The Corporate Venture Capital-as-a-Service Influencer

#Insurtech - Munich Re convierte a Madrid en la capital mundial de Insurtech - Seguros TV Blog Seguros TV Blog

La segunda edición de Mundi Lab arranca el 27 de febrero

Tras el éxito de la primera edición, vuelve a finales de febrero Mundi Lab, el único programa español y Latinoamericano de aceleración especializado en el sector InsurTech. Esta segunda edición contará de nuevo con diez startups elegidas de entre más de 551 participantes, un 50% más que en la anterior convocatoria, las cuales destacan por su apuesta tecnológica e innovadora.

Las nuevas tecnologías están revolucionando el sector seguros con propuestas centradas en el cliente, creando valor a través de servicios más relevantes y accesibles. Es por ello que el compromiso y la colaboración con empresas InsurTech se considera como una estrategia clave para las aseguradoras aspirando a adelantarse y/o participar de la transformación del sector.

Es tal el impacto de esta nueva industria, que su inversión global anual se ha multiplicado por cinco estos últimos tres años, llegando en España a superar los 27 millones de euros.

Atendiendo a estas necesidades, Munich Re inició hace un año junto con Mundi Ventures un programa pionero de aceleración de startups dirigidas al ecosistema InsurTech.

Mundi Lab cuenta con dos fases, la primera de ellas consiste en la formación presencial en Madrid de diez empresas, y una segunda dedicada a impulsar la comercialización de los proyectos seleccionados.

Durante la primera fase estas diez startups contarán con el mentoring especializado de altos directivos de Munich Re, asignados en base a las características y necesidades de cada proyecto. Se llevará a cabo en Madrid, durante cinco semanas y culminará con un Demo Day donde se presentará la propuesta de cada compañía.

Esta presentación se realizará tanto a inversores clave de la industria de los seguros como a potenciales clientes, con el fin de crear colaboraciones futuras a través de acuerdos comerciales. Estas colaboraciones conforman la segunda fase del programa, en la cual están inmersos los participantes de la edición anterior.

Dos finalistas españoles

Para esta segunda edición, Mundi Lab iniciará la primera fase con diez startups, entre las que se encuentran dos empresas españolas: Smart Discovery y Wenalyze. Smart Discovery (Madrid) se centra en la simulación virtu

via blog.segurostv.es

Insurtech Market Analysis and Forecast by Type, Size, Share, Trends, Growth, Applications and Competitors to 2021 | Jan 30, 2017 - SBWire

Pune, Maharashtra -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/30/2017 -- Insurtech Market Research Report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the Insurtech Industry for 2016-2020. Insurtech Market, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years and discussion of the key vendors effective in this market. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of Insurtech globally.

The global insurtech market to grow at a CAGR of 10.41% during the period 2016-2020.

For further information on this Insurtech Market Report visit at: http://www.absolutereports.com/global-insurtech-market-2016-2020-10436390

via www.sbwire.com

#Insurtech è definitivamente esploso: a certificarlo è questa immagine - InsurZine

Tutti gli analisti del settore assicurativo concordano nel definire il 2016 come l’anno dell’effettiva esplosione dell’Insurtech. Eppure sono ancora in molti ad accusare influencer e giornalisti di fare terrorismo mediatico. La rivoluzione digitale, in realtà, è ormai in atto e difficilmente arresterà il suo passo. Anzi nel 2017 è previsto un incremento degli investimenti nel comparto dell’insurtech (nel 2016 gli investimenti globali hanno raggiunto la cifra record di 3,35 miliardi di dollari).

Per capire la portata di questa rivoluzione basta dare un’occhiata all’immagine qui sotto (Insurance 2016: The Recap, Coverger). L’infografica illustra le 170 aziende dell’insurtech che hanno ricevuto investimenti nel 2016. A fare da padrona sono gli Usa che hanno in dote 100 startup. A seguire l’Europa con 41 e poi l’Asia con 19.

Gli investimenti più consistenti sono stati fatti in startup che forniscono assicurazioni sanitarie. In questo settore la regina incontrastata è stata l’azienda cinese Ping An Good Doctor con 500 milioni di dollari raccolti. Segue il comparto auto con la startup californiana Metromile a fare da capofila (103,1 milioni di dollari), I settori che invece hanno ricevuto meno investimenti sono quelli vita e per le piccole imprese.

Se invece dividiamo gli investimenti secondo la tecnologia su cui si basa la startup, scopriamo che gli investitori hanno scommesso soprattutto su data&analytics (più di 1 miliardo di investimenti). L’Internet of Thing considerato, insieme all’intelligenza artificiale, la tecnologia del futuro ha invece raccolto solo 24 milioni di dollari.

via blog.insurance-arena.com

#CVC, #Corporate #Venture - Le financement des startups par les grands groupes français en plein boom

De Safran à Orange, en passant par EDF, la CNP ou Seb, le nombre de fonds de "corporate venture" a explosé en France depuis deux ou trois ans, pas seulement chez les groupes du CAC 40, mais aussi des ETI et des entreprises mutualistes. (Crédits : Hub BPI France)

Plus de quinze ans après l’éclatement de la bulle internet qui avait échaudé bien des groupes du CAC 40, le « corporate venture » fait un fulgurant come-back en France. Dans une approche plus structurée.

