & Medicine showed people tend to overestimate how much exercise they get each week by more than 50 minutes, and they underestimate sedentary time by more than two hours, which UnitedHealthcare and Qualcomm suggest emphasizes the importance of a wellness programs.

“By combining UnitedHealthcare’s leadership and pioneering pro-consumer benefit designs with Qualcomm Life’s unique ability to provide effortless connectivity across an expansive ecosystem of wearables, UnitedHealthcare Motion will continue to help engage people throughout the country with the goal of enhancing their well-being,” comment James Mault, VP, chief medical officer of Qualcomm Life.

How Wearable Devices Can Transform the Insurance Industry

(Striiv Fusion device. Source: Striiv.)

Striiv (Redwood City, Calif.) and LifeQ (Alpharetta, Ga.) have announced a partnership to jointly develop a wearable-based personalized health information platform. The partnership combines Striiv’s expertise in sensor integration and hardware design and LifeQ’s on-device and cloud based analytics and modeling to deliver a suite of health information streams. The solution aims at what the vendors identify as the two major barriers to a scaled health information platform: lack of biometric information of adequate quality, and up-front technology and program costs.

David Wang, founder and CEO, Striiv.

Striiv’s devices are used in programs run by top tier insurers and other companies. The company’s partnership with LifeQ will enable it to deliver wearable devices that extract maximum relevant physiological data, with minimum friction for the user, at previously unavailable unit economics, thereby redefining the standards for performance, utility and cost, a joint statement asserts.

Richer Health Information Ecosystem

The joint offering will enable a richer health information ecosystem, combining the expertise of relevant companies linking to the LifeQ Platform, to provide end-to-end solutions that can be scaled across insurance, wellness and pharmaceutical industries, the vendors say.

“Striiv is the first wearable company we’ve met where our skills and vision are so complementary and aligned,” comments Riaan Conradie, president and co-founder LifeQ. “Striiv’s device and sensor know-how will further enable the LifeQ platform to accelerate the rollout of personalized health information, and we are incredibly excited at the potential for this partnership.”

LifeQ’s deep expertise and scale in systems biology driven analytics and modeling are ideally suited to provide critical insights for risk stratification and early intervention with Striiv’s catalogue of data capture platforms, according to David Wang, founder and CEO, Striiv. “We’re delighted to team up with LifeQ to accelerate the adoption biometric and behavioral data in driving better outcomes and at scale,” he says.

Wearable Technology in Workers’ Comp: Taking the Great Leap Forward

(Image source: screenshot of MetLife conVRse virtual customer service application.)

Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are both nascent, revolutionary technologies making inroads into conversations at all levels of technology leadership. The two technologies are often discussed in tandem, and while both are still being explored, they are distinct and represent unique sets of possibilities. Their applicability to insurance is mainly speculative, at this point, but their potential for improvement in areas such as efficiency, customer experience and risk avoidance is significant.

AR involves the use of overlaying digital elements onto the physical world in real time. While the most well-known examples are in gaming, other industries have found numerous applications for AR, including medicine, travel, advertising, and the military. On the other hand, VR is the simulation of a real-world setting in a computer or a digital environment. VR technology has taken off in education, training simulation, and gaming, with several companies offering headsets for VR applications.

Potential Insurance Applications

AR and VR technologies represent another channel through with insurance companies can serve digitally immersed stakeholders. AR and VR have potential real-world applications in improved efficiencies, loss ratios, and customer experience, as well as risk mitigation. AR has the potential to predict risks before or while they happen, and VR presents an opportunity to both prepare for and model risk in an essentially zero-risk environment.

The majority of the applications and use cases for AR and VR are likely to be seen in the property/casualty side of the insurance industry, with more rare use cases in the life/annuities side. AR can be used to gain efficiencies in cost and loss ratios through risk avoidance and customer education. Tying this into other technologies like smart homes and IoT could help the avoidance of property losses and drive down claims incidences. Allianz, for example, launched an AR-based app called “Haunted House” in Hungary through which catastrophes and accidents can be visualized in different parts of homes.

