Instech London Podcast

Many companies from outside of insurance are now realising that their data, customers and distributions can be very valuable for insurers and their clients.  One of these is SafetyCulture. Its inspections app iAuditor is today used by over 1,000,000 workers in 85 countries to help companies monitor, measure and improve their health and safety. Insurers such as QBE, Zurich and Aviva are finding that companies that have embedded the use of iAuditor into their processes and culture have a greater chance of preventing losses. Dan Joyce, General Manager EMEA at SafetyCulture, joins Matthew on to discuss the problems the company's technology addresses and the value being generated from client data.   Topics include:  Why it takes alot of work to build a simple solution   How iAuditor is being used to manage COVID-19 restrictions Why insurers are choosing SafetyCulture How companies are using iAuditor for claims defensibility Future plans and new product launches If you are enjoying our discussions please leave us

Maintaining growth is hard, no matter how good the technology. Novidea was founded in 2009 and today provides its technology platform to 90 brokers and MGAs in 20 countries. Lianne Trantz, VP Marketing, Novidea, joins Matthew Grant to discuss how she has brought together her experience and lessons from marketing in industries outside of insurance (such as advertising), along with her personal experience in technology to create an integrated and fresh approach to marketing at Novidea. There are some great lessons here for anyone wanting to learn about best practices and new techniques. Listen here or on any decent podcast platform, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. Topics include: Best-practice learnings from working in Adtech and other sectors B2B insurance marketing – examples of techniques that work Differences in marketing approaches between the US, UK, and elsewhere The benefits of an integrated multi-channel approach (podcasts, webinars, LinkedIn, PR, etc) How to convert marketing a

In the week that Lemonade had its IPO, Matthew Grant has been speaking to another VC firm about what it’s looking for in its portfolio companies. Matthew spoke to Ollie Forsyth who has crammed a lot into only a few years. One of his current roles is community manager at Draper Esprit. Ollie comments on the current technology scene from the view of a millennial, and has advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and those wishing to benefit from what Draper Esprit offer. Ollie brings a different perspective to innovation from our usual guests. As well as a day job identifying late-stage technology companies, he has also run his own businesses and has hosted the popular "The Makers Podcast" for two years. Talking points from Episode 92 include:  Making your own way in the world How to get noticed as an entrepreneur Why now is a great time to hire talent What Gen Z customers are looking for from insurance The changing world of work post-pandemic Tell us what you think or contact Matthew Grant on Linkedin. Find out what

We are hearing alot about what the future is for insurance brokers - where they add value, how they are evolving and even, in some areas, whether they are relevant at all.  But when it comes to complicated insurance covers, the brokers that are expanding their traditional roles and moving into offering advice, analytics and data will continue playing a vital role for many years to come. Barnaby Rugge-Price, CEO of Hyperion X, one of the divisions of Hyperion insurance group joins Matthew Grant to discuss how they, as the technology arm of a fast growing broker, are expanding the company's offering to fit the changing needs of the customer. Listen now for more on: Using data to provide real benefits to clients Building a truly digital market strategy How Hyperion X works with the rest of the Hyperion Group Changing habits for the post-pandemic world Recruiting talent from outside the industry Tell us what you think or contact Matthew Grant on Linkedin. Find out what we are up to at Instech London and sign up

Innovation is great, but one thing's clear from the last few years - no insurer can totally abandon its core legacy systems and switch to the latest technology in one simple move. Tony Grosso brings a breadth of practical experience from a career in IT, starting his own business, working at a leading US carrier and now running marketing for EIS Group. EIS was founded in 2008 and describes itself as providing a platform for high velocity insurance operations.  In this episode Matthew's discussion with Tony covers a wide range set of topics including: - the role that "coretech" has to link together Insurtech applications and established technology - what people want from insurers today - why thousands of APIs running in a headless function is a good thing (and what that means) - the work EIS is doing with Liberty Mutual and New Zealand based Tower Insurance - the results of the EIS survey on the insurer of the future, and why the biggest priority for 1/3 of respondents is to move beyond just insurance protectio