Longtemps frileux, échaudés par les déboires connus lors de l'éclatement de la bulle Internet en 2000, les grands groupes français sortent de leur réserve et se mettent à investir significativement dans les startups. « On assiste à une nette accélération du corporate venture en France ; c'est un phénomène que l'on ne peut pas négliger », a relevé vendredi Cécile Brosset, la directrice du Hub Bpifrance, qui tenait une table ronde sur le sujet. Et ce même si « le nombre d'acquisitions par des grands groupes reste proche de zéro ! », a-t-elle ajouté.

Le nombre de transactions réalisées par des fonds de capital-risque émanant de grands groupes ou entreprises de taille intermédiaire a explosé l'an dernier : selon les chiffres non exhaustifs, rassemblés par le Hub, service d'apporteur d'affaires pour les grands groupes et les startups au sein de la banque publique d'investissement, il y a eu 590 deals signés par des « corporate ventures » en 2016, contre 243 l'année précédente, pour un montant cumulé de 2,7 milliards d'euros (1,5 milliard en 2015).

Aux Etats-Unis, sur le seul premier semestre, le « corporate venture capital » (CVC dans le jargon) a financé des startups à hauteur de 8,6 milliards de dollars. Loin derrière les géants Google Ventures ou Intel Capital, le français Axa était tout de même au niveau mondial le 24e fonds corporate le plus actif l'an dernier, selon CB Insights.

[L'envol des investissements des fonds de corporate venture en France de

via www.latribune.fr

#Insurtech #VC by @VentureScanner

Venture Scanner Insurtech Report Q1 2017 from Nathan Pacer

#InsurTech Accelerator Program: Apply now

Startups 

Apply now: Accelerator Program for InsurTech Startups in Munich

01/29/2017 editorial 36 Views 0 Comments accelerator, InsurTech Startups, munich, WERK1

• +10
• share

via www.startupvalley.news

#Insurtech - The Problem with Art Funds

The Problem with Art Funds

ARTSY EDITORIAL

BY ANNY SHAW

JAN 9TH, 2017 10:21 PM

 

Barbara Bloom, Safe, 1999. Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). Image courtesy of the artist and David Lewis, New York.

The idea of art as an investment vehicle has been gaining momentum in recent years, and with it a proliferation of art funds. The first fund dates back to 1974, when the British Rail Pension Fund invested in more than 2,500 works of art over six years. The scheme prospered, reportedly delivering an aggregate return of 11.3% per year compounded from 1974 to 1999.

Since then there have been numerous attempts to launch art funds, with varying degrees of success. The London-based Fine Art Fund, which recently rebranded as the Fine Art Group, is one of the longest-standing and biggest players in the market. The group currently manages eight different funds and has more than $500 million in assets under contract.

Chief executive Philip Hoffman, who founded the Fine Art Group in 2001 having worked at Christie’s for 12 years and KPMG before that, attributes his success to the mixture of art world and financial expertise his company offers. “Most art funds lack staying power and long-term capital,” he says, noting that the majority are less than two years old. “People don’t want to invest in a firm without a track record, especially after Lehman Brothers blew up in 2008.”

In 2015, Hoffman wound down his first fund, launched in 2005-06, which made an annual net return of 5%—a “respectable figure,” he says, and “better than most unleveraged funds, many of which went bust after 2008.” But some in the art trade say the return is poor. Todd Levin, the director of the New York-based Levin Art Group, says he has “a consistent annual net return of between 8% and 40% on groups of artworks with hold times of between four and 12 years.” 

As the art market has changed over the past 10 years, so too has Hoffman’s business model. His first funds invested heavily in Old Masters, a category he no longer deals in, choosing instead to invest in Impressionist, modern, and contemporary art.

The Fine Art Group is also launching a lending arm to help art collectors and dealers borrow against their assets. The new company, called Fine Art Financial Services, offers up to 50% of the value of works up to $20 million, including those due to be auctioned. “We are looking towards being one of the biggest guarantors at auction,” Hoffman says. The group also offers an art advisory service to its clients.

However, many art funds have failed to adapt and have folded since the highs of 2007, when there were around 50 active globally. That figure dropped to 12 by the end of 2010, according to Fine Art Wealth Management. Casualties include Fernwood Art Investments, which went up in smoke before the recession, prompting a small group of equity investors to file lawsuits, and the Art Trading Fund, the world’s first art hedge fund, which went into liquidation at the end of 2009.

Since 2010, there has been a slight uptick in new art funds being launched. Among them is the Tiroche DeLeon Collection art fund, which was established in 2012 and invests in contemporary art from developing countries. Since March 2012, the art fund has seen a total return of 15.83%. The firm is currently focusing on sales, primarily in Asia and Africa, ahead of its five-year anniversary.