AR and VR rely heavily on smartphone usage in their current states. This represents an opportunity for insurers, as real-time data collected from smartphone usage can lead to enhanced customer insights and potentially improved customer relationships. MetLife recently deployed “conVRse” in India, allowing policyholders to enter a virtually simulated 3D setting and interact with a virtual customer service representative. VR-based customer service may offer a more immersive and individualized experience that reaches Millennials and digitally savvy consumers more effectively.

Additionally, AR and VR can enable gains in operational efficiency, though this may come at a cost to employees; the reduction of manual roles could ultimately result in job displacement. Through the use of smart glasses, which Zurich recently implemented, on-site claims adjusters and agents can document work progress in real time, access site plans, and conduct remote conferences with experts. Carriers should be fully aware of these potential consequences and employ proper change management protocols.

Increasing Relevance

The effects of both technologies on the insurance industry will increase over time, and AR is likely to have more potential uses in insurance than VR. AR’s potential lies in its ability to change how reality is experienced and perceived by layering digital elements over the real world in real time. While VR simulates reality, the results do not necessarily translate to a physical environment.

While these emerging technologies are becoming more accepted, they are still relatively immature, and their applicability to insurance are mainly speculative. Taking full advantage of these technologies will require robust digital, data, and analytics capabilities, and the potential for AR and VR to influence and enhance the customer experience is thought-provoking.

For more information on the impact of AR/VR technology on the insurance industry, Novarica’s new executive brief can be accessed at the following link Augmented and Virtual Reality: Potential Use Cases for Insurers.

Customer Experience Innovation: Building Better Policyholder Experiences with Virtual Assistant Solutions

Jupiter Auto Insurance Adopts Elafris AI-Driven Virtual Agent Platform

Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant Takes Bots to a Level of Dynamic Engagement

(Photo illustrating the evolution MākuSafe’s MākuSmart devices. Source: MākuSafe.)

MākuSafe, a Des Moines-based InsurTech start-up company and makers of a wearable workplace safety device and software platform, has announced that it has closed on a $1.25 million convertible note round of fundraising. The vendor also reports that the final rounds of field beta testing of the solution are underway, with a view toward release in 2018. The company recently announced the appointment of a new CTO, Mark Frederick, new CIO, Kevin Krefting, and the company’s procurement of new office space in West Des Moines.

Gabriel Glynn, CEO, MākuSafe.

The vendor reports that since securing EMC Insurance Companies (Des Moines) as an investor in early 2017, Glynn and his partners have identified a distribution model that utilizes insurance companies to deliver the MākuSmart device and cloud platform. MākuSafe contextualizes its funding announcement by noting that workers’ compensation premiums written has gone up year-over-year since 2011. With employers paying more than $1B a week in direct workers’ comp costs, it makes sense that insurers would want to take a proactive and innovative approach to worker safety, the vendor says.

“We’ve seen telematics—GPS software that records and analyzes your driving behavior—achieve a great deal of success in the automotive insurance sector,” comments Gabriel Glynn, CEO, MākuSafe. “Our belief is that there is an uncharted opportunity to implement those same principles and technologies within the manufacturing realm to change the way people view workplace safety. From identifying risks ahead of time and preventing injuries to efficient deployment of resources, lower premiums and making workers more cognizant of their behaviors, the benefits of our solution reveal themselves more by the day.”

Like Fitbit for Workers’ Comp

The wearable device—worn on an armband and sensing a variety of environmental conditions—is paired with the MākuSmart platform, and uses what the vendor characterizes as the latest in Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to derive valuable information from the data collected from the device.

“What Fitbit did for personal fitness, we want to do for workplace safety and productivity,” said Mark Frederick, MākuSafe CTO. “Being located in one of the insurance capitals of the U.S. and in the Midwest, where manufacturing still wins the day, the excitement for this solution has been palpable, and this raise is solid evidence of that.”

MassMutual Ventures Adds Second $100 Million Fund

QBE Closes Investment in RiskGenius, Will Implement Its Solution

(Image credit: Adobe Stock.)

