Insurance IT Startups Pitch Carriers at Expo
December 16, 2016 12:00 AM
The 2016 Plug & Play Winter Expo featured pitch events for several industries, including insurance. Plug & Play is a startup accelerator in Silicon Valley that ran its first insurance cohort this year.
More than 20 insurtech startups presented their companies to representatives from the industry, including representatives from Munich Re, Farmers, and AIG.
The event was kicked off by Ali Safavi, director of the insurance program within Plug & Play. [Read Safavi's interview with INN]
Safavi gave way to Saeed Amidi, founder and CEO of Plug & Play, for brief remarks.
Safavi (far left) moderated a panel discussion with (next from left) Robert Mozeika, Munich Re; Tim Attia, Slice Labs; and Jacob Rothfuss, Farmers; on how insurers can work collaboratively with startups to push the industry along. [See INN's coverage of the panel]
Then startup pitches commenced, with each company getting three minutes to make their case. Pictured: Max Drucker, Carpe Data, which aims to help insurers incorporate data from new souces like the Internet of Things. [For a full list of the insurtechs that took part in the first insurance-specific Plug & Play program, click here]
Shobana Sankaran, GM of insurance, Nauto, tells the crowd about her company uses smart devices and cameras to get context around driving behavior.
Rachel Thurman's company, Inbenta, provides AI-powered chatbots for customer service.
Newton Asare talks about ClientDesk, the company he co-founded to deliver web portals and mobile apps to insurance companies and brokers.
Insurer "judges" listen in on the pitches.
The winner of the competition was Nauto.
There also was an exhibit area where startups could get another chance to engage the industry. Pictured is the drone analytics company BetterView.
Sureify representatives elucidate their company's policyholder engagement platform.
Plug & Play is in the process of selecting next year's class of insurtechs and will begin the next program in the first quarter of 2017.