We collected the thoughts of some of our #50insurtech influencers to get some precious insight into what 2023 has in store for us. Will insurtechs continue to drive innovation and leverage technologies like AI and IoT for risk mitigation while shifting to a customer centric approach? Let's find out.
Mark Breading
Partner, Strategy Meets Action, a ReSource Pro Company
InsurTech activity in 2023 will be largely driven by economic conditions. For at least the first part of the InsurTech activity in 2023 will be largely driven by economic conditions. For at least the first part of theyear, I predict that there will be a slowdown in piloting, partnerships, and funding because insurance company budgets are more focused on operational efficiencies and profitability. Those InsurTechs tha thave proven capabilities to aid in these areas will continue to be successful. But new entrants and InsurTechs with more “exotic” tech solutions may find activity slow going. The rest of 2023 will depend on where the US and global economies go – if we slide into a major recession then all bets are off. If the economy and markets bounce back, then we could see significant InsurTech activity.
One big trend that will continue unabated – the rise of the MGA. Many InsurTech MGAs have already been launched during the InsurTech era, deploying a variety of business models. They have been a catalyst for innovation and instrumental in the move to more specialization in P&C. I expect to see a new wave of MGAs launched in 2023 – some independent startups and others launched by carriers seeking diversification. Meanwhile, the incumbent and InsurTech MGAs already in the market will continue on their growth path.
Walter de Oude
Founder at Chocolate Finance (formerly Founder at Singapore Life)
- Insurance companies will blur to include more banking and asset management services to complement their insurance offerings.
- Direct to consumer life insurance will not scale meaningfully.
- 9 out of 10 insurance aggregation platforms will fail to raise new funding.
Rob Galbraith
Founder and CEO at Forestview Insights
1. Put Up or Shut Up Time for Insurtech
No more hype - after a challenging 2022, we are in a "trough of disillusionment," and many mature insurtech firms and efforts will be expected to show a clear path to profits or slowly die for lack of funding and sustainable growth. Winners will become apparent by the end of the year and demonstrate they are here for the long haul
2. Early-Mover Agents and Brokers Will Reap Rewards from Tech Adoption
After much initial focus on direct-to-consumer offerings, insurtech startups and investment has started to focus on supporting agents & brokers over the past couple of years. These efforts will begin to pay off handsomely for early adopters as there is a lot of low-hanging fruit ripe for picking, especially in the small commercial space, creating FOMO for their competitors and leading to a wave of adoption.
3. 2023 Will Prove To Be A Vintage Year for New Startups
During down years in 2001 and 2009 following the dot-com bust and Great Financial Crisis, fewer startups were launched due to tighter funding and poor macroeconomic conditions. However, of those that were, many proved to be quite successful and long-lasting. One or more startups founded this year will be seen as revolutionary by the end of the decade and capture worldwide attention for radically changing insurance forever.
Florian Graillot
Investor @ astorya.vc
Considering that the InsurTech industry is still in its early days (accounting for around 10% of FinTech investments last year or about 2% of the startup ecosystem in Europe), I expect InsurTech Europe to be very active again in 2023. There are still many opportunities for technology and innovation to make a difference.
On the improvement side, due to the pressure related to inflation and startups being under scrutiny to design a path to profitability, I expect new startups to emerge around operational effectiveness, including in the underwriting part of the value chain.
On the innovation side, I expect adjacent players to continue entering the insurance industry thanks to InsurTech solutions that can help them not only on the distribution side, but also provide them with almost the same level of skills as incumbent companies.
Spiros Margaris
Venture Capitalist at MARGARIS VENTURES; Global No. 1 Fintech Influencer and Thought Leader
My outlook for 2023 and beyond for insurtech and the insurance industry is that it will continue to leverage Artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and other technologies to unlock new opportunities. AI will be used to automate complex tasks such as claims processing and underwriting and to improve customer segmentation and personalization. IoT will provide real-time data on risk factors and analyze the data for better pricing, risk assessment and claims processing.
Insurtechs will continue to drive innovation and competition in the insurance industry by providing more efficient, cost-effective, and customer-centric services. They will also leverage AI and IoT to develop innovative products and services tailored to customers' needs. These technologies will help insurers and insurtechs deliver more value to customers, create a more competitive and sustainable insurance market and further prepare for customers' future demands and needs.