Over the past few several years, a number of new technologies have grabbed headlines with their potential to improve or disrupt the insurance industry. Some are promoted by InsureTech startups as their own secret sauce, or as a silver bullet they can provide to their partners; others have become buzzwords for traditional service providers and technology vendors; and some are cool technologies still looking for real applications.

Our research, based on interactions with more than 100 insurer CIOs, indicates that while there is active interest in a wide range of tools and technologies that fall under the “emerging” label, there is still considerable diversity in both deployment rates and active plans for pilot programs.

At one end of the range of “Emerging Technologies,” are mobile and predictive analytics, which hardly deserve the label “emerging.” Mobile is rapidly becoming not only a customer expectation, but a pre-requisite as a platform other emerging technologies like AI voice analytics and telematics, and the majority of insurers have launched at least some form of mobile capability. More than half of insurers who haven’t already deployed predictive analytics to improve their underwriting, claims, or client engagement, are planning pilots for this year. In both areas, planned pilot activity mean that nearly all insurers will have direct experience in these areas by the end of 2018.

At the other end of the spectrum are technologies that are either brand new, or for which the insurance business cases are uncompelling or highly complex. Blockchain, despite the growth of consortia and completion of successful pilot projects, is still looking for an important problem to solve that can’t be solved more effectively by traditional technology. Wearables may have delivered untold PR value to a couple of early-adopting life insurers, but few others are actively pursuing similar projects. Smart home technologies are still at the early end of the consumer adoption cycle. Augmented and virtual reality show some promise in field training and claims adjusting, but are part of few insurers’ active plans for deployment or pilots.

One technology with little current adoption but high levels of pilot activity is chatbots. About a third of insurers either have a deployment or a planned pilot in this area, with the goal to increase customer engagement and make information retrieval and transactions easier for stakeholders of all kind, including agents and internal knowledge workers. We expect roughly one in five insurers to have active chatbot deployments by the end of the year.

In the middle of the range are a collection of technologies where 15-25 percent of insurers have already made some deployments, and equal or greater numbers are actively planning pilots for 2018. These include:

• Artificial Intelligence. Whether it’s machine learning to improve the performance of rating or fraud detection algorithms, or mining of unstructured data from images and raw text, more insurers are embracing artificial intelligence as the next tool in their data analytics journeys.
• Big Data. Use of big data tools like Hadoop and NoSQL are common at about a quarter of insurers, while use of big data sets like weather data and raw internet consumer data are less so. Nonetheless, insurers are planning additional pilot activity and explorations in both areas.
• Sensors and telematics are poised for additional growth in property/casualty, as insurers refine their value messages beyond rating discounts to value added services like providing customers greater risk management tools.
• Drones are also rapidly becoming a standard tool for property inspections and claims, although most insurers are working with service provider partners in this area rather than building their own capabilities.
• Robotic Process Automation is an object of much interest, as it holds the promise of an immediate fix for poorly designed systems and processes without expensive re-engineering. Some insurers (abetted by over-promising partners) see RPA as a transformative technology, which we don’t believe it is. But it’s an important and valuable short-term fix.

These five areas sit squarely in the center of the emerging technologies spectrum for insurance. None are adopted by more than one in four insurers today but, based on reported pilot activity, all are poised for rapid growth. The growth of these capabilities should lead to improved risk analysis, streamlined processes, and better business results for insurers in 2018 and beyond.

But technology changes faster than culture and practice at most insurance companies—insurers that want to fully leverage the capabilities enabled by emerging technology should look at their products and processes in the light of new technical, market, and customer realities.

Is 2018 The Year Insurance Unlocks IoT and AI?

If 2017 Was the Year of Insurtech, Will 2018 be the Year of the Insurance Platform?

(Photo credit: Beyond My Ken.)

MetLife (New York) has announced the launch of two new InsurTech-related investment programs, MetLife Digital Ventures and the MetLife Digital Accelerators. While these new entities are proximately aimed at the cultivation of startup companies, their ultimate objective is to accelerate internal digital transformation and MetLife’s participation in industry innovation and disruption. They represent a complementary approach to MetLife’s recent investment in strictly internal initiatives, such as its LumenLab innovation center in Singapore.