Despite a renewed interest in art funds, however, there is limited evidence that any are viable, say some trade insiders. “Art is not a liquid enough asset to produce the sort of returns that investors would want,” says Melanie Gerlis, an art market journalist and the author of Art as an Investment?: A Survey of Comparative Assets (2014). “And evidence suggests that investors would rather buy more traditional assets to make money and buy art for other sorts of returns.”

Levin suggests that art funds fail where other forms of art investment succeed partly due to the overhead required to run one. “An art fund is a very expensive proposition, due to the overhead costs eating away at one’s profit margin.” he says. “Whether one is an investor or collector, you would be better served employing an experienced art advisor on a one to one basis to build a portfolio or collection of art.”

Ultimately, Levin says, reducing art to a transaction misses the point of collecting. “The important part of collecting art is the education modality, and it is this that drives the transactional modality. One must build a certain level of connoisseurship first.” he says. “Fundamentally, the only successful way to buy art as an aesthetic object and as an investment is to spend your own money and do it yourself with the guidance of an advisor.”

Insurers know it’s profitable to discourage patient claims | HeraldNet.com

Insurers know it’s profitable to discourage patient claims

• Sun Jan 29th, 2017 1:30am
• Business

You must sign in or register to continue reading content.

As Republicans work to repeal Obamacare, they say they want to safeguard coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. But they have yet to explain how they’ll accomplish this without also keeping the mandate that everyone buy insurance.

What isn’t being discussed is the obstacle course insurance companies and middlemen create for policyholders trying to get claims approved, often for chronic conditions. Industry bean counters have the power to reject drugs or treatments recommended by doctors.

“It’s a moneymaking tactic,” said Carmen Balber, director of Consumer Watchdog. “The companies know that when they deny claims, most people will just give up.”

Not Bill Waxman.

The 66-year-old has had repeated encounters with Anthem Blue Cross and Navitus Health Solutions, which handles his f

via www.heraldnet.com

France makes its bid to be recognized as a global AI hub | VentureBeat | AI | by Chris O'Brien

Image Credit: ISAI/Paul Strachman

Disclosure: Organizers of the “France is AI” conference paid travel expenses for the reporter to attend and moderate several sessions at the event.

Tucked into a courtyard in central Paris, the 35 employees of Snips are hunched over their computers trying to put the finishing touches on a new version of the company’s artificial intelligence app for smartphones.

The company is packed full of big brains, many of them products of France’s leading universities and a culture that is historically strong in mathematics. And they’re not afraid to let you know it. Etched into winding wooden staircases that lead to Snips offices are a series of math puzzles that job recruits are asked to solve as they work their way upstairs.

Above: Snips’ headquarters in Paris.

I

via venturebeat.com

New #insurtech Ladder is digitizing life insurance

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Fintech Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

The US insurtech sector has grown far more quickly than its UK and European counterparts, mostly due to the size of its insurance market and its high costs.

Now, another US insurtech is stepping in to make one of the most expensive forms of insurance more accessible, according to press releases seen by and interviews conducted by BI Intelligence.

California-based Ladder allows users to get a quote and apply for instant life coverage online or via mobile in a matter of minutes, with policies that range from $100,000 to $8 million, and from 10 to 30 years. Ladder launched on Tuesday, and is so far available only to California residents.

Ladder is targeting young consumers who need life insurance but find the current system too expensive and time-consuming. Historically, buying life insurance required multiple in-person meetings with brokers, manual paperwork, and waiting times of circa six weeks for coverage to take effect, with most incumbents encumbered by inefficient legacy systems. This has particularly deterred younger, working consumers who are starting families — people likely with a need and desire for life insurance, but even less time than most for the lengthy process. This is the group Ladder is now targeting. Jamie Hale, Ladder CEO, cites a LIMRA (a global FSI association) study which found that, as a result, there are 19 million "stuck shoppers" in the US who cannot buy policies despite needing them.

Ladder aims to solve this problem in several ways:

• Streamlining the application process. Applicants fill out a short questionnaire with details such as gender, age, whether they smoke, and a rating of their overall health. Live personnel can also be contacted to answer questions. This speeds up documentation and approval times. If a medical examination is required, Ladder dispatches a medical professional to a place and at a time chosen by the applicant. 
• Lowering costs. Ladder does not charge annual policy fees, unlike most incumbents. It also offers term rather than whole policies — th

via www.businessinsider.fr

Understanding #Insurtech: the ABCs - Insurance Thought Leadership

Photo Courtesy of Pexels

Billions of dollars of investment are flowing into startups focusing on insurtech. From the viewpoint of investors, anything that has to do with using technology in the insurance industry can be labeled insurtech. For incumbent insurers, however, this broad term is unfortunately not very useful for coming to an understanding of the many start-ups focused on the sector. Novarica has proposed a framework called the “ABCs of InsurTech” to help insurers differentiate between Analytics Arms Dealers, Beneficial Bots, Creative Carriers and Digital Distributors.

