Vertafore acquires MGA Systems; Zurich partners with Cognizant: Insurtech news

July 7, 2022 3:27 PM

A cyclist passes traffic on the two lane automobile highway crossing the Carl-Ulrich Bridge over the River Main, in Offenbach, Germany, on Thursday, July 1, 2021. Urban planning, which has traditionally been dominated by male decision makers, is now under pressure to make networks less-focused around men commuting to work. Photographer: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg — A cyclist passes traffic on the two lane automobile highway crossing the Carl-Ulrich Bridge over the River Main, in Offenbach, Germany, on July 1, 2021.

Zurich Insurance Germany expands its partnership with Cognizant, an IT firm, to help the insurer deliver more digital offerings. The multi-year agreement will extend AI, data and cloud capabilities for Zurich Germany. "Zurich is on an ongoing journey of 'accelerated digital evolution' to meet the rapidly changing needs of our customers and partners and creating a more intimate connection with them. Cognizant has proven itself as a knowledgeable and reliable strategic partner, and we look forward to further capitalizing on its industry expertise to help us advance our digital transformation," said Jens Becker, chief information officer, Zurich Germany, in a statement.

Vertafore, an insurtech, acquires MGA Systems, an insurance software company, to expand its Vertafore suite and give customers access to policy administration and rating solutions from MGA Systems. "This acquisition is another milestone in our commitment to drive transformation and create an integrated ecosystem of products," said James Thom, chief product officer of Vertafore, in a statement. "I'm excited that Vertafore will be integrating the power of NetRate into AIM while continuing to drive more value for MGAs and program administrators within IMS. I look forward to our teams working together as we invest in our solutions."

United Automobile Insurance Company picks Cloverleaf Analytics, insurance intelligent solutions including Business Intelligence and machine learning, for management of its insurance data. “Cloverleaf is the solution that we needed to integrate data from all internal systems as well as third-party sources and structure it in a way to make it immediately consumable and actionable by internal users,” said Dean Kozlowski, vice president of product and compliance, UAIC, in a statement. “Beyond improving our rate making, Cloverleaf will deliver a complete view of the business providing insights across systems which will enable the design of new and innovative products and processes.”

Ford and Wejo, a mobility cloud and software analytics company, collaborate on connected car data. Wejo can now access data, after customers’ consent, from Ford vehicles across Europe. The data is passed onto insurers for usage-based insurance policies. “Providing actionable data insights to insurance providers is another example of how Wejo is expanding into additional markets and demonstrating new use cases for OEMs and insurance companies to monetize connected vehicle data for good,” said Richard Barlow, founder and CEO, Wejo, in a statement. “We will continue to work with partners like Ford and other vehicle OEMs to look beyond insurance to identify all the use cases for connected vehicle data.”

ReSource Pro, an insurance business solutions company, acquires towerIQ, a P&C technology platform. ReSource will use the platform to offer its clients further data optimization and productivity, across middle to large markets. “The towerIQ platform allows us to work better with client data and deliver faster and more accurate solutions for our customers,” said Dan Epstein, CEO of ReSource Pro, in a press release. “For many of our clients, towerIQ will provide a transformative capability to leverage insured data to better manage complex risks.”

American Farmers & Ranchers Mutual Insurance Company integrates Verisk’s property claims handling solutions into its workflows. “After reviewing available products, we came to the conclusion that Verisk’s claims solutions offer the most diverse functionality and greatest flexibility of any currently on the market,” said Darin Miller, director of claims at AFR Insurance, in a press release. “By incorporating these solutions into our workflows, we are able to process claims efficiently and effectively, better serving our policyholders.”

Insurtech NY opens applications for its third accelerator class. The window is open till July 29 and applications can be submitted here. The program is designed for growth-stage insurtechs in the funding stages between Seed and Series B. “Transverse Insurance has been a member of the InsurTech NY accelerator program from the beginning. The program has helped us to spot new opportunities, engage with the InsurTech ecosystem, and support our portfolio companies like Amplify Life,” said Mark Hong, EVP, chief investment officer of Transverse Insurance, in a statement. “We look forward to the opportunity to meet the 2022 cohort and potentially support them with fronting capacity and/or investment.”

Chainproof, incubated by Guantstamp, a blockchain security auditor, launches as a smart contract insurance provider. The company plans to offer licensed insurance coverage for open-source smart contracts on public blockchains. Chainproof is backed by SOMPO Light Vortex and Munich Re, for reinsurance. "Quantstamp and Chainproof provide the specific risk assessment expertise which is needed to navigate the emerging DeFi insurance market. Institutional investors will be further enabled to succeed in the DeFi sector, if they are covered by regulated insurance, which we support through reinsurance,” said Andre Knoerchen, head of new tech underwriting, from Munich Re, in a statement.