MetLife Digital Ventures will support the company’s transformation through direct investment in strategically aligned startup companies that can bring new forms of value to its customers. The entity is backed by a $100 million co-investment that will be combined with capital from MetLife’s venture capital firm partners.

Greg Baxter, Chief Digital Officer, MetLife.

The MetLife Digital Accelerator, which will be driven by MetLife’s partner Techstars (Boulder, Colo.), will identify and mentor startup companies around the world that are developing innovative technologies for the insurance industry. Startups selected will be hosted at MetLife’s Global Technology Campus in Cary, N.C. for what the insurer characterizes as an intensive 13-week program to develop and accelerate transformational concepts. Techstars is a global network of entrepreneurs and other professionals involved in the creation and development of companies.

External Orientation to Innovation

The two new investment programs, which will be managed under the aegis of MetLife’s Chief Digital Office, will support a strategy based on the development of digital technology as a means of transformational change, according to Greg Baxter, the insurer’s Chief Digital Officer. The strategy aims at three areas, building up a foundation of innovative technology, developing differentiating products, and disrupting the industry. The announcement of the two new entities is about bringing an “external orientation” to MetLife’s approach to innovation, he says.

“We see disruptive opportunity as both being internal and bringing the best of what the world has to offer to us,” Baxter elaborates. “It’s about discovery and execution, and partnering with the best in the world to filter which companies and technologies we should be working with.”

With regard to MetLife Digital Ventures, Baxter says the greater challenge isn’t building the investment fund but rather acquiring the necessary skills and thus finding the companies to invest with. He explains that in his activities in the financial services industry prior to MetLife, firms he worked with faced the task of building out their company development sales capability. “We don’t need to build out a local presence in markets to compete with VCs, because we’ve been working with 16 leading VCs, representing the world’s best startup salesforce for close to a decade,” he says. “We have introduced 450 companies and about 35 proofs of concept launched within the organization.”

As with knowing which companies to invest in and market, identifying and grooming promising startups is not a core competency that a company can develop quickly, Baxter comments in reference to MetLife’s Digital Accelerator and its partnership with Techstars. “We believe their brand will create an attractive proposition globally, particularly with MetLife’s backing,” he says.

MetLife and Techstars will induct a new cohort of startups. This year the focus areas will be underwriting, health and wellness, and the “gig” or sharing economy.

Transforming the Industry

Baxter says that MetLife is peripherally involved with a variety of accelerator opportunities, and notes that LumenLab, MetLife’s Singapore-based innovation center, is designed to incubate companies in order to place them within the MetLife organization. “We want to make discovery and execution a core competency here,” he comments.

MetLife Digital Accelerator is not designed to mentor companies for internal-only consumption, Baxter stresses. “We’re not looking for unique access,” he says. “Our goal is to help companies scale into viable enterprises and also become strategic partners in whose success we have a stake—the goal will be to transform the industry, not just MetLife.”

MetLife LumenLab Launches ‘Collab’ Insurance Tech Accelerator Program

(Stan Morris, VP, Business Development, Data; and Brian Evans, VP, Business Development, ITS. Photo by author.)

Scaling for Rapid Growth: Abhijeet Jhaveri, ValueMomentum

The accelerated pace of change in the insurance industry has been good for transformation-focused ValueMomentum. The Piscataway, N.J.-based vendor has gained 18 customers in as many months for a variety of transformation-related projects across a spectrum of functional and technology areas including digital transformation, core transformation, bureau rating, cloud solutions, customer communications and enterprise integration, according to Abhijeet Jhaveri, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer. As a result of the booming business, the company is ready to scale and has undertaken a restructuring that includes the appointment of Kalyan “KK” Kodali as CEO (more on that at this link).

Abhijeet Jhaveri, Chief Marketing Officer, ValueMomentum.