The first two categories, which are focused on helping insurers transform and compete, are likely to have a greater impact on incumbent insurers in the short term than the direct competitors to existing carriers and distributors. But the latter two categories will offer useful examples of how to operate a digital insurer that will be copied by successful incumbents as they transform themselves.

See also: Top 10 Insurtech Trends for 2017  

Analytics Arms Dealers include start-ups like Carpe Data, Praedicat, and Tyche, focused on selling data and analytical capabilities to insurers to help them compete more effectively. These companies are not participating in the marketplace directly, but selling tools to those who do. The dramatic growth in the accessibility and sheer volume of third-party data, combined with the increased power of analytical tools and big data technologies, is changing the way insurers operate. The combination of predictive modeling combined with straight-through processing is making the business of insurance more effective and efficient in areas ranging from pricing, to underwriting, to claims. Analytics Arms Dealers represent an opportunity and a threat to incumbent insurers: an opportunity if an insurer is able to leverage new capabilities effectively before their peers, and a threat if they are not able to.

“Beneficial Bots” is a generic term that covers emerging technologies like drones, the Internet of Things, and blockchain, which have the potential to disrupt many industries, or at least transform operations within them. The term encompasses not only the technologies themselves, but the companies bringing them to the insurance industry, like Human Condition Safety, Meshify, and PrecisionHawk. Like Analytics Arms Dealers, Beneficial Bot providers are primarily selling tools to incumbent insurers, as opposed to competing with them directly. These emerging technologies have the potential to bring about dramatic changes in costs and capabilities, in the process forcing re-evaluation of business models and opening new potentials. Also like with Analytics Arms Dealers, insurers need to understand the potential value of these new capabilities better and leverage them faster and more effectively than their competitors.

Creative Carriers are start-ups that believe that by leveraging massive amounts of third-party data, powerful analytics, and digital communications, they can create a new way to create and sell insurance. In many cases, they are taking an “Outside In” approach by starting with the desired customer experience and building their operation backwards from there. Some Creative Carriers, like Trov and Slice Lab, are focused on offering innovative products. Others, like Lemonade or Oscar, are selling a traditional product through a more customer-centric sales and service experience. These companies, while unlikely to pose a direct threat to most incumbent insurers (due to a lack of resources and what will likely be an eventual realization that the b

via insurancethoughtleadership.com

#InsurTech: the innovation engine for insurance - Accenture Insurance Blog

Accenture is in the forefront of innovation in InsurTech.

Over the past four or five years, FinTech’s driven innovative disruption deep into the banking and capital markets sectors. Energised by countless start-ups and by born-digital giants like Google, Apple, Baidu and Tencent, the global marketplace for financial services has been transformed. Disruptive entrants have swooped on high-volume retail services, shifting them online and/or onto mobile. And, in many areas, incumbent players have found themselves losing out, as customers turn to new solutions more in tune with their expectations.

Insurers have witnessed this disruption. And they’re alive to the impact InsurTech can have on profitability and customer relations in their own industry, as well as the opportunities it creates for unpredictable competition. Now, having lagged their counterparts in banking and capital markets in recent years, we’re seeing an upsurge of interest by insurers in what technologies like AI, automation, the Internet of Things and advanced analytics have to offer. More and more start-ups are targeting the industry, developing solutions geared to maintaining proactive relationships with an increasingly tech-savvy marketplace. Put bluntly, insurance has been ripe for change for some time and now InsurTech is the engine that’s making it happen.

It’s an incredible time to be working at the intersection of insurance and technology. And we’ve launched a dedicated InsurTech workstream within the Accenture FinTech Innovation Lab to capitalise on (and help drive forward) the unprecedented creativity we’ve seen over the past 12 months. With so much investment going into InsurTech and the general pivot to digital throughout the industry, we owe it to ourselves, our clients and our wider presence in the London Market to be at the forefront of InsurTech in the UK.

While our FinTech programme runs globally, its London arm is the first to have implemented InsurTech. As a result, we’re getting an incredible amount of interest in our activities from other geographies. We are also seeing many of the Lab’s 13 insurance partners (across Personal and Commercial lines) starting to run their own InsurTech and/or innovation-led initiatives. Our programme takes this one step further with a cross-market view that’s not restricted by an individual organisation’s strategic priorities.

Insurers want to be involved in what we’re doing because it provides them with a unique opportunity to get a deep, early look at the InsurTech offerings that are poised to hit the market. It’s also an ideal forum for collaboration with (and learning from) other insurers, and a great chance for brand positioning amongst some of the smartest start-ups around.

By end of November last year, we had down-selected from over 50 start-up applicants to a final cadre of five that will progress through the InsurTech workstream over the next five months, before one is picked as Accenture’s InsurTech startup of the year. We’ve see a really interesting spread of offerings, from social media, P2P, data analytics and chatbots to telematics, on-demand insurance and some broker disruptors.