Founded in 2016 by David Daiches and Dan Bratshpis INSHUR is an MGA making it easier for ride share drivers, including those covered by New York's TLC (Taxi and Limousine Commission), to get insurance coverage in the US and UK working closely with Uber, Lyft and others.  Recorded from INSHUR's offices in Brighton back in March and updated with a call to Paul Doran - VP Marketing (who spoke to us at our event recorded on episode 26 last April). Matthew's discussion with David  include: - How to get professional drivers confident in a new insurance coverage - Why speed is important when providing a quote - How they create and support their community of drivers - Risk profiles of electric cars versus traditional fuels And much more Tell us what you think or contact Matthew Grant on Linkedin here Find out what we are up to at Instech London at www.instech.london Sign up to our newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning   Continuing Professional Development - Learning Objectives InsTech Lond

Traditionally executive recruiting has relied alot on face to face meetings and personal contact. Whilst recruitment may have slowed down in the last few months it hasn't stopped. In this midweek episode from our occasional masterclass series, Matthew Grant is talking to Gavin Naimer, who has built a business recruiting senior executives for insurance companies and their partners, to find out what's happening. Topics include: - How to assess your candidates, or your next employer, from afar - The questions you must ask - What is the impact on slow down in other industries in bringing new talent into insurance - What have we learned about the benefits of interviewing remotely compared to the cost and logistical challenges of face to face? And much more Tell us what you think or contact Matthew Grant on Linkedin here Find out what we are up to at Instech London at www.instech.london Sign up to our newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning Resources: "Who, a method for hiring" by Geoff Sm

One of the fastest ways to find out what's making an impact right now when it comes to innovation in insurance is to talk to the people investing in, and advising to, the companies building new tools and technology. Florian Graillot has over 10 years of experience in investing and chose insurance as the market in which to launch his fund astorya.vc. Today the fund is investing in Aazzur, Wetterheld, Zelros and, in the few days since we recorded this interview, has announced its investment in Sesame it.  Florian is also well known as a daily commentator and publisher of fresh insights and breaking news in Europe's insurance and technology space.  Matthew Grant covers a wider range series of topics when he talks to Florian including: - the key themes that insurers care about  - which company's astorya has invested in and why. And what's next - how the insurance landscape has changed in the last year and what to expect next - how to efficiently source new investment opportunities - why Florian is committed to pu

Another slight shift for this week's episode. The tables were turned and Robin Merttens and Matthew Grant were interviewed as one of the keynotes for the recent Insurance Insider event "InsiderTech". Catrin Shi asked such great questions - and we haven't recorded a partners' chat for a while - so we polished it up and here it is. We managed to fit all of these into 30 minutes: - What does Insurtech actually mean these days? - How is funding getting in for insurtechs, start-ups and others? - Acceleration in activity over last few months? - Are we seeing a once in a decade opportunity now? - What's happening in innovation at insurers themselves? - Data - good or bad? - Advice for innovation mangers at insurers? More information about Insurance Insider here  https://insuranceinsider.com/ Comment directly on the podcast or contact Matthew Grant on Linkedin here Know which bird is singing in the background? Tell us at Hello@Instech.London A summary and transcript of this discussion is available on request Find ou

Whether launching a start-up or running a major company, the decisions you make about the technology you use and the people working closely with you will be critical to the success of your business.  In this episode Matthew Grant talks to Frank Perkins, CEO and founder of Inari. Frank comes from a background of building technology whilst working inside major insurance companies and in 2017 launched Inari. Frank and his colleagues participated in the Lloyd's Lab in 2019 and are providing the underwriting infrastructure and analytical tools for companies in the UK and Europe. In this episode we asked Frank to give his advice on areas that include: - How to find your technical co-founder or CTO - How to work with outsourcing companies to build your technology - How to specify development work - Legacy, and how to work around it And a lot more Comment directly on the podcast or contact Matthew Grant on Linkedin here  A summary and transcript of this discussion is available on request Find out what we are up to at