Jhaveri attributes the company’s rapid growth to a variety of factors. Among those relating to the company itself are its range of software and services and its insurance focus

He also credits ValueMomentum’s customer ethos as a success factor. “Among our core values is that we put the customer first, operate with integrity, make sure every employee wins—we believe the honest work benefits everyone, helping our customer succeed and helping our careers as well,” Jhaveri says. “We also take the view that we have no sacred cows—we don’t push our solutions but rather tailor solutions for what is best for the client, and we see the resulting success as a win/win whatever the solution.”

Jhaveri also acknowledges the influence of an extremely favorable business environment in the insurance industry on the company’s recent growth. “We think there’s an unprecedented opportunity today for an organization such as ours—systems integrators, software and service providers—because of the changing nature of risk exposure and assessment, huge demographic shifts and changing customer appetite,” he says. “These are precipitating the need for insurers to embark on transformational journeys.”

Sapiens’ North America Journey: Yaffa Cohen-Ifrah and Alex Zukerman

What might be called Sapiens’ North America campaign began in earnest in 2014. Today, the company is consolidating its acquisitions from both a technology and marketing point of view and reinvent itself for this market. While the company had long been active in North America, it acquired Maximum Processing (of the Stingray system) in mid-2016, which it followed up with the hugely significant acquisition of StoneRiver, announced in Feb. 2017. The company acquired Adaptik, in Feb. 2018.

Yaffa Cohen-Ifrah, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Corporate Communications, Sapiens.

The magnitude of Sapiens’ investments in North American companies are enough to demonstrate its seriousness about the market, but it is now following that up with commitments that show its determination to make the most of the opportunity to strengthen its position on the continent.  “We’re working hard on consolidation and integration, for example presenting the Adaptik core components and StoneRiver Stream Claims together,” relates Yaffa Cohen-Ifrah, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Corporate Communications, Sapiens.

“Georgia Farm Bureau is our first customer with Steam Claims, and they have now selected Adaptik Policy and Billing,” Cohen-Ifrah continues. “They will be our first customer that have the three components of our offering for mid- to upper tier North American carriers.” [Sapiens offers Stingray for lower-tier carriers in North America.]

Today Sapiens offers what it characterizes as a strong proposition for both small and mid- to upper-tier property/casualty carriers. The vendor has two products for the workers’ compensation market: WC PowerSuite and CompSuite. On life side, it has the combined offering of Sapiens and StoneRiver, which strengthens its former position tremendously. The vendor has also embraced the platform concept, the next departure from the integrated suite insurance core system paradigm which includes core, data-related and digital solutions—or really any technology capabilities a carrier might need.

Alex Zukerman, Head of Corporate Product Strategy, Sapiens.

“For us platform is a major shift in how we see the industry evolving, and combining platform with our being the SI of this platform—those are two unique aspects of what we do,” comments Alex Zukerman, Head of Corporate Product Strategy, Sapiens. “We feel very confident also doing the delivery and customization is an added value—not a revenue but a quality thing. Having your strategy and road map being intimate with the customers, provide them the value and give them support. When you combine that with platform it’s a single focal point, one hand to shake. The expectation is customers will look at us for all the insurance things, analytics, innovation with startups. We’re providing them a platform they can grow on.”

Data is the Insurance Industry’s Gold: Stan Morris, ITS

Stan Morris, an industry veteran whom we’ve had the pleasure of interacting with at some of the most important companies in the insurance technology space, recently joined Insurance Technology Services (ITS) and made a public debut of sorts at IASA 2018. His new appointment as ITS’s VP of Business Development continues a career focus in driving innovation in insurer’s use of data.

Morris likens the progress of insurers use of electronic data use to that of the progressive refinement of petroleum products after the mineral product supplanted whale oil, from kerosene to gasoline to jet fuel—each step resulting in the liberation of greater power.  “The core of all the innovation, that thing that fuels it and is necessary to make it reality is harnessing the power of data,” Morris comments. “Insurance data activities, while useful, were historically treated with a measure of disdain—I remember in the early days of my career that data migration jobs were given to you as a punishment. But now people realize that’s where the gold is.”

