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23 Hartford Business Journal | April 19, 2021 | HartfordBusiness.com Insuritas' white-label insurance products give financial institutions cross-sell opportunities By Norm Bell Special to the Hartford Business Journal S ometimes the best route to business success is connecting existing dots. That's the strategy employed by Insuritas, an insurance marketing firm based in East Windsor. Matt Chesky, president and chief operating officer, explains that while insurance is a major, important purchase, it is unique in that both buyer and seller don't want to interact with each other again. Neither side wants there to be a claim. It's a "set- it-and-forget-it" transaction. So, the best way to sell insurance, Chesky says, is to be present at the moment the customer needs to buy it. In the case of homes and cars, that means being at the site of the loan transaction. Often, that's at a bank or credit union, so that's where Insuritas wants to be. It has struck partnerships with more than 200 financial institutions to provide a white label insurance product that banks and credit unions can market as their own. That's a network that provides about 10 million potential customers. Insuritas handles the deal and shops the market for the individual client, delivering the best deal from among its wide set of insurance partners, including most of the industry giants. Insurers pay commissions of 15% to brokers, including Insuritas. The financial institution gets to extend its relationship with the customer and picks up a 4% fee from Insuritas on every sale. For Insuritas, it gets to leverage the financial institution's knowledge of when a transaction is happening and when insurance is needed. It gets Insuritas to the scene of the deal without having to spend the billions in advertising dollars spent on keeping the gecko, Flo and Jaime, Jake and his pro athlete clients in front of the public. Other forms of insurance — from life to small business coverage — are also available. The result is $100 million in written premium annually — "in insurance, that's the equivalent of gross sales," Chesky says. He declined to share revenue figures. If the idea seems too good to be true, credit Chesky's father, Jeff, who designed the concept when he was president of Banc Insurance Services. That firm was sold in 2004. Jeff Chesky, who had senior-level positions at MassMutual and Fleet Bank, led a group of private investors who bought the firm back in 2008 and relaunched it as Insuritas. One of the few stumbles occurred when Insuritas struck a deal with Overstock. It quickly became apparent the connection between buying a couch and buying insurance just wasn't there. The next frontier is the digital insurance platform, the younger Chesky says. The firm's first digital brokerage deals were signed in the fall with more to come. Much of the sales work was handled by a call center before the pandemic. Now working in a remote environment, Chesky says he's constantly looking to hire sales and customer service associates. The firm also has expanded its management team recently to include both corporate sales and client relationship executives. Biophotonics startup Lumeda aims to improve cancer treatments By Norm Bell Special to the Hartford Business Journal T wo men from Connecticut walk into a hotel. No, it's not the start of a joke. Rather, it's the origin story of Lumeda Inc., a Rocky Hill startup with a mission of reshaping the treatment of lung cancer. Paul Sanders, co-founder of Lumeda, describes the meeting of Connecticut photonics experts and western New York oncology innovators as little short of serendipity. But the result is a technology that may soon enable more people to survive non-small cell lung cancer. Oncologists at Buffalo's Roswell Park cancer research campus recognize focused light could be used to improve surviving tissue at the site of surgery to remove a cancerous lung tumor. The challenge was focusing the light and delivering a consistent level of therapy. That's where Sanders' expertise comes in. He's spent more than 35 years in photonics, building a record of success in technical, product management and business development roles with industry leaders including 3M, JDSU, CiDRA Corp. and Weatherford. His background overlaps with his co-founder Trevor MacDougall. Together, they founded — and later sold — QOREX, which designed and made advanced fiber optic sensing systems for harsh environments. Between them, they hold almost 90 patents. They struck a deal with Roswell Park for exclusive commercialization rights for the technology they'd develop and Lumeda was born. Today, MacDougall and Sanders are vice presidents of Lumeda. They brought in Alexander Zinke, a veteran of business development and commercialization projects in health care, as CEO. The company in April announced that it raised $4.3 million in Series A funding from Connecticut Innovations and Branford-based Cycle Venture Partners. It has raised $5.3 million since its founding. Sanders modestly says the photonics development was "pretty straight forward." Insuritas has struck partnerships with more than 200 financial institutions to provide a white label insurance product that banks and credit unions can market as their own. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an established practice in treating non-small cell lung cancer. The light works with a photosensitizer agent by illuminating margins in the surgical bed after tumor removal and before wound closure. Improving the health of that adjacent tissue is key to reducing the rate of cancer recurrence. Lumeda's DigiLum is a complete PDT system that delivers consistent levels of light at regulated intensity. The component pieces of Lumeda's system cost between $60,000 and $200,000. They are assembled in Rocky Hill. Sanders expects to ship Lumeda's first complete unit to Roswell Park at the end of April. "The R [research] is done; what we need is D [development]," he said. And that development hinges on success of the clinical studies. Two clinical studies have begun at Roswell Park, establishing effectiveness and safety of the process. Results are expected in 2022. A third — establishing safety of the PDT when used in combination with immunotherapy — will begin in the fall of 2022 with results expected in 2024. Sanders and Zinke acknowledged the technology has the potential to advance treatment for other cancers but said Lumeda is focused on the success of the lung cancer product before exploring other opportunities. Zinke said the company does not foresee becoming a manufacturer. After successful Phase 2 trials, Lumeda would seek a partnership with a deep-pocketed pharma or medical device firm to take the product through Phase 3 trials and to market. At a Glance Company: Insuritas | Industry: Insurance marketing Top Executive: Jeff Chesky, Chairman & CEO HQ: 1 Hartfield Blvd #301, East Windsor No. of Employees: 92 Company Website: Insuritas.com | Phone Number: 855-350-1100 At a Glance Company: Lumeda Inc. Industry: Biotechnology Top Executive: Alexander Zinke, CEO HQ: 101 Hammer Mill Road, Suite K, Rocky Hill No. of Employees: 8 Company Website: Lumedainc.com Phone number: 860-982-9588 TECH 25 Matt Chesky Alexander Zinke Insuritas has struck partnerships with more than 200 financial institutions to provide a white label insurance product that banks and credit unions can market as their own. (Left to right) Lumeda co-founder Paul Sanders, principal scientist Yi Yang, and co-founder Trevor MacDougall. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED