InsurTech Gateway, said to be the first insurtech accelerator authorised as an insurance broker by the Financial Conduct Authority, has entered the market to provide funding, insurance capability, and a complete testing environment for start-ups. It has underwriting capability in place with
Aspen Insurance UK.
A co-investment from Hambro Perks and Robert Lumley, InsurTech Gateway is supported by a panel of reinsurers and angel investors from the insurance sector. Its goal is to significantly reduce the time (from two years to three to six months) and cost (by 75%) it takes to prove an insurtech concept.
“The three main hurdles insurtech start-ups face are regulatory and capacity barriers, the funding gap, and big insurers’ slow behaviour,” noted insurance entrepreneur and InsurTech Gateway co-founder Lumley. “That means there is little innovation happening in the sector because it is too difficult to get past the roadblocks.”
Hambro Perks chairman Rupert Hambro, former director at
Sedgwick, commented: “InsurTech Gateway will disrupt those who believe their traditional businesses are impervious to change. One of the many ways we will do that is by supporting new ideas and innovative ways to improve the insurance products currently available to consumers.”
With ready-made partnership agreements with key capital providers, distributors, and infrastructure, InsurTech Gateway plans to launch as many as 25 insurtech start-ups within the next five years.
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