Morris stressed that ITS is helping companies handle that aspect of their business, moving data from legacy systems into more modern systems where it can be harnessed. “Carriers spend a great deal of time choosing the right core systems and don’t always allocate as much energy to thinking about what’s necessary to have a successful project,” Morris observes. “We’re helping companies migrate to a new core system, including helping them plan the testing, data migration and set up training—which is often an afterthought.”

Getting the Band Back Together: Martyn Sutton, AdvantageGo

It’s not unusual for IT services companies to have powerful software solutions among their assets, but it is difficult for them to establish themselves as product companies as part of their branding. That challenge is what led NIIT Technologies (Noida, India) to launch its AdvantageGo brand from its insurance technology division, with a new emphasis on the U.S. market. The new brand reunites veterans of several important insurance technology veterans who are alumni of Xuber/Xchanging, including Adrian Morgan, EVP at AdvantageGo, John Racher, the company’s head of U.K. operations, and Martyn Sutton, head of U.S. operations.

Martyn Sutton, Head of U.S., AdvantageGo.

“We’re putting the band back together,” Sutton quipped in our meeting at IASA 2018. “Adrian Morgan’s remit is to build on the pedigree we have in the London market and start looking overeas. We all worked at Rebus/Xchanging and, looking further back, reinsurance and high-end specialty.”

The new brand could be interpreted to signify a departure from existing advantages, in this case a proven core platform and pedigree in policy, claims and billing, now combined with microservices, digital systems, and Aniita, the vendor’s digital assistant, which gives users quick, accurate access to business-critical information.

AdvantageGo will continue to aim at large commercial insurers, at least for its core systems. However, its digital services have the potential to tap the broader market, and feature APIs that can integrate with popular core systems, such as Guidewire and Duck Creek, according to Sutton.

It’s still early days for AdvantageGo’s U.S. business—Sutton joined the firm six months ago. “We have signed a contract with a tier-one carrier for policy, claims and billing,” he shares. “In the U.K., we’re building on our existing strength, having just signed with a large U.K.-based syndicate for the core platform.

ValueMomentum Names Kalyan Kodali CEO

(Photo source: MetLife.)

MetLife (New York) has announced its inaugural class of 10 companies selected to participate in the MetLife Digital Accelerator powered by Techstars. Based at MetLife’s Global Technology Campus in Cary, North Carolina, the Accelerator connects startups with MetLife leaders and Techstars mentors for an intensive 13-week program focused on fast-tracking technologies with the potential to disrupt the industry. The MetLife Digital Accelerator powered by Techstars is a part of MetLife’s broader innovation ecosystem that is transforming the customer experience.

Marty Lippert, Executive VP and Head of Global Technology & Operations.

[Related: How MIT’s Media Lab Fits within MetLife’s Larger Innovation Ecosystem]

“Digital is driving fundamental changes to the insurance landscape, and the startups selected for our first Accelerator are developing capabilities that will reshape the industry,” comments Marty Lippert, EVP and head of MetLife Global Technology & Operations and MetLife Holdings. “The Accelerator provides MetLife an opportunity to influence the direction of these early-stage companies and gain first-mover advantage with those that are strategically important to our organization and our customers.”

“Techstars is the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed, and our partnership with MetLife – an insurance powerhouse – advances our ability to do exactly that,” comments David Brown, founder and co-CEO of Techstars. “These startups have access to, and will be mentored by, MetLife’s seasoned leaders who understand the industry and will provide experienced guidance. Additionally, Techstars will have about 100 mentors from around the world join to offer their expertise.”

At the conclusion of the 13-week program on Oct. 18, 2018, startups will present their ideas to MetLife and other potential investors during Demo Day.

David Brown, Founder and co-CEO of Techstars.

