Next Insurance's new investor. Allstate data patents. This week in insurance tech.
Going younger
Hi there,
This week, we picked up a new $25M filing for online small business insurance startup Next Insurance. Next had previously partnered with Munich Re to launch a product targeting commercial photographers.
Now it appears Munich Re’s venture arm Munich Re/HSB Ventures is participating in its new financing. Here’s an updated look at the reinsurer’s disclosed partnerships and investments.
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InsureTech Connect 2017
We’re excited to again partner with ITC 2017, held this year on Oct. 3-4, 2017 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Early speakers include XL Catlin CEO Mike McGavick, AXA Group Chief Transformational Officer Benoît Claveranne and Orbital Insight CEO James Crawford.
Newsletter subscribers can access a special rate of $895 through May 31 using this link. ____
App Store changes
As of earlier this week, startups were four of the top five US App Store results for the term “insurance.”
App Store results change daily but, nonetheless, here’s what the results looked like on the same date over the past two years.
Dongle-less?
Here’s what Metromile CEO Dan Preston had to say on the future of its OBD-II device on a recent podcast:
“I actually think the device should become irrelevant in the longer term. Cars these days have far more connectivity and will allow us to integrate more directly into the car. I can imagine a case soon where instead of having to send our customers a device where they plug it in, instead they can simply enable it in the dashboard of their car or they can simply tell us their VIN number and we can enable it for them when they sign up.”
Allstate wants to teach you how to drive
We’d earlier examined Allstate’s patents with a key theme being use cases for sensor and driving data. Here’s a couple interesting patent grants we picked up in the last two months that fit that mold.
One titled “pre-license development tool” would collect driving data on a parent’s or driving coach’s smartphone and present coaching to a permit driver in response to driving patterns or predicted driving patterns.
Another is a “mobile inspection facility” that would be able to load vehicles for inspection and assess damages based on sensor data. The idea being cars may not be able to be moved or multiple cars may be damaged in the same location following a hail storm. CB Insights users can search Allstate patents for keywords here.