Although the InsurTech workstream is still in its first year, we have an excellent range of start-ups, comparable to the competitive advantage potential we’re seeing in our Banking and Capital Markets streams. And the next three months look like they’ll be even more exciting. In the follow-on blogs, I’ll be feeding back on my experiences, thoughts and observations on InsurTech trends and developments, as well as reporting on the results of our programme as we progress.

Thanks for reading.

via insuranceblog.accenture.com

#Insurtech - How Peter Thiel’s Latest Investment Could Shake Up Airline Pricing with @Flyrlabs

#Insurtech - How Peter Thiel’s Latest Investment Could Shake Up Airline Pricing | Fortune.com

Venture Capital

How Peter Thiel’s Latest Investment Could Shake Up Airline Pricing

Jeremy Quittner

Updated: Jan 19, 2017 10:07 PM CET

via fortune.com

#Insurtech - @Flyrlabs Secures $8 Million Series A Financing let by @PeterThiel - @AXAVentures (@Minh_Q_Tran, @FGraillot) to participate in round

FLYR Secures $8 Million Series A Financing - Fare Prediction Company to Aggressively Accelerate Growth

Share Article

 

 

Data science company FLYR announced today it has completed a $8 million Series A round of funding led by Peter Thiel.

 

“We are invigorated by Peter Thiel’s investment” -- Jean Tripier, Co-founder and CEO of FLYR.

 

San Francisco, California (PRWEB)January 18, 2017

FLYR, the data science company that applies the power of predictive analytics and machine learning to the world of travel, announced today it has completed a $8 million Series A round of funding led by Peter Thiel. Thiel is joined by existing investors such as JetBlue Technology Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, AXA Strategic Ventures, Amadeus, Western Technology Investment, Plug and Play and Chasm Capital Management. The investment will help the company aggressively expand its suite of fare prediction and booking optimization solut

via www.prweb.com

#Insurtech - @AXAVentures invests in @Floome_2045Tech, an Italian start-up that transforms your smartphone into a breathalyser

 

• AXA Strategic Ventures (ASV) and Invitalia Ventures SGR (an asset management company which manages a Fund on behalf of Venture Industry) have decided to invest in Floome. The start-up created in the Veneto area has made a device that can be attached to a smartphone which allows drivers to check the alcohol levels in their own blood in seconds, and to take advantage of services and information with the aim of preventing damage, accidents and fines.
• ASV and Invitalia Ventures will complete the first round of a 750.000 € investment in Floome.
• Floome is the first early-stage investment in an Italian start-up for ASV.

 

The start-up, founded in Padua in 2013 by Fabio Penzo, Marco Barbetta and Luca Escoffier, has developed a device, with a dedicated app, that allows you to transform your smartphone into a blood alcohol level measuring device. Thanks to the technology developed by the team, the pocket-sized device is competitively priced compared to traditional breathalysers. It uses same sensors founds in law enforcement breathalyzers, has an internationally award-winning design, and does not need charging or for the batteries to be replaced.

The application is free to download and allows you to see the blood alcohol level measured by the device on your smartphone, along with lots of useful information such as the time needed for your body to break down the excess alcohol, the legal drink-drive limit, and any penalties you may face if you decide to take the wheel. The app also allows you to call a taxi or a friend to give you a lift home, or even to find a place where you can eat something. In this way, it discourages people from driving whilst under the influence of alcohol. The start-up expects to make important partnerships with various companies in 2017 that will allow them to offer additional services to their customers.

In Europe, drink-driving alone is responsible for about a quarter of fatal road accidents every year (this corresponds to over 10,000 deaths)[1], whilst in Italy it is the cause of 30-35% of deaths on the road (1,100-1,300)[2]. Driving whilst under the influence of alcohol accounts for around 4% of the distance covered by vehicles in Europe, and in southern Europe this figure rises to 7.5%[3].

Alcohol has a significant impact on reaction times when driving, greatly reducing the driver’s responses. Floome has a huge social impact because it aims to significantly reduce the “drink-driving” phenomenon, giving the opportunity for people, especially young people, to make an informed and smart choice.

“Our objective is to increasingly work in partnership with our customers, helping them prevent risks by leveraging technological innovation, said Patrick Cohen, CEO of AXA Italia. Floome responds perfectly to this challenge since it allows possible alcohol-related accidents to be avoided and promotes responsible driver behaviour.”

“We are particularly proud of this deal as it is the first investment in an Italian start-up, commented Minh Q. Tran, General Partner of AXA Strategic Ventures. Our aim is to invest in technology that can change the future of insurance services beyond national borders. This is why Floome is a promising Italian start-up to scale in Europe.”

The technology has a major impact on the role of insurance companies as 80% of Italians think that they should participate in prevention[4]. According to McKinsey, car accidents could decrease by 40% by 2040 thanks to smart insurance and technology.

“Floome has very interesting market prospects because the product is not only directed at the private user through global online distribution and retail, but also at businesses such as insurance companies, transport companies, alcoholic beverage producers (with the social responsibility of companies also in mind),” stated Mario Scuderi, Investment Manager of Invitalia Ventures. “Moreover, Floome represents an excellent big-data generator regarding alcohol consumption", he added.