MetLife lists 10 startups and their capabilities as follows:

• Aligned Business (Singapore): An end-to-end digital platform that enables carriers to rapidly create, define, underwrite and distribute any category of insurance product to any market.
• AnswersNOW (Richmond, Virginia): Digital platform that supports parents of children on the autism spectrum by pairing them with their certified experts and providing clinical interventions.
• Buddy (Richmond, Virginia): On-demand accident insurance for an active, outdoor lifestyle.
• Enroll Hero (Santa Monica, California): Personalized recommendation tool that helps seniors pick the right Medicare plans in minutes.
• FitBliss (San Jose, California): Digital wellbeing platform to optimize health and productivity for the global workforce.
• FIX: Fitness Interactive Experience (Atlanta, Georgia): Health entertainment via a blend of gameplay and health behavior change.
• Halos Insurance (Washington, D.C.): Consumer insurance platform exclusively for low-risk consumers.
• MamaMend (Boulder, Colorado): Digital health platform and postpartum guide that informs, empowers and improves health outcomes for new moms.
• Portabl (London, United Kingdom): A comprehensive subscription service that protects freelancers and gig workers with personalized insurance and savings products and other benefits.
• Safely (Atlanta, Georgia): For property managers and homeowners, insures Airbnb and HomeAway rentals by leveraging data analytics and a contributory database to verify guests while providing up to $1 million in liability and property coverage.

The MetLife Digital Accelerator powered by Techstars ecosystem includes relationships with 17 venture capital firms, strategic partnerships with leading technology companies, and collaborations with universities such as Carnegie Mellon, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and more recently the MIT Media Lab. MetLife has also established a $100 million fund through its subsidiary, MetLife Digital Ventures, to accelerate investment in strategically aligned startup companies.

MetLife’s Ignition Event Cultivates Startups

MetLife Venture Fund, Accelerator to Cultivate Internal Innovation and Industry Disruption

(Image source: MetLife.)

MetLife has announced the inaugural class of MetLife Digital Accelerator powered by Techstars, which connects startups with MetLife leaders and Techstars mentors for an intensive 13-week program focused on fast-tracking technologies with the potential to disrupt the industry. Below, a selection of representatives of the chosen companies comment on their association with the Accelerator.

Susan He, CEO, Aligned Business.

Aligned Business (Singapore)

“We are an insurance technology and solutions provider. We see high relevance and huge business opportunity to participate in the MetLife Digital Accelerator powered by Techstars. At this critical moment when we just launched our product to market, this program not only presents a huge opportunity to get our product seen, critiqued and ultimately used by MetLife, but also a great privilege to be mentored and exposed for potential investor interests in front of the insurance technology community.” —Susan He, CEO

Buddy (Richmond, Va.)

“We wanted an accelerator to help us go farther, faster. Techstars’ track record shaping early companies coupled with MetLife’s expertise in insurance is exactly the right mix to supercharge our company. ” —Charles Merritt, CEO

Enroll Hero  (Santa Monica, California)

Mike Tinney, CEO, FIX.

“We are thrilled to be joining the MetLife Digital Accelerator powered by Techstars because of its unique focus on InsurTech. We couldn’t ask for a better scenario to grow our business than partnering with a top insurance company and a top startup accelerator.” – Mark Lee, CEO

FIX (Atlanta)

“MetLife touches more lives than almost any other company in the world, and it has the power and reach to be a positive force for health change. When combined with Techstars, who has established themselves as the platinum tier for company transformation and acceleration, this opportunity is a no brainer. We’re humbled to have met the standard and been accepted into the program.” —Mike Tinney, CEO

Halos Insurance (Washington, D.C.)

Satadru Sengupta, CEO, Halos Insurance.

“Through this accelerator, MetLife and Techstars are on a mission to move the insurance industry forward, and they are making their rich insurance resources and expertise available for all participating start-ups. This unique accelerator will give us a solid foundation for the years to come and de-risk our journey as we start executing on the bold vision of Halos Insurance.” —Satadru Sengupta, CEO, Halos Insurance

Portabl (London)

“The choice for Portabl to join the MetLife Digital Accelerator powered by Techstars was driven by three things. First, there is perfect alignment between our mission and the goals of the accelerator to focus on better serving the gig and freelance economies. Second, as an early stage business to be able to partner with the combined global firepower of both the Techstars and MetLife organisations and the opportunity for us to learn from their undoubted experience across the markets we are looking to develop was immense. And third, our mutual belief in the power of positive ecosystems to accelerate growth – especially when coupled with unrivalled access to the subject matter expertise that this accelerator brings – could only make our business better, faster and stronger.” —Mike Minett, CEO

Andrew Bates, CEO, Safely.

