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New partners
Hi there,
In November 2016, Aviva CEO Mark Wilson said that the number of insurance agents in some of Asia’s most developed markets "could halve over the next three years as digital sales start to eat into their commissions."
So it was notable that Aviva this week announced a joint venture in which Hillhouse Capital and Tencent would take stakes in Aviva Hong Kong to develop a new digital life insurance entity. This was one of the more intriguing deals in insurance tech as of late for a few reasons:
- Hillhouse, which has invested in prominent tech companies including AirBnB, JD, and Uber, has become particularly interested in insurance. The deal marks Hillhouse Capital's second announced joint venture with a major insurer and a Chinese Internet giant after partnering up with Baidu and Allianz in November 2015. That joint venture has yet to receive a formal license and launch. Perhaps the Hong Kong market be more lenient than China's? Last December, Hillhouse also became the primary investment manager of Enstar's reinsurer KaylaRe.
- Tencent is also a backer of Chinese life insurer HeTai, which was formally incorporated this week. Worth mentioning that HeTai is not analogous to online insurer Zhong An, valued at $8B and which Tencent is also invested in, given that it will operate both online and offline.
- Aviva currently owns just 1% of the £40 billion a year Hong Kong insurance market so it stands to see lots of potential upside from the arrangement.
Speaking of life
Last week, Fabric announced it had raised $2.5M to eventually launch accidental death and term life insurance products in partnership with Vantis Life and RGAx and sold online.
While Fabric has yet to launch, its partner Vantis currently offers a term life product that doesn't require a medical exam and has a max of $300,000 of coverage. Two weeks ago, Ladder Life launched in California, offering policies that range from $100,000 to $8 million. Below is a screenshot of their financing history from CB Insights' company comparison tool.
An insurance corporate VC...shuts down?
Last week, we highlighted how strategic tech investment by insurers or reinsurers went from 1 deal in 2012 to 100 in 2016 as more units have set up shop.
But this week, one shut down. AMP New Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Australian life insurer AMP shut down. AMP, which wrote down the value of its life insurance arm by $668 million last October, launched its venture arm less than two years ago.
On the M&A side...
Verisk made its first acquisition of the year after a busy 2016. The $14B data and analytics provider to the insurance industry acquired liability risk modeling firm Arium. Here's an updated look at Verisk's M&A history over time.
Have a great rest of the week,
Matt
@mlcwong
P.S. We're bringing our second Future of Fintech conference to Jazz at Lincoln Center from June 26-28, 2017. Get tickets and nominate a speaker here.
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Verisk, one of the largest data analytics providers in the P&C insurance industry, has made 15 acquisitions since 2012.
Thematic areas that attracted strategic investment in 2016 included cybersecurity, property management software, IoT, and digital insurance distribution. See the data.
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This Week in Insurance Tech
A curated mix of recent articles on insurance tech financings, exits, hiring, product launches, partnerships, and perspectives.
Deals
Cuvva raises $1.9M. The pay-as-you-go car insurance startup, which also offers car insurance as a monthly subscription aimed at infrequent drivers, is reinsured by Swiss Re and raised $1.9M from LocalGlobe.
TechCrunch
Fabric raises $2.5M led by Bessemer Venture Partners. The startup, which eventually plans to offer accidental death and term life insurance, is partnered with RGAx and Vantis Life Insurance.
Fabric
Inflexion backs $50.4M management buyout of MyPolicy. MyPolicy is a UK-based specialize provider of telematics insurance for first-time drivers.
Halesowen
Swyfft raises $7.5M Series A. The Mobile, AL-based home insurance startup provides a platform to surface home insurance policies. Funding came from undisclosed angel investors.
VC News Daily
M&A
Verisk acquires Arium. Arium specializes in liability risk modeling and decision support and will become part of AIR Worldwide.
Insurance Journal
iPipeline acquires Resonant. The life insurance software company acquired life underwriting solutions provider Resonant.
II Reporter
Company & Insurer News
Nationwide partners with Sure. The partnership will put Nationwide's renters insurance on Sure's on-demand insurance app initially in California and Washington.
Insurance Journal
Hillhouse Capital, Tencent take stakes in Aviva Hong Kong. The new joint venture will focus on digital life insurance distribution in Hong Kong, where Aviva has just 1% of the market.
FT
B3i blockchain consortium set to expand. The consortium exploring blockchain use cases in the insurance industry is planning to announce new members.
Reuters
Oscar Health seeks to reassure members on ACA. The health insurer published a blog post that their ACA coverage would remain intact for now and that it's seen a spike in members researching birth control.
Buzzfeed
Startup League eyes US expansion. The Toronto-based small business health benefits startup says it wants to "raise at least $100 million" if it decides to broaden its services and expand overseas. League began offering insurance products including life and accidental death last October.
Reuters
Australia's AMP closes VC fund. After writing down the value of its life insurance unit by $688M last October, AMP shut down its New Ventures fund, which launched in February 2015.
Australia Financial Review
Nexar hires chief scientist. Trevor Darrell joins the vehicle-to-vehicle network from UC Berkeley, where he was co-director of its artificial intelligence lab.
Nexar
Blog posts & articles
2017: An insurance odyssey. Lloyd's of London CEO Inga Beale on the three things the insurance industry must do to remain relevant and offer value over the next 100 years.
Linkedin
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