Whilst some organisations may look elsewhere to blame for the increasing costs of placing insurance in London, Brit has decide to strike out and show what digital can mean for an established company with the launch of Ki, it's algorithmic syndicate. In this episode Matthew Grant talks to Mark Allan CFO of Brit, and James Birch, head of innovation to learn about the motivation for launching this new initiative, how it will work and why they chose to partner with Google Cloud and University College London.  Topics covered included: What is a lead-follow syndicate? How will Ki select what it wants to underwrite? Is the algorithm smart enough to admit when it doesn't know the answer? What is the human oversight? Is an active underwriter required? What are the implications for the future of Insurtech organizations, rather than a start-up or a scale-up? What does Lloyd's think about this? What and why is Ki "anywhere, anytime"? More information on Ki at - https://www.ki-insurance.com Comment directly on the podcas

The potential for sensors, data and IOT (Internet of Things) to dramatically improve risk reduction has been known for many years. Telematics are now widely used for motor insurance,  but some insurers still struggle to find ways to effectively partner with their clients to integrate the use of IOT into their overall offering. Sean Ringsted is chief digital officer at global insurer Chubb. He's also the company's chief risk officer and was formerly chief actuary, sitting on the company's executive committee. He is one of the best-placed people in the industry to both know, and influence, the use of IOT, and he's a big supporter of the "prevent and predict" approach to insurance.  When we spoke to Sean for episode 35 in July last year he spoke enthusiastically about the use of sensors and IOT, and referenced some of the companies Chubb was working with. For this episode Matthew Grant and Sean talk specifically about examples of how Chubb is supporting its clients with IOT solutions that are providing benefits

With all the attention on COVID-19 just now there is a risk we forget one of the other emerging risks of the last few years - cyber. But of course it's still very much a threat and, in some areas, growing. Most large companies will have their own CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) but for smaller or medium sized companies it's harder to be able to assess their exposure, understand how to reduce the risk and know what insurance options are available. Kynd was only founded two years ago by Andy Thomas (CEO) and Melanie Hayes (Chief Marketing Officer) but is already establishing its as one of the companies that SMEs can turn to, and brokers use, to assess and mitigate cyberrisk. In this episode Matthew Grant talks to Andy and Melanie to find out the cyber risk facing companies, how to manage it, what Kynd is offering and how it works.  Areas covered include: A quick and free test for companies to assess their areas of potential exposure Statistics from the Kynd study of 200 of the UK AIM listed companies

Nigel Walsh has been helping the insurance industry get to grips with the opportunities offered by technology for many years - both in his day job as a partner at consulting firm Deloitte, and as a regular speaker, writer and co-host of the Insurtech Insider podcast. In another lively discussion, Matthew Grant talks to Nigel, covering a wide range of subjects including: - Has insurtech lived up to its potential? - Will the future of insurance give us more choice, but more complexity or less choice but more simplicity? - Starting up your own business or staying employed? - Why insurers need to call us by our names, not our numbers And of course a whole lot more Find out what we are up to at Instech London at www.instech.london Sign up to our newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning   Continuing Professional Development - Learning Objectives InsTech London is accredited by The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening to an InsTech London podcast, or reading the accompanying tran

We like to mix it up for our events - a chance to hear from some established companies, insurers and the newcomers. Part of our philosophy at InsTech London is our "pay forward" approach. We lookout for the best upcoming companies, or even just great people with great ideas - and we give them a place to talk about what they are up to. We've been delighted to have so many of our early speakers return as corporate members in the last couple of years supporting what we do, and getting more benefits from our network once they have funding.  These two interviews were recorded live in February at The Steelyard. Sai Lakshmi from Caura and Amit Patel from Hlthie both have great stories to tell about their own emerging businesses including: - Establishing market fit - Developing partnerships - Building a career to gain experience Find out more about what we are up to at Instech London on the website www.instech.london Sign up to our newsletter to find out what we are thinking each week and how to contact us if you thi