Floome currently boasts 20 thousand active users and has recently reached customers in Europe, Asia, South Africa, Australia and the U.S. With this investment Floome aims to reinforce strategic marketing in the market, with the long-term goal, of even offering digital and remote control for the blood alcohol level devices in the sectors of transport, hospitals and for monitoring employees.

Fabio Penzo, co-founder and managing director of Floome, declared that “we are very proud to have the support and trust of two partners like AXA Strategic Ventures and Invitalia Venture. Thanks to this investment we will continue to make life simpler for people, and we will develop new products during 2017. Our team, which is expanding and planning to recruit, is an excellent group of people. Their hearts and minds may be Italian, but their vision knows no bounds”.

 

Floome is available to purchase online via the website www.floome.it.

 

[1] Source: “Alcohol interlocks and drink driving rehabilitation in the European Union”, Sjoerd Houwing, December 2016.

[2] Source: “Road accidents. Preventing death in high risk groups: young people and the elderly” (“Gli incidenti stradali. La prevenzione della mortalità sui gruppi a maggior rischio: i giovani, gli anziani”), the Italian National Institute of Health and the World Health Organization, April 2011.

[3] Source: see 1.

[4] Source: AXA Italia research conducted by Episteme entitled “Italians, the labyrinth of data and the role of the insurance sector” (“Gli Italiani, il labirinto dei dati e il ruolo del settore assicurativo”), October 2016.

The #Insurtech #VC - @AXAVentures e Invitalia Ventures investono in Floome

 

AXA Strategic Ventures e Invitalia Ventures investono in Floome

I due fondi hanno deciso di puntare sull’innovativa tecnologia che trasforma lo smartphone in un etilometro, ideata da un giovane team di padovani.

Per AXA Strategic Ventures si tratta del primo investimento early stage in una start-up italiana.

Milano/Roma, 18 gennaio 2017 - AXA Strategic Ventures, il fondo di investimento del Gruppo assicurativo AXA, e Invitalia Ventures SGR, che gestisce il fondo di co-investimento Italia Venture I a sostegno della Venture Industry, portano a termine il primo round d’investimento da 750 mila euro in Floome, startup veneta che ha realizzato un dispositivo da collegare allo smartphone, che permette ai guidatori di verificare il proprio tasso alcolemico in pochi secondi e di usufruire di servizi e informazioni con lo scopo di evitare danni, incidenti e multe.

Fondata a Padova nel 2013 da Fabio Penzo, Marco Barbetta e Luca Escoffier, incubata da Start Cube e accelerata dagli Angel Investors Tiziano Busin e Andrea Ghello, la startup ha sviluppato un dispositivo, con app dedicata, che permette di trasformare il proprio smartphone in un rilevatore di tasso alcolico. Il device tascabile, che grazie alla tecnologia sviluppata dal team ha un prezzo competitivo rispetto ai classici etilometri, utilizza i loro stessi sensori e ha un design pluri-premiato a livello internazionale, oltre a non necessitare di carica o sostituzione della batteria.

L’applicazione si scarica gratuitamente e permette di visualizzare sul proprio smartphone il tasso alcolico misurato con il dispositivo, oltre a tante informazioni utili, come il tempo necessario al proprio fisico per smaltire l’eccesso di alcol, il limite legale di ebrezza e le eventuali sanzioni se ci si mettesse alla guida. L’app permette anche di chiamare un taxi o un amico per farsi dare un passaggio a casa, come anche di trovare un locale dove poter mangiare qualcosa, scoraggiando così le persone a guidare sotto l’effetto dell’alcool.

Nel 2017 la startup prevede importanti alleanze con diverse aziende che permetteranno di offrire ulteriori servizi ai propri clienti. Floome è acquistabile online sul sito www.floome.it.

Ogni anno in Europa la guida in stato di ebbrezza è responsabile da sola di circa un quarto del totale degi incidenti stradali mortali (pari a oltre 10.000 decessi)[1], mentre in Italia è fonte addirittura del 30-35% dei decessi su strada 1.100-1.300)[2]. Basti pensare che circa il 4% dei chilometri percorsi da veicoli europei avvengono sotto l’influenza dell’alcool: cifra che nell’Europa meridionale sale al 7,5%[3].

L’alcool incide significativamente sui tempi di reazione alla guida, riducendo di molto la risposta del guidatore: l’impatto sociale di Floome è enorme perché mira a ridurre notevolmente il fenomeno del “drink and drive”, dando la possibilità soprattutto ai più giovani di fare una scelta intelligente e consapevole.

Per AXA Strategic Ventures si tratta del primo investimento in una start up made in Italy.

“Il nostro obiettivo - ha affermato Patrick Cohen, CEO di AXA Italia – “è diventare sempre di più partner dei nostri clienti, aiutandoli a prevenire i rischi facendo leva sull’innovazione tecnologica. Floome risponde perfettamente a questa sfida, in quanto consente di evitare possibili incidenti legati all’alcool e promuove un comportamento virtuoso per chi guida.”

