Amazon insurance + robots for the elderly

Hello.

This week we’ve got:

• Amazon UK’s new advert for their ‘insurance store’
• Companion robots using LLMs to chat with the oldies
• Purr-fect returns expected for 3 pet insurtechs

Before all that though, a couple of Sønr matters.

1. Forward50 Americas
   With a decimated Sønr research team (you gotta love holiday season) it was good to roll the sleeves up and get back in the mix. There’s an incredible amount of work that goes into analysing thousands of startups to narrow down the top 50.The longlist is now with our esteemed judging panel – a big thanks to all involved. The best bit is we get to launch this at ITC Vegas (them being our partners n’ all) in October.

Let’s kick off with some client activity:

The future of specialty insurance

Tokio Marine Future Fund and others have come together to invest a $10m Series A in Austin-based ControlRooms.ai.

These guys offer an AI-assisted troubleshooting solution for the chemical, energy, and materials segment.

Keeping in the world of specialty insurance and Apollo has joined forces with Artificial Labs, the algorithmic underwriting insurtech, to introduce an innovative smart follow collaboration.

Building upon a successful PoC in early 2023 which used Artificial Labs’ technology for marine hull, this partnership will roll out to other lines of business. The plan is to ensure fast, consistent, and dependable capacity for brokers operating within the London market.

Last one on this and a big shout out to Rosie Denée and the Lloyd’s Lab team for yesterday’s Pitch Day. I couldn’t attend but by all accounts, it was another top day, packed full of innovation and new ideas.

As a (mostly) SaaS business there’s something about working with Lloyd’s Lab that feels extra special. I think it’s a mix of knowing the Sønr tech is critical in the scouting and application process, but beyond that, it’s seeing so many folks from the Lloyd’s market using the platform to score those pitching. That I love.

If you’d like more info on any of those presenting yesterday, head to Sønr. You can access information on all the businesses, their founders, investors, etc via a 14-day free trial.

Mark (Hux) Huxley – hope you don’t mind me stealing your photo?!
Rosie, loving the new digs!

Flying cars, embedded comparison and good old trucks

A partnership I loved from a couple of weeks back (and don’t think I’ve written about already?!) is newly formed MGA Skyrisks teaming up Quotech – an underwriter-led tech developer. This allows them to provide insurance for the fast Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) sector.

What I love about this is AAM includes the new breed of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, as well as a broad array of innovative technologies both for piloted and autonomous flight.

Ah, the world is changing.
Now, if someone could just buy me one of these for the back garden, I’d be very grateful:

A nice play from Clearcover, a next-generation car insurance company. These guys have launched “Choice” – an embedded insurance solution that provides a customisable end-to-end auto insurance integration for brands. With this, companies can offer up price and policy comparisons from various carriers.

Lastly, on the mobility side of things, Aon‘s CoverWallet has partnered with Cover Whale to extend its presence in the trucking industry. This collaboration aims to provide specialised insurance solutions tailored to the unique needs of the trucking sector.
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AI, GenAI, ML, TLAs. We’re tracking it all

I couldn’t resist a couple of AI updates. There’s always so much noise out there is good to see some practical application.

So, Irys Insurtech has brought in a $3.5m Seed round.

These guys provide an open API cloud-based management system to help brokers simplify workflows, grow their books, keep hold of clients. All the good stuff. And yup, they make use of ML and GenAI.

The new service will allow insurers to extract highly-critical legal information in quicker, more accurate means. And they’ve created an interface for real life people (!) to consolidate information and distribute downstream.

Nice.

🤖 Intuition Robotics Raises $25M to Combat Senior Loneliness

Intuition Robotics, the senior-focused tech wizard, just pulled off a funding coup, netting a whopping $25 million. This treasure chest includes $20m in venture capital and $5m in debt. Their creation, ElliQ, is the answer to senior loneliness, using generative AI and large language models to strike up continuous conversations with its elderly users. Age is just a number; tech knows no bounds!

💤 Oura Teams Up with Talkspace for Sweet Dreams

Finland’s health-tracking ring virtuoso, Oura, has joined forces with teletherapy experts Talkspace. Now, Oura ring wearers can seamlessly share their personalised sleep and daily movement data with Talkspace therapists. It’s like having a sleep therapist in your jewellery box! Share your sleep secrets, one night at a time.

🌈 Swiss Re and Wysa Launch Wysa Assure

Swiss Re Reinsurance Solutions and mental health guardian Wysa have birthed Wysa Assure, an AI-powered mental health support app. MLC Life Insurance in Australia is the first to introduce this marvel. The secret sauce? An AI chatbot steeped in cognitive behavioural therapy principles, delivering on-demand support and guiding users toward tailor-made mental health resources. Mental wellness, meet modern tech!

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Yeah, alright those last three were GenAI. I can’t do it anymore.
But genuinely interesting news, right?

Whilst it massively troubles me the idea of anyone being lonely, if robots can play a role in helping this, and it’s not in place of a better solution, then so be it. And the Oura/Talkspace tie – great stuff. Finally, using innovative tech to support mental health issues. Definitely gets my vote.

Right, only real human writing from here on in.

Great to see our much-loved client, Wakam, partnering up with UK fintech Wagestream. The latter provides workers with affordable sick pay cover.

And an update on the Babylon front – its UK arm, which provides doctor appointments to both private and NHS patients, has been sold to eMed Healthcare. The terms of the sale weren’t disclosed. What a mess.

Saving the best ‘til last on the health side of things.

Do tune into the webinar our friends at Dacadoo are hosting with McKinsey on the future of digital Life & Health in Asia. It’s next Tuesday, the 5^th September.

Purr-fect returns and hope to fetch some serious profits

Alright, I got ChatGPT to help with the title. Couldn’t resist.
Randomly it’s been a busy August for pet insurtech VCs.

TeleVet has landed a $43m Series B. With a rebrand to Otto, these guys work with 8,000 veterinary professionals and help clinics manage a bunch of their operations. They claim they can free up 8 hours each week for vet teams. Lovely.

The money will be used to fuel product and partner expansion, along with innovation in claims processing.

And finally Wagmo raised $8.9m bringing their total to $24.5m. Pet coverage from head to tail, no less.

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Right, that’s me. It’s not every day you get to spend your birthday writing SøNws 😬

I’m off for cake.

Have a good weekend and, as always, hit me up if you’d like to talk innovation scouting or management, and how we can help you at Sønr.

Matt

Sønr is the world-leading market intelligence platform created specifically for the insurance sector. It provides you with the knowledge and tools to stay relevant, compete and plan for the future.

Try out a 14-day trial of Sønr to access intelligence on market trends, competitor playbooks and disruptive tech companies globally. Plus collaboration tools to help you track and manage innovation activity across your organisation.

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