For the current top 10 insurtech companies in Australia, click here.
Australia’s insurtech industry predominantly consists of “enablers” that mostly collaborate with insurance companies to create value rather than “disruptors” bent on displacing market leaders. This is what EY’s series of reports on the country’s insurtech ecosystem have found in recent years. In its latest edition, the professional services giant finds that the only way for the insurance industry to move forward is to continue with these partnerships.
“Partnering with insurtechs is increasingly common across the insurance industry and is expected to become mainstream,” wrote Andrew Parton, global insurance consulting partner at EY, in his analysis of the 2020 report. “But right now, the use of insurtech is relatively low and the industry remains some way from maximising value creation at scale.”
Read more: IBM: Insurers need to work with insurtechs
EY worked closely with Insurtech Australia to gather responses from insurtech firms, insurers, and other service providers to discover their thoughts on the state of the insurance and insurtech industries in the country.
Most of the respondents agreed that it was time to ramp up partnerships to take advantage of opportunities in areas that are “ripe for innovation” such as efficient administration, pricing and underwriting agility, and new products.
“As the platform economy matures, insurers will move beyond the simple alliance models and develop the infrastructure to support plug-and-play and cross platform integration capabilities to create true ecosystems,” Parton added. “One of the key ingredients here is putting the right infrastructure around legacy systems, so insurtech can plug into the enterprise.”
Parton also noted that “deploying insurtech at scale is the only way to keep up with fast-moving technology developments and satisfy rising consumer expectations.”
To find out which Australian insurtech companies are taking advantage of these partnerships or carving their own path, Insurance Business referred to business information website Crunchbase’s data. We then ranked the firms based on total investments through October 01, 2021. All firms on the list are members of Insurtech Australia.
The Sydney-based insurtech firm has been in the headlines recently after securing $100 million from investors in its latest funding round. The firm, which provides an insurance distribution platform designed to protect customers of e-commerce companies, said that the amount it raised will be used to fund its global expansion. Its products include XCover, which delivers personalised insurance in different countries, and XClaim, an API that provides instant claims payments in more than 90 currencies through a range of payment methods, including bank transfer, store credit, card top-up, and digital wallets. The company has offices in New York, San Francisco, London, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, and Manila.
Based in Zurich, Switzerland, dacadoo develops and operates a mobile-first digital health engagement platform that helps people live healthier and more active lives through a combination of motivational techniques using behavioural science, online gaming, social media, artificial intelligence, and automated coaching. The firm’s platform is available in 15 languages and can be integrated into customer products through its API. The company holds partnerships with several health and life insurers, health and wellness services organisations, and different businesses worldwide. Its Australia office is in Sydney.
San Francisco, California-based Socotra offers a technology platform that enables insurers to speed up product development, reduce maintenance costs, and improve customer experience. Its cloud-based solution unifies key industry processes, including underwriting, rating, policy management, claims, billing, and reporting. The company recently opened its first international office in Australia and holds a partnership with the country’s largest general insurer IAG.
Based in London, England, Instanda has offices across Europe, North and Latin America, and Australia. The insurtech firm offers a no-code design platform based on a powerful set of insurance-specific calculations, processing, and workflow capabilities that enables insurers to create, configure, and launch products online. Instanda’s list of clients include brokers, carriers, and MGAs.
Honey Insurance uses smart technology to keep households protected from “avoidable accidents.” Based in Surry Hills, New South Wales, the insurtech firm offers insurance coverage for thefts, natural calamities, accidental damage, property rebuilding, and liability, among others.
Sydney-based Daisee uses artificial intelligence to conduct conversational analytics that rates and ranks all interactions, making it easy for insurance companies to know where to focus when improving customer experience. Its Programmable Scorecard platform replaces the traditional paper scorecard with an automated digital solution. The platform can be set to filter questions based on the type of call or team the agent is in to ensure that it is evaluating quality appropriate to the customer interaction.
Aventus offers an insurance platform that enables brokers, carriers, and MGAs to create a seamless customer experience in any insurance line. The insurtech merges customer relationship management and policy administration to allow users to accelerate processes and increase profitability.
Melbourne-based Kanopi operates a digital platform that connects insurance providers to their clients. The insurtech firm’s platform uses data-driven insights to analyse customers’ needs, enabling insurers to offer clients the right insurance products. Among the coverages the company provides are small business, home and contents, landlord, and invoice protection. The Kanopi team is spread across Australia, Singapore, and London, UK.
FloodMapp specialises in rapid real-time flood forecasting and flood inundation mapping to provide greater warning time that can potentially save lives and reduce damage and associated financial losses. The Brisbane-based insurtech company is among the first in the world to offer this kind of predictive flood mapping technology.
Victoria-based KOBA Insurance says its mission is to help more than 10 million Australians lower their annual premiums by only charging them for what they use. The insurtech firm uses a pay-as-you-drive platform, meaning policyholders will only be charged each month based on how much they travel.
Formerly ClaimSpace, Sydney-based Zemble offers a web-based, white-labelled collaboration tool that enables insurers to create flexible and personalised digital experiences for customers and external stakeholders. The insurtech firm’s configurable and user-friendly platform streamlines and automates the administration-heavy parts of complex claims and complaints interactions to deliver customer data to its clients.