“Siamo particolarmente fieri di questo deal perché si tratta del primo investimento su una startup italiana” - ha affermato Minh Q.Tran, General Partner di AXA Strategic Ventures - “l’obiettivo è di investire in tecnologie che possano cambiare il futuro dell’assicurazione e il servizio per i nostri clienti. Per questi motivi Floome è una startup promettente sul mercato a livello globale”.

La tecnologia ha un impatto fondamentale sul ruolo delle assicurazioni, che per l’80% degli italiani dovrebbero essere partner di prevenzione[4]. Secondo McKinsey entro il 2040 gli incidenti automobilistici potrebbero diminuire del 40% grazie alla smart insurance e alla tecnologia.

“Floome ha prospettive di mercato molto interessanti” ha dichiarato Mario Scuderi, Investment Manager di Invitalia Ventures “in quanto il prodotto si indirizza non solo all’utente privato attraverso una distribuzione globale online e retail ma soprattutto alle aziende, come le compagnie di assicurazione, le aziende di trasporti, i produttori di bevande alcoliche (anche in ottica di responsabilità sociale d’impresa). Inoltre, Floome rappresenta anche un ottimo generatore di big data sul consumo alcolico”.

Floome vanta ad oggi 20 mila utenti attivi e di recente ha raggiunto clienti in Europa, Asia, Sud Africa, Australia e Stati Uniti. Con questo investimento punta a rafforzare azioni di marketing strategico nel mercato, con l’obiettivo – nel lungo periodo – di offrire il device anche per il controllo digitale e remoto del tasso alcolico alle aziende nel settore trasporto, ospedaliero e controllo dei dipendenti.

 

“Siamo molto orgogliosi di avere il supporto e la fiducia di due partner come AXA Strategic Ventures e Invitalia Ventures” ha dichiarato Fabio Penzo, co-fondatore e amministratore delegato di Floome. “Grazie a questo investimento continueremo a rendere più semplice la vita delle persone e a realizzare nuovi prodotti già nel corso del 2017. Il nostro team – che si sta espandendo e ha nuove assunzioni in vista - si conferma come un gruppo di eccellenza con cuore e mente italiani ma con gli occhi puntati al mondo”.

 

 

Invitalia Ventures SGR

Invitalia Ventures SGR SpA gestisce il Fondo Italia Venture I a sostegno della Venture Industry italiana. La strategia di co-investimento del Fondo è focalizzata su investimenti in round A sulle migliori Startup/PMI innovative italiane insieme a investitori privati nazionali e internazionali.

 

ABOUT AXA STRATEGIC VENTURES

AXA Strategic Ventures (ASV) is the venture capital business of AXA, the leading global insurer. ASV has a €230m fund and can invest up to €15m ($17m) equity across both seed and growth capital. Sectors of focus are those relevant to the insurance and asset management industries such as enterprise technologies, fintech as well as consumer technologies and marketplaces in travel, health, auto or property related businesses. North America, Europe and the Middle East are the initial focus geographies with local teams in San Francisco, New York, London and Paris. More information about AXA Strategic Ventures: http://www.axastrategicventures.com

 

 

[1] Fonte: “Alcohol interlocks and drink driving rehabilitation in the European Union”, Sjoerd Houwing, dicembre 2016.

[2] Fonte: “Gli incidenti stradali. La prevenzione della mortalità sui gruppi a maggior rischio: i giovani, gli anziani”, Istituto Superiore di Sanità e World Health Organization, aprile 2011.

[3] Fonte: cfr. 1.

[4] Fonte: Ricerca AXA Italia condotta da Episteme dal titolo “Gli Italiani, il labirinto dei dati e il ruolo del settore assicurativo”, ottobre 2016.

#Insurtech #Exit at @AXAVentures - Weathernews Inc. Acquires Metnext Entering Environmental Weather Market - Startup 365

Weathernews Inc. Acquires Metnext Entering Environmental Weather Market

Posted on 17 January 2017 by 862global

Expanding Weathernews services to worldwide energy, retail, and
agriculture markets

CHIBA, Japan–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#agriculture—Weathernews
Inc. (Chiba, Japan; Chihito Kusabiraki/CEO; “Weathernews”)
(TOKYO:4825) announced that it had completed the acquisition of all
shares of Mextnet SA (Paris, France; Patrice Massat/CEO; “Metnext”), and
that the company had become its wholly-owned subsidiary today. Metnext
is a European leader in providing weather based analytics services and
decision making tools to help companies manage their activities at best
leveraging climate impact. Through the acquisition, the companies will
share their service know-how and infrastructure, and combining their
technology and expertise in an effort to develop new services for
customers in Asia, Europe, and other areas of the world.