Live events can still exist even if we can't all hang out together in the same place. In this episode, Matthew Grant is talking to Andy Wiggans of the digital video platform BrightTALK about best practices for sharing content and engaging with your customers. Not surprisingly BrightTALK has seen a massive increase in usage for its platform over the last few weeks as its client base of over 1,500 companies relies on it to talk directly to their clients and prospects.  At InsTech London we are now running weekly events on BrighTALK, talking to more of the leaders in technology, innovation and insurance. We have been able to keep up the spirit of our live events, and are quickly building up a growing audience to complement our weekly podcasts. You can see more of what we are doing at the BrightTALK InsTech London channel  See more of what we are up to including all our prior events at www.instech.london Thanks to Vlocity for sponsoring our BrightTALK channel 

Matthew Grant and Robin Merttens discuss the latest insurance, innovation and insurtech news that has caught their attention.  The conversation took place to launch our new series of live events on Brighttalk, where we'll be bringing you news and interviews until we can relaunch our events at The Steelyard in London.  You can find out more about what we're planning on our new Brighttalk channel, including details of our Insurtech Survival Guide event on Thursday 6 April.  Continuing Professional Development - Learning Objectives InsTech London is accredited by The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening to an InsTech London podcast, or reading the accompanying transcript, you can claim up to 0.5 CPD hours towards the CII member CPD scheme.   Complete the InsTech London Podcast Feedback Survey to claim your CPD time

Anthemis is one of the most well known investors in technology start-ups and scale-ups supporting insurance and financial services. Portfolio companies include: Goji, Flock, Hockodo, Insurdata, Quantemplate, Stable, Trov, Tremor and Yulife. Matthew Grant caught up with Anthemis partner and former lead investor at Allianz, Ruth Foxe Blader, to learn about how and why Anthemis invests. The discussion covers life before and during the pandemic, as well as a look to the future state of fintech and insurtech.  A great discussion with another instech.london member company. Continuing Professional Development - Learning Objectives InsTech London is accredited by The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening to an InsTech London podcast, or reading the accompanying transcript, you can claim up to 0.5 CPD hours towards the CII member CPD scheme. After listening to Episode 76 you will know: What Anthemis Group means by "embedded finance" How it evaluates companies for the fund What characteristics it looks for

Wondering about how to create a podcast and best practices for recording sound? In Episode 75 of the InsTech London podcasts, we're kicking off a series of "Instech Investigates" - a look beyond the usual topics and a chance to learn more about the skills you or your team may need in today's world.   Matthew talks to former BBC Sound Engineer Peter Roach, who now runs VisualMonkeys and who is normally on the other side of the microphone editing our weekly podcast. Matthew and Peter discuss podcasting and recording techniques, subject types, what equipment to use and how to edit.  You can listen to all the previous episodes of our podcast on the InsTech London website. Continuing Professional Development - Learning Objectives InsTech London is accredited by The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening to an InsTech London podcast, or reading the accompanying transcript, you can claim up to 0.5 CPD hours towards the CII member CPD scheme. After listening to Episode 75 you will know: the equipment you n

Remember when we all got together and ran in person events? Recorded live at The Steelyard, Episode 74 features the highlights from our event with Google Cloud, including what their plans are for insurance and they type of companies they want to work with. InsTech London’s Robin Merttens and Matthew Grant talked to Damion Thompson, Head of Insurance UK, Google Cloud along with some of the partners they are already working with.  Take a trip with us down memory lane to hear more from Cytora, Quantiphi, Quantexa, Aviva and Apigee. A written summary of Episode 74, plus a gallery of photos for you to view, download and share, is available on the InsTech London website. Continuing Professional Development - Learning Objectives InsTech London is accredited by The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening to an InsTech London podcast, or reading the accompanying transcript, you can claim up to 0.5 CPD hours towards the CII member CPD scheme. After listening to Episode 74 you will learn: Why Google Cloud is i