Another top 3 reinsurer starts partnering

Hi there,

Earlier this week, Verisk announced that it had acquired AnalyzeRe, a Canadian (re)insurance software startup, for a reported $15 to $20M. Verisk is one of the largest providers of P&C insurance risk data and, since going public in 2009, the company has made more than 12 acquisitions (including AnalyzeRe).

One acquisition that didn’t pan out was EagleView Technologies, which is now owned by Vista Equity. The FTC challenged Verisk’s acquisition of EagleView in 2014 because the combined unit would have controlled 99% of the market for rooftop aerial measurement products for insurance.

We took a look at Verisk’s M&A activity using our Acquirer Analytics tool. Check out the data here.

French insurers get busy

While AXA has been one of the most active insurers investing in tech startups globally, other French insurers have also gotten in the mix. This week, Alan, a new France-based online health insurer, launched with $13M in funding from investors including CNP Assurances.

Another French insurer that has been active on the investing front this year is MAIF, which has already backed nine startups in 2016 YTD including P2P car sharing startup TravelerCar and cloud storage startup CozyCloud.

TL;DR

Here’s an abbreviated rundown of some of the insurance tech activity from the last week. For more deal and partnership news, see the bottom of this email.

• Root Insurance launched as a licensed auto insurer in Ohio. Backed by $12M in debt and funding, Root onboards customers through its driver behavior tracking app, which tells users whether they are eligible for coverage within 1-2 weeks.
• Hannover Re announced its first startup partnership through its new US Partnership Solutions group with Ladder Financial, which plans to offer its own term life insurance product and last week announced $14M in Series A funding led by Canaan Partners. For context, Munich Re Digital Partners has announced underwriting partnerships with startups Simplesurance, so-sure, Trov and Slice already and more are forthcoming.
• Ping An believes it is undervalued by as much as 45%, noting that the “Internet platform’s value in the future will be huge” in its contribution to Ping An’s value. Of course, there are some domestic Internet giants who might say they’re in a more favorable place as it relates to reaping the benefits of digital insurance in China. Notably, insurance makes up a small share of Ant Financial’s value today, though that could change quickly as Ant has made a number of acquisitions, investments, and joint ventures across product lines.

Have a great rest of the week.

Matt
@mlcwong

P.S. Join Social Capital’s Chamath Palihapitiya, A16Z’s Scott Kupor and more at our Innovation Summit at the Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara in January (discounted group rates are available).