A new partnership, an evolving business model in a changing market also due to the financial emergency. We interviewed Neosurance CEO Pietro Menghi to have him tell us the news of this fintech and its objectives for the coming months.

You have recently formed a partnership with a company: Sportclubby. What does it consist of? How do you enrich their offer?

We have had the opportunity of playing the role of an insurance and enabling partners for digital communities that offer their users a more complete experience because they are more protected.
Sportclubby is the most downloaded app in Italy for booking courses, camps and services dedicated to any sport, used by 500 thousand people, for more than 100 different sports activities. Thanks to this partnership, sportsmen and women can instantly activate a micro-insurance for any type of injury directly from an app and, once again from an app, report any claim. All this is done through a transparent approach, focused on the client and the context in which the need for protection arises. The policy can be purchased even for just one day and is valid 24 hours a day, even on the way to the gym or for those who attend online classes from home.
At first it was activated only in an “on demand” mode, but then we became able to analyze, in a big data key, the risks related to the various sports and respond to the specific need for coverage of people with a push offer, as soon as they are preparing to do physical activity or, purchasing a subscription or participating in a tournament or any other amateur competition. Especially among younger users, there is little awareness of the risks and possibilities of being covered from them; there is in fact a huge “protection gap”. Thanks to our platform, which combines machine learning and behavioral sciences, we will be able to offer Sportclubby users the right protection, to the right users, when they really need it and with the right style of communication.

Since your birth until today has your business model changed? How has it changed?

Neosurance has adopted an exclusively B2B2C model in order to enhance the relationship binding a digital community to its users, through the offer of relevant protection and assistance solutions. The revenue model of Neosurance, in addition to technological and consulting services in the realization of end to end insurance customer journeys, focuses on revenues from brokerage since we are an insurance broker. Our digital partner communities don’t incur any cost for this qualification. On the contrary, we offer them the possibility to monetize their user base in full and absolutely respecting their privacy.
Over time we have significantly expanded our end-user offer with a subscription, pay-per-use, instant insurance products and services on all channels. At the same time we have opened up to other insurance intermediaries, including brokers, agents and banks, the possibility of using our proprietary distribution platform, the Open Insurance Platforrm, as a Service. Thanks to this very important innovation, we have really managed to develop a win-win solution. On the insurance company’s side we maximize the scalability of the same insurance product cross-distributor and cross-channel; on the single channel side we maximize the effectiveness in sales because we are able to fully differentiate and customize each commercial proposal of the same product according to the channel, user and context. To all this, it should be added that the same platform is able to automatically manage both intermediation and reporting models, and that what is described on a single product is valid for “n” products, for “n” companies and on “n” countries at the same time.

From your point of view how is the fintech sector evolving in Italy?

Although smaller than in other more mature European contexts, Italian fintech is growing rapidly, even in the smallest insurtech sector. The sector is still relatively young and mostly characterized by solutions moving the sales channel online, assuming that the user is already aware and informed and spontaneously searches online for the policy for his/her needs.
Instead, we are convinced we need to add another perspective for the future of the industry: insurance can be bought, but rather sold. And in order to meet needs, customers and solutions at the right time, the most advanced technologies will make the difference. Certainly the digital acceleration, which has affected every sector in the year of the pandemic, has offered many stimuli also in this scenario, with a growing interest on the part of incumbents to enter into partnerships with innovative players to improve their offerings. However, we also need a global vision from day zero, which, by enhancing ecosystems, creates scalable and exportable models. Making possible ecosystems, proprietary platforms, DNA and international insurance and reinsurance network, blending of expertise specialized in insurance processes, legal & compliance, advanced technology, UX design: these are the distinctive and interdependent assets that make Neosurance unique in the world.

What impact is the pandemic having on the fintech world from your point of view?

New scenarios are emerging that will be at the basis of the growth of many fintech services: greater awareness of the interdependence between people, companies, sectors and countries, greater sense of precariousness and insecurity, a greater attention to the short and medium term, a strong thinning of the border between home and office and between the person and the professional. Practical implications of these tensions are an increasingly “systematic” attention to the risks of cybersecurity related to work in mobility and the use of personal devices; we will see a strong growth in the demand for protection solutions related to work as freelancers, and probably a different balance between property and shared economy in different sectors. The home has become the place where we work, study, do sport and shopping: needless to say, digital payments are becoming mainstream, with the unstoppable growth of e-commerce, but also of related fraud. Risks related to life in the home will also increase and attention to our own the health, our family and even our pets will increase, while unemployment will produce new situations of poverty, with the inability to cope with even basic expenses. And in view of a revival of moments and new ways of social aggregation, it will be necessary to prevent and manage new risks linked for example to urban micro mobility, rather than participation in events. The new challenge for those who work in insurtech will be to intercept these needs among people and SMEs, in the digital contexts they frequent, helping them to protect themselves with the right tools, to face this situation of uncertainty and instability with greater serenity and determination. Neosurance is working hard to do its part.

