10 startup pitches from the first Hartford Insurtech Hub Demo Day

April 23, 2018 4:48 AM

Hartford Insurtech Hub Demo Day

The Hartford Insurtech Hub’s inaugural Demo Day, held on April 18, attracted a cohort of 10 startups from Canada, Europe and India focused on improving the insurance value chain for health, life and P&C companies.

The three-month program, administered by Startupbootcamp, began last September with intentions of attracting and retaining global technology talent in the city of Hartford. At least three participants have launched operations in the city due to their involvement in the accelerator.

Organizers looked to create opportunities for carriers to network with new companies. A total of five insurtechs secured pilots with founding insurance partners, which included the likes of USAA, Travelers, The Hartford and Cigna. Research and consulting firm Deloitte was also announced as a program partner and mentor on Demo Day.

Startups had five minutes each to pitch insurers on the value they would bring their organizations. The following is a snapshot of each insurtech’s pitch on stage at the Bushnell Theatre in Hartford, CT.

Viewspection

Viewspection enables insurance customers to take pictures of their property and personal valuables through its mobile app, negating the need for a physical inspection by professionals, says Jay Kramer, the company's chief operations officer. The insurtech charges $15 for a residential inspection and $30 for commercial properties, which is 80% less than the competition, he adds. Results are sent to carriers and agents in days, and help remove the friction of the policy buying process by involving customers directly. Viewspection has active partnerships with four carriers, including Madison Insurance.

YAXA

Yaxa provides a cybersecurity product for small and mid-sized businesses. Its AI-driven platform detects suspicious activity by tracking user habits, and reporting breaks in established trends. The software logs time, location and volume of access, among other data points, according to Kalpesh Sheth and Ramesh Gupta, the co-founders of the company. In addition to regular security reports, businesses are able to receive behavior-based cybersecurity policies based on aggregated risk scores YAXA sells insurers. YAXA has four active pilots with insurance companies, and two in the pipeline with Cigna and Verisk Analytics, it says.

Aureus Analytics

Crux is Aureus Analytics' flagship product, which improves the policyholder experience by measuring customer sentiment at the point of decision through predictive analytics and machine learning. According to Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder Nitin Purohit, the startup enables insurance carriers, agents and managing general agencies to understand customers better and communicate in plain english to drive retention. In past run pilots, spanning 30 weeks, the startup has analyzed 35 million policies, initiated 5 million conversations and has witnessed a three percent growth in customer retention for clients. Aureus currently sports 15 active insurance partnerships with the likes of AXA and Allianz, and has secured a pilot with Travelers thanks to its involvement in the program. Beth Maerz, VP of innovation and customer experience, at Travelers served as Aureus’ program mentor.

Boundlss

Shona Cotterill was Boundlss first investor, she recalled on stage. Now the company’s business development director in Europe, Cotterill intends to improve the health of more than 100 million people by 2020 through the help of a 24/7 AI health coach. Boundlss’ product is geared toward life, health and workers’ compensation carriers—aiming to return workers to their jobs quickly. Thirty-five human health coaches are also on call to answer client messages the AI software is not yet comfortable answering. Boundlss has more than 50 million members, four active clients and collects data from 380 wearables and fitness apps—including sleep patterns, steps, weight and body mass index, it says. The startup also secured a pilot with Travelers through the accelerator. It will now call Hartford its U.S. home.

Rozie AI

Rozie AI is another insurtech tackling the insurance customer experience. According to Sudha Meghan and Vijay Dheap, the company’s respective CEO and CTO, their platform offers a personalized UX with context to support policyholders throughout their journey from sales support to policy servicing and claims management. Rozie AI’s machine learning platform also remembers all customer conversations, in order to help insurers predict their next move. The startup has announced a new collaboration with Cigna born out of its involvement in the Hartford accelerator.

Truedime

Truedime began as a startup offering insurance to international students, says Kaushik Tiwari, the company’s founder. During the three-month accelerator, the company quickly pivoted towards helping freelance workers acquire on-demand employee benefits. Forty-seven percent of millennials entering the labor force are freelancing, Tiwari noted. His company helps insurance companies reach a new market that traditional broker channels cannot. Truedimes invoicing app enables professionals to get advanced payment, as well as benefits tailored to the kind of risk they are exposed to during jobs —whether it requires virtual or physical labor—using personalized underwriting points given to insurers that are input by customers.

StaTwig

StaTwig is an Internet of Things company based on the cloud. Its SaaS scBlockchain platform caters to manufacturing companies, helping track materials when shipped to clients, says Sid Chakaravarthy. Founder and CEO. As the supply chain becomes more global, StaTwig’s goal is to enable distributors, retailers, banks and insurers to more easily gather and share data with each other, without fear of information being tampered. StaTwig offers a monthly subscription to all of its blockchain participants.

SecureHome

SecureHome provides cyber protection for all connected devices in a household’s network. In order to fend off ransomware attacks, the company pinpoints abnormalities in usage and proof of tampering. This allows P&C companies’ payout risks to decrease, which have been elevated by the growing amount of installation of smart devices, said company Chied Customer Officer Asim Riaz. Insurers can also use collected recordings to launch personal cyber insurance policies for customers. The company current has three ongoing proof of concepts with insurers, including two in the Hartford area.

Ubios

Ubios, based in Canada, eliminates the cost of water damage on multi-family buildings of more than 50 units. Over 70% of claims reported by landlords result from water damage in the form of frozen or leaky pipes, according to Ubios CEO & Founder Mathieu Lachaine. The startup created a water alarm system capable of 24/7 monitoring of homes through the use of smart devices. The sensors are placed in apartment bathrooms and kitchens, and detect when a human walks in. It then opens the water valve and shuts it off when movement is no longer sensed, The objective is to keep water leaks minimal, when they occur, by having water flow only when renters are in a room.

Pentation Analytics

The big data analytics company, which began in 2015, aims to improve cross-sell opportunities, customer retention and profitability for insurance clients, according to Anirban Roy, founder and CEO of Pentation Analytics. To do this, the startup offers an AI-powered mobile and tablet offering called the Insurance Analytics Suite that is deployable in two weeks and utilizes both structured and unstructured data, such as customer feedback and web activity to improve business intelligence. Easy access to third-party API and technology platforms is another advantage, the company says. The insurtech, with operations in Hartford as of January, already has partnerships with three insurers and 40-plus agencies in Asia.