2018 has been a brilliant year for startups in Italy: according to the Osservatori of the Politecnico di Milano, the amount of investments made during the year doubled, several exits, a 100 million super deal, made by Prima.it, insurtech startups, an industry boasting strong vitality and a very positive growth trend.
According to the progress made during the year by startups working in this sector and their aims for the near future, we have created a list of the 5 Italian companies that in 2019 are likely to meet their targets with a view to fostering innovation in the insurance sector, via digital transformation, in our country.
Digital element is very powerful in all these companies which leverage in particular the main technological current trends (big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning), although the concept of customer-centricity is always clearly represented as well.
Here they are, in alphabetical order.
Axieme
It’s a startup having implemented a platform for peer-to-peer insurance, targeting both end customers and businesses. It allows clusters of people to insure together (if sharing the same insurance need), save on the policy and even get a giveback based on the actual occurrence of claims. The community shares the probability of claims happening to its members and transparently monitors the savings made in real time, thus obtaining a reward and avoiding fraud as well.
During the year, it has been able to pursue a strategy of partnership with other companies and organizations, identifying unmet market segments, matching new needs, including the latest alliances with Tau Visual, (insurance for freelance photographers), to create the first insurance policy covering liability for professional photographers; and that with Jobby, a platform for Gig economy workforce, creating the first policy in Italy to protect temporarily and on demand employees and collaborators of companies operating in the gig economy and sharing economy.
The company is going in 2019 to further focus on business agreements for the distribution of policies with the give-back based model via third party channels (e.g. bancassurance) and to open up to the direct retail target (B2C) thanks to artificial intelligence systems capable of providing an insurance check-up and calculating the potential savings for each user who decides to move to Axieme.
Mioassicuratore
Italy’s leading all-digital insurance broker is considered to be one of the first worldwide: a 100% digital purchasing experience and a large number of insurance products, the startup is currently working with 35 partner companies, distributing about 125 types of policies, with over 240,000 registered and profiled users according to their own insurance needs, and has grown by 20% month-on-month over the last year. It has recently gained investment for 1.5 million euro. By 2019, the aim of the company is gaining a leading position on the Italian market in the sale of non-life insurance, thanks to the development of machine learning technologies to foster new approaches to customer needs analysis and the development of tailor-made solutions for each request.
Neosurance
It has developed a B2B technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning for companies to offer instant micro policies where, when and as needed by the customer. Neosurance has launched the first instant insurance on the market with Axa Italia to provide support and cover medical expenses while travelling. It has already started the globalization process in the United States.
Prima.it
In 2018 it was the deal of the year, raising a €100 million investment from Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing and Blackstone Group Tactical Opportunities. It has developed its own application in-house, using the best technologies on the market and exploiting big data, artificial intelligence, online distribution through aggregators and UX design. A digital-native online agency aiming to go offline by 2019, creating tangible sales points, promoting the multi-channel approach and investing in brand promotion.
Yolo
It is a next-generation broker whose technology based on artificial intelligence, IoT, chabot provides users with a complete digital experience and new on-demand and pay-per-use policies. The company maintains partnerships with several companies: Chubb, Axa, Reale Mutua, Europ assistance, Sara Assicurazioni, Helvetia. One million has been raised in a first investment round, and currently it is managing a fundraising. It reported 10,000 one-off clients in 2018 and is aiming for 100,000 by 2019.
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