Safely (Atlanta)

“We chose the MetLife Digital Accelerator powered by Techstars to be surrounded by the most innovative InsurTech business models in the world. This industry is ready for massive disruption, and we want to be with the leaders. We are also ready to scale, and the MetLife and TechStars mentorship will turbocharge our growth.” —Andrew Bates, CEO

MetLife Digital Accelerator Picks 10 Startup for Inaugural Class

(Image credit: MimiRebelle.)

According to the World Health Organization, between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world’s population over 60 years of age will nearly double from 12 percent to 22 percent. Further, the 65-and-older age group is estimated to grow by 78 percent between 2010 and 2030, compared with a total population increase of just 18 percent. This growing elderly demographic will have an effect on numerous industries, but the insurance industry is in a position to be impacted more than most.

With the elderly population booming and making up a higher proportion of the total population, developed and emerging countries face a new set of macro challenges which include:

1. An economic strain on the welfare state: Welfare states will experience an increased burden on the healthcare system in particular due to the increased number of older adults. In the EU, the over 50s account for two-thirds of all public spending on healthcare. Such expenditure is expected to become more pronounced moving forward.
2. An economic strain on individuals and their families: Besides requiring more resources from the public sector, there will also be implications for the private sector, but more importantly for family members. In countries where there isn’t a welfare state or the state generally provides less, the financial burden of healthcare will often fall on the individual or a family member.
3. A desire to live independently: Around 90 percent of the older population prefers to stay in their own home rather than go to care homes or even a relative’s property. This finding means that despite deteriorating health, older people will want to maintain their independence which can potentially be problematic.
4. Limited technology literacy: It is fair to say that most existing technologies are not shaped for 80-year-olds, who have issues with things like hand-eye coordination.

From a macro perspective it is clear that an aging demographic presents a range of challenges, and the insurance industry is well placed to address them. Insurers, potentially even partnering with InsurTech startups already exploring solutions, can address the aforementioned challenges faced by the elderly demographic in three key ways.

1. Care provision: Currently providing care to the elderly requires large amounts of spending from both governments and families. This finding presents insurers with an opportunity to identify tech-based value-added services that provide customers with more affordable care solutions. We are already seeing companies such as AXA move into this space with its backing of the venture called Birdie. The startup, which closed a €7M funding round in 2018, describes itself as a “care technology platform that supports care professionals and families in delivering better and safer elderly care at home.”
2. Prolonging people’s health: As people grow older they are more susceptible to chronic diseases, and those with critical illness cover will claim on their policy in such situations. Therefore, aging leads to increased essential illness claims. Why not limit such risk by moving from delivering protective offerings to providing preventative solutions? For example, the use of mental exercises can reduce the risk of dementia. Additional solutions are emerging to solve these problems within the market parameters. The startup company Savonix is partnering with Life insurers to provide cognitive assessments to its customers. The partnerships aim to test insureds cognition and improve it in the long run.
3. Increasing elderly independence: It’s clear that the elderly value his/her privacy and independence. Today, most homes are not designed to support this type of lifestyle for the elderly. Therefore, Insurers have an opportunity to supply this segment with the tools necessary to live independent lives. This could be in the form of smart home devices or even well thought through wearables devices that allow the elderly to be better connected to other people. For example, RGA has partnered with a company called Kraydel, which aims to provide a solution to this specifically. Kraydel provides a technology that allows the Elderly to make video calls to friends and family through their televisions.

Changing attitudes towards the aging population and generally increased levels of technology awareness are all factors driving change. Insurers willing to innovate within the sector will be well placed to take advantage of the current shift. The challenge for insurers is not to wait until the problem is upon them but to start to build the innovation required into the business now addressing immediate needs and creating a strategy to address the future needs of our population in years to come. This will involve focusing less on risk transfer products such as health and life insurance and investing more in products/services that can improve the quality of life for the elderly. This, in turn, will allow them to stay relevant and connected to this segment throughout its life.

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