Hartford Business Journal

14 Hartford Business Journal • November 27, 2017 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By John Stearns jstearns@HartfordBusiness.com H artford would be the capital for more than state govern- ment if various executives fulfill their vision to make the city a hub for insurance technology, for which key early seeds are about to be planted. On Nov. 29 and Nov. 30, up to 10 global startups will be selected to participate in a new downtown Hartford accelerator program. They will work alongside local in- surers, which can pilot the technology, and be coached by myriad business experts and mentors as they try to advance their busi- ness models and technology for the benefit of insurers and the startups themselves. London-based Startupbootcamp is run- ning the InsurTech Accelerator, part of what's being called Hartford InsurTech Hub. The accelerator is funded by grants from CTNext, a quasi-public entity that oversees the state's new Innovation Places program and which picked InsurTech as a sector to grow, and matching grants from insurers and others. The idea for the accelerator hatched from local insurers and government and business leaders as an opportunity for Hartford to capitalize on the InsurTech boom, in which investors poured $1.7 billion in insurance- based tech startups in 2016, according to industry data tracker CB Insights. The goal is to bring some of those invest- ment dollars to Hartford, which is still considered an insurance mecca, to create an ecosystem of inno- vation that attracts new talent and tech- nology startups on par with InsurTech strongholds globally, while keeping the region's large cluster of insurers competi- tive at a time when rapidly evolving technology is upend- ing the industry. "What we are trying to do is build Hartford as the InsurTech hub in the U.S.," said Sabine Vander- Linden, CEO of InsurTech business for Startupboot- camp, who plans to spend about half her time in Hartford when the accelerator, to be located in the new Upward Hartford co-working/incubator space in the 20 Church St. "Stilts" building, launches Jan. 8. Her company vets about 4,000 InsurTech startups worldwide, in this case, looking for the best fit for insurers like Travelers Cos., Cigna and The Hartford, which are the major funders of the Hartford accelerator. During the week of Nov. 27 Startupbootcamp will bring about 20 finalists to Hartford, from which insurers will select up to 10 for a three- month accelerator program. They can stay an additional two months as they initiate pro- grams with the insurers, with some ideally opting to relocate or set up offices here. "There needs to be this match-making be- tween the corporate entities and the startups, so we have to do the work to really understand the problem the corporates want to alleviate and then find the startups that can alleviate those problems," VanderLinden said. Evolving technology pressures insurers Startupbootcamp bills itself as a global network of industry-focused accelerators in sectors that include FinTech, Internet of Things, digital health and energy. It gives startups direct access to an international network of partners, investors and men- tors in their sector. Startupbootcamp has 21 accelerators in 16 locations around the world. On average, about 80 percent of its startups succeed, VanderLinden said. The linkage between insurance and tech- nology may be a foreign concept to some, but in reality insurers, which produce reams of big data ripe for machine analysis and predictive analytics, are major investors in and supporters of technology innovation. According to PwC's 20th CEO Survey released earlier this year, 67 percent of insur- ance CEOs said creativity and innovation are very important to their organizations and 61 percent said they are exploring the benefits of humans and machines working together. And when asked what was their most important business area to strengthen, the top choice was digital and technological capabilities. Local insurers have already been active in investing in technology and tech companies. In fact, The Hartford and Aetna both have had their own venture capital arms. And one of the reasons Aetna said it was moving its corporate headquarters to New York City was to be closer to a more vibrant technology cluster that could transform its business. According to a recent PwC report on Connecticut's insurance industry, insurers plan to heavily invest in data analytics and mobile technologies that streamline back- office operations and improve risk analysis. They're also adopting apps to help consum- ers identify and mitigate risks that could lead to costly claims. Insurers are also considering artificial intelligence, robotic process automation and Internet of Things technologies. AI, for example, is being used to au- tomate simple claims and underwriting processes, freeing up employees to work on more judgment-based decisions. Just last week, specialty insurer Hartford Steam Boiler announced it was teaming up with a Silicon Valley insurance startup, Growing InsurTech Hartford is making a push to become a major center of insurance-technology innovation The new startup InsurTech accelerator in downtown Hartford recently held a mentoring event at Upward Hartford's office, where startup hopefuls learned about ways to improve their business plan. InsurTech Hartford, founded by Stacey Brown (lower right) is another group supporting InsurTech startups in Hartford. Its many supporters include some seen here (front row, left) Ryan Keating, Jay DeVivo, Frank Sentner and Brown; (back row, left) Mike Kalen, Aasta Frascati- Robinson, Michael Xu, Christian Lemp, Gwendolyn Hahn and Dina Belyayeva. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED HBJ PHOTO | JOHN STEARNS

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