Damien Philippon, COO & Co Founder of Zelros, tells us in this interview what his artificial intelligence solutions company offers in the insurance field. Zelros is operational in three countries for now, France, Germany and Italy, and is based in Milan, Italy.

Watch the video to find out how this fintech operates, what are the values with which it was built and how its team of talents is formed, which you can be part of too, if you want, as they are looking for new people

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It seems that one of the sectors that could register growth “due” to the pandemic is Insurtech. We asked Andrea Severino, Founder of Healthy Virtuoso, what he thinks about this forecast and how he and his team have reacted to this disruptive and unpredictable period.

How have you reacted to the covid19 emergency: how have you changed your business strategy?

Despite our grief over this huge emergency, we immediately wanted to take this as a great opportunity. As far as employees and collaborators are concerned, we decided to renew our trust by keeping our contracts active. We asked our suppliers to meet us halfway with the aim of ensuring mutual continuity in the business relationship and without imbalances between the parties. As far as business is concerned, we realized that the world has officially changed and we have already begun to think about the evolution 2.0 of Virtuoso, a platform that allows,even more than before, to increase employee engagement and the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. We have temporarily suspended our activities aimed at finding new customers, but are receiving a higher rate of inbound requests than usual.

And the way you work with your team?

Little has changed for us. We are used to smart working and from day one we learned to communicate at a distance. This has always given us the freedom to live peacefully and compatibly with our personal commitments and the work we have to do. The sense of responsibility of the guys who work with us has always been the proof.

What initiatives for your users have you put in place and which will you put in place?

We have activated non-profit activities aimed at ensuring real support during this emergency. Specifically

1. we have activated on our facebook pages a series of free Lives with specialists in psychology, meditation, yoga, home training (PT) and posturology.
2. With Udemy we have distributed more than 200,000 free courses useful to pass the time and acquire new skills until resuming business (we ourselves benefited right from the first day).

Both initiatives have been very successful.

• Over the next few days we will launch a new partnership with Adidas Training (formerly Runtastic Results) to further encourage training from home.
• Soon we will introduce new exciting features on the app to demonstrate your Virtuoso lifestyle even without moving from home.

What do you think the impact of this emergency on the INSURTECH sector could be in the long term?

The world has officially changed, as well as people: the way we think, interact, make decisions and collaborate, but for the Insurtech sector, I think it is a great opportunity. Insurance companies have demonstrated the social importance they have, while people have begun to understand that even what seems impossible could happen at any moment, without warning and without distinction of race, color or social status. The great challenge is to enable these people to regain confidence in their insurers, and to have simple, clear and targeted access to the services they really need. On the business side, all negotiations are not only moving forward, but during this period we have also started to receive very strong interest from abroad. The budgets of some companies will certainly be reduced, but as far as the Insurtech sector is concerned, I think that where there is value offered by startups and willingness to innovate on the part of companies, there will be absolutely no problem !

Have you noticed any changes in your users’ “habits” in the last month?

Without doubt the average number of steps of the entire Italian population has decreased considerably, even if, as shown by the data and the strong success of the online appointments, the real Virtuosi have not given up their habits and either from home, or walking around 50 times around their building,they have continued to do everything they can to keep fit. We are really happy to see so much willpower.

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Zurich has chosen to join the Fintech District community and become a corporate member. It’s a leading multi-line insurer that serves its customers in global and local markets. With about 54,000 employees, it provides a wide range of property and casualty, and life insurance products and services in more than 210 countries and territories. In this interview, Roberta Marracino, Head of Business Innovation & Market Management, talks about the decision and the role of startups in the insurance industry.

What is Zurich’s interest in fintech?

As a large multinational Group with presence in 210 countries, Zurich brings a great advantage with its interest in Fintech, namely the possibility to test new solutions in some parts of the world, and then export them somewhere else. Zurich has already started several partnerships with startups in various countries, such as Dentolo in Germany, Klink and Coverwallet in Spain and Driveway in the United States, and is interested in deepening the collaboration with the innovative world of Fintech, where the business models of the future resides, while staying receptive to any new suggestions coming from it. Last year, the Zurich Innovation Championship registered 458 applications from all over the world, and this year more than 700 startups are expected to apply.