The Background and Purpose of the Acquisition

Since its founding in 1986, Weathernews has provided weather risk
management support services mainly for the global transportation weather
markets (shipping, aviation, railway and road transportation).
Furthermore, the company is targeting energy, factory, retail and
agriculture markets as “environmental weather markets” for 2017 and will
engage in developing and offering its services globally. Metnext
provides services leveraging its own software solutions and technology
to the various sectors of the “environmental weather markets” such as :
Energy: energy production for gas, wind , solar, hydro; Retail,
Industry, Services: demand forecast to adjust production and logistics;
Agribusiness: delivery of high precision field based observations and
forecast to anticipate agri treatment. With the aim of providing
high-quality services to the global transportation and environmental
weather markets, the two companies will join their strengths to generate
the following synergies:

• Combining Weathernews’ strengths in mitigation and avoidance of
  everyday operational weather risks with Metnext’s technology and
  services for project design, operational planning and post-project
  evaluation based on weather risks will enable the provision of total
  support for corporate activities from the design and planning phase to
  everyday operation and maintenance, dealing with emergencies and
  post-project evaluation.
• Metnext’s Paris Office will serve a

via www.startup365.fr

what insurance industry cios predict about insurtech in 2017?, IT News, ET CIO

Bangalore: The insurance sector is slowly but certainly going big on leveraging technologies. Insurance technology, popularly known as insurtech primarily aims to help insurance companies to improve its services and business operations with better reach and connect with their customers and benefiting them overall.

However, it also offers huge opportunities for technology vendors, financial platform companies as well as third party services and solutions providers to come up with insurance industry specific technologies.

The global insurtech market is expected to grow steadily over the next four years with a CAGR of more than 10% by 2020, according to research firm Technavio’s recent market research.

The research predicts the insurance industry offers a big scope for innovation that links insurance and payment platforms through partnerships and leveraging mobile and smart devices for enhancing customer services. It states that insurtech in way will give rise to a new ecosystem of insurers, tech vendors, payment platforms and whole lot of third party services and solutions providers including online players.

In fact, many of top chief information officers (CIOs) and IT decision markets (ITDMs) across large insurance companies are predicting that insurtech in 2017 is going to change insurance industry’s face like never before in the past.

Vikas Gujral, Chief Operating Officer - Max Bupa Health Insurance

The future will be either creating your own ‘ecosystems’ or ride on other ecosystem to have an integrated end to end offering for the consumers. This will encompass all the buzzwords that all of us are hearing all around us like Internet of Things (IoT), intelligent apps etc. Internet of things will not only help in improved conversion, enhance stickiness with the customers but will also enable the insurers in risk prevention and portfolio management.

Use case for Artificial intelligence (AI) is another area that some of the insurers are currently actively working on. Hybrid cloud is another trend that will be very strategic for enterprises as it provides the most desirable elasticity and reach across a wider ecosystem. In order to leverage this capability, the capability for seamless “plumbing” using APIs via a service integration layer (which can integrate across on premise as well as cloud), will be a key ask for all strategic IT initiatives.

Lastly, I feel some innovative and breakthrough technology enablers like Blockchain and SDN will provide significant benefits for health insurance and overall Insurance sector as they allow for significant scalability for business. Max Bupa has strong focus on utilizing the technology to deliver the best in class service and an overwhelming experience to its customers, partners and emp

via cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com

Insurtech Asia Connecting Insurance Technology And Community | SmartphonesTalk

Insurtech Asia Connecting Insurance Technology And Community

pocikita January 15, 2017

CONNECTING INSURANCE, INNOVATION AND COMMUNITY to be part of Insurtech Asia through regular discussions, meetups, events and workshops..Although InsurTech in Asia is in its infancy, since 2015 we ‘ve seen a Similar to FinTech there is a multitude of areas in insurance that technology can enhance or disrupt. part of the risks self-insured through family and community networks. partnerships that help them connect with potential customers..A future in which insurance helps to connect communities and is loved by them, To sum it all up, Insurtech Asia will attract, connect, and empower I guess along with the tech, Insurance companies have to make a lot of .InsurTech, Connections, Community, Enablement, Startups, Asia, Insurance Tech to key trends that will shape Asia Insurance Tech InsurTech in 2017. Pradeep Aich suggest if you connect with India insurance business also 1 month ago..

CONNECTING INSURANCE, INNOVATION AND COMMUNITY to be part of Insurtech Asia through regular discussions, meetups, events and workshops..Insurance Collaborate: Corporate Startup Engagement Event This post explores some of the important developments in insurance tech in Asia and takes a step forward to CONNECTING INSURANCE, INNOVATION AND COMMUNITY . Although InsurTech in Asia is in its infancy, since 2015 we ‘ve seen a Similar to FinTech there is a multitude of areas in insurance that technology can enhance or disrupt. part of the risks self-insured through family and community networks. partnerships that help them connect with potential customers..InsurTech, Connections, Community, Enablement, Startups, Asia, Insurance Tech to key trends that will shape Asia Insurance Tech InsurTech in 2017. Pradeep Aich suggest if you connect with India insurance business also 1 month ago..

via smartphonestalk.com