Why did you choose to become a corporate member of Fintech District? What do you expect?

Zurich became a partner of the Fintech District because if we want to be innovative we first have to breathe innovation, especially in a city like Milan, which today represents the best of Italy in these terms, eventually translating intentions into active behaviors and solutions. On the other side, Zurich expects to be inspired by this environment, in the creation of alternative business, behavioral and organizational models. The insurance sector needs acceleration: a good incentive and a strong impulse can surely come from those who think and create the new.

How do start-ups fit into the future of the insurance industry?

Startups will be integrated into the business model of all sectors, not only the insurance sector. What they bring in is service improvement and the ability to intercept customers’ needs and behaviors. What does it mean for Zurich? It could mean the opportunity to prevent risk or to take action much more quickly than we do today. Another key element is how startups approach clients’ needs, not only within the insurance industry but in any other. Insurance companies must be ready to accept the challenge, not just as a business topic but also for its impact on ethics and social well-being.

An exclusive evening of training as well as fun, to explore the opportunities and challenges of insurtech. This is the second edition of the Fintech Nights. We look forward to seeing you on 17th September on the rooftop of our headquarters in via Sassetti 32. Places are numbered, you can buy your ticket at this link from now or after reading in the next lines how the evening will actually take place. Without too much spoiling, here is the program, from the welcoming at 6 pm to the cocktail party: a special moment of networking under the stars.

The Fintech District team will open the evening with an overview of the theme and by launching some wide-ranging insights. We will start by telling you what Insurtech is and how this sector relates to the more traditional insurance world. We will surprise you by revealing how the history of insurance, born thousands of years ago, can still teach us something today. Of course, we will also venture in making some predictions for the future, asking ourselves and asking you what role insurance will play and, even before that, whether it will still be necessary to insure. Insurance has evolved and is still changing, as the onset of self-driving cars shows.

Below is an overview of the Insurtech market around the world to help understand market differences in terms of regulation, culture and size. We will focus on the most promising realities at an international level and on those entering the Italian market.

We can also observe interesting trends within our community. We will tell you about them to show you which are the business models present in Italy and what the startups operating in this sector think about the present and future of this market. Obviously, in this special evening, a section dedicated to Applied Innovation cannot be missing, with examples of collaboration between corporates and startups in the Italian market that will bring new ideas.

Special guests of the evening will be AXA and IBM who will talk to us about Insurtech through their concrete cases of innovation with a high technological slant.

AXA will show us the potential of the blockchain applied to the insurance world by talking about Fizzy, the first travel insurance based on blockchain and smart contract.

IBM will talk about how the IoT can transform insurance companies into preventive service companies.
During the evening, some insurtech companies from the Fintech District will also take part, bringing their own experience and point of view to the event.

By taking part in our second “Fintech Nights” evening you will be able to listen to and get to know Coverholder , Claider, GaiaGo, Healthy Virtuoso and Squarelife in person.

• Coverholder – Fully digitised insurance brokerage and underwriting from carrier to intermediary. Offered on Coverholder’s cloud platform as well as in White labels solutions and an API platform integrating carriers and distributors.
• Claider – Any claim, without pain. Claider is the revolutionary solution for digital insurance claims. The assistance App Claider supports claimants and the web app ClaiderNET supports claim handlers.

• GaiaGo – GaiaGO is a Mobility gatherer platform focused on the distribution of insurance products, aiming to offer a boost to sharing mobility models embedded into the territory.
• Healthy Virtuoso – Virtuoso is the first white box for health that helps health and life insurance companies to lower the risk and increase the margin while acquiring new customers, strengthen the loyalty of the existing ones and collect precious customer behavioural information for the development of the 4.0 data-driven insurance policies and services.

• Squarelife is an insurance company that invents, designs, develops, produces, distributes and sells digital insurance products and solutions, reaching its customers directly or through partnerships.

The other insurtechs present in our community are Riskapp, Poleecy, Lokky, MioAssicuratore, TechEngines. Visit the page dedicated to our startups to learn more.

Internationalize to be a cut above or wait? This is one of the questions Claider asked the geniuses during the spring edition of House of Genius, an exclusive and international business game we chose to bring to Italy. In this interview, Francesco Bertani, Founder and CEO, tells us about his experience as a startup taking part in the event as well as the latest news from Claider.

Why did you choose to take part in House of Genius?

“The more you are in the thing, the less you see the thing,” says a Zen proverb. What I wanted, and what I got, was a different point of view, or rather more points of view regarding some key factors necessary for the development of our project. When you are involved in and work head on a project you can lose the vision of new opportunities. An external look on the other hand, even though forced simplification, transmits new creative energies.

How will the Genius’ advice help you? Will you apply any of it?

Just the reception of such different suggestions immediately triggered new ideas on how to approach the priorities of the Claider project. This was exactly the contribution I was looking for, and am satisfied with it. We are considering, together with our internal staff, whether to apply at least a couple of really interesting tips.

How is Claider doing today?

Claider is doing just fine. It’s a pioneer product and, as such, it has to deal with a world that talks a lot about digital but in actual reality is still hesitant to change. It understands the transition to Digital is not only to dematerialize procedures but above all to make a leap towards other paradigms, another modus operandi. This can frighten and I understand the feeling. Currently, we have about ten intermediary partners with about 35,000 Apps downloaded, but the agenda is full of appointments.

Have you implemented the English version? Any further step towards internationalization? Which market is most attractive?

Internationalisation is one of the priority objectives, in fact, we also wanted to ask the geniuses if expansion abroad could act as a driving force for the domestic market. Currently, the Claider App is in an English and French version and the sites are also being translated and published. The Claider team is now also international and has acquired native English, French and German speaking resources. First of all, we would like to go to the UK and Ireland, then to Switzerland, France, Germany and in 2020 to the USA.

Do you have any more news coming?

Freshly published in stores is the version of the App Claider with the module of video expertise and video inspection incorporated. And now the App is Tap & Claim & Adjust, so it offers the possibility to those who make a complaint to request the evaluation of the damage remotely by the experts appointed by the insurance, without physically receiving the expert, as per tradition, thus directly through the application. Even for an expert, the use of the Claider platform for video surveys is an advantage: it already knows who is interested, avoids having to carry out the survey and guarantees great flexibility. It is definitely a classic case in which demand meets supply, digitally, on the Claider platform.

Read more about what happened to Europass and GaiaGo when they participated in House of Genius. Apply to participate.

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Lokky is an innovative startup that aims to serve micro and small entrepreneurs by offering specific insurance products for their business. Thanks to new technologies, this startup is able to analyze the needs of customers, understand their real insurance needs and make completely automatic matchings of the best products to cover the specific risks of their business.

CEO Paolo Tanfoglio explains the goal is to enter the market during the second quarter of 2019: “we are closing a round of fundraising of 300,000 euros and we aim to raise a further one and a half million capital in 2019 to support the growth of the activity “.

Lokky currently addresses small Italian entrepreneurs: professionals, freelancers, small traders, and specialized workers. The idea, however, adds Tanfoglio, “is to expand, enter the European market and continue to use the same technological platform to understand the insurance needs of customers”.

Last autumn, Lokky, became part of the Fintech District community with the aim of dealing with other similar companies, “both with startups working on the same customer segment, to have commercial synergies, and with other startups that can have functional technologies for our project to optimally serve our customers with new technologies”.

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Claider is the first platform dealing only with claims management. This startup, which joined the Fintech District community last October, offers insurance-as-a-service solution. At present, Claider only works in Italy. However, by the end of the year, it will also be present in the UK and in Northern Ireland and in the coming months it aims to reach other European countries as well as the main western countries where an already well developed insurance market can be found.

Claider provides both an app and a web platform. As the founder Francesco Bertani explains, “the app helps the user, personified by a normal insured person, to report any kind of damage. The web platform, accessible via browser, helps all those who have to manage the accident such as claims office and insurance specialists.

Encouraged by the strong interest stirred amongst many players in the insurance industry, Claider will soon be on the market with a derivation of its platform. It will remain for claims management but totally dedicated to condominium administrators and car fleet managers.

The entry into the Fintech District community for Claider means “becoming part of the reality that nowadays aggregates all the companies seeking innovation, both in the financial sector and in the insurance sector – explains Bertani – In fact, the remaining part of our country looks at Fintech District as an open window looking to the future”.

After attending the Salone dei Pagamenti, Bertani and his team will focus, in the next few months, on insurance brokerage events during which they will have the opportunity to present Claider directly to brokers and agents supporting them in their institutional events around Italy.

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