Chris Cheatham
Chris Cheatham was the CEO and Founder of RiskGenius. He writes and speaks regularly on insurtech topics and he rides a bike a lot.
I think it’s fair to say we are in the trough of disillusionment when it comes to insurtech. Some of the poor performing insurtechs have gone public (for example, Lemonade and Root) and some were acquired in private transactions; other insurtechs will struggle to find the financial support necessary to continue operations in 2023.
However, when we emerge from the trough, successful, long-lasting insurtechs that were previously ignored will become en vogue. These insurtechs will have been hardened by difficult economic circumstances. I think many of these winners will include “niche” players that go after specific market segments and create delighted customers. These successful insurtechs will follow in the path of companies like Kinsale Insurance and Palomar Insurance. A comparison of Kinsale and Palomar to Lemonade and Root in the public markets over the last year provides a good example of what future investors will be looking for.
Denise Garth
Chief Strategy Officer at Majesco
As we enter 2023, we are facing new challenges including the market economics of inflation, supply chain issues, rising interest rates, and low unemployment. We are grappling with the increased reality of societal, climate, and technology risks and their potential impact on our lives. We are experiencing declining profitability, rising loss ratios and claims costs, increasing demand for reinsurance capacity, lower disposable incomes, and a growing talent loss with a projected high percentage of retirements within the insurance industry. And we are seeing a changing market landscape. The result is that 2023 is poised to deliver some game-changing scenarios that will impact insurance and demand insurers to respond by strengthening business fundamentals and foundation, while meeting the challenges of a changing market.
1. Risk: New, Shifting, and Increasing Complexity
Risks increasingly capture our attention. Environmental-influenced risk, societal risks, technology / cyber risk are three layers of risk on top of traditional policy-based risks. This complexity of risks will continue to reshape P&C and L&AH insurers’ product offerings, underwriting capabilities, use of broader data and analytics, and influence customer relationships.
2. Digital Underwriting
Underwriting is at the heart of the insurance business. With rapidly changing risk factors there will be greater focus on underwriting. From evaluating individual policy risk to an entire portfolio, to assess the risk and risk appetite, and, ultimately, profitability underwriting will make major digitalization moves through a combination of next-generation core, digital underwriting workbench, AI/ML models, digital loss control, and the ability to ingest a range of data sources to create real-time risk management and insights while creating significantly enhanced agent/broker and customer experiences at the same time.
3. Shifting from Product-Centric to Customer-Centric
The future is all about the customer. While insurance’s traditional products have always been pivotal in creating peace of mind for the customer, new and expanding risks, market dynamics, and evolving needs and expectations of insurance buyers, particularly the younger generation, require new ideas and approaches that will accelerate individualization and personalization for products offered, pricing, underwriting, channels, services and a humanized customer experience.
4. Risk Management and Risk Resilience
The old adage of “control what you can control” is now front and center for insurers as they look at new risk management strategies as a crucial component of their underwriting and customer service strategy, focusing on how to better assess risk and prevent losses to improve underwriting profitability and customer experiences. Resilience is essential to living in a world filled with change and uncertainty and focuses on the ability to avoid or minimize risk, decreasing the impact of recovery. Not only will customers embrace this, but insurers will create new revenue streams that provide customer value, enhancing loyalty and trust.
5. Channels: Multi-Channels Meeting Customers on their Terms
With the increasing competitive challenges to attract and retain customers, insurers must develop and utilize a broader distribution ecosystem that engages customers when and how they want … putting the customer first. Today’s interconnected world requires insurance to play across a broad distribution spectrum of channel options, expanding reach to customers when, where, and with whom they want to buy insurance. These options form a distribution ecosystem that expands reach, but requires a partnership approach, particularly for embedded channels which completely changes this paradigm.
6. Technology Investment Accelerates
Technology provides a foundation to adapt, innovate and deliver at speed to execute on strategy and market shifts. The rising importance and adoption of platform technologies, APIs, microservices, digital capabilities, new/non-traditional data sources, and advanced analytics capabilities are now crucial to growth, profitability, customer engagement, channel reach, and workforce change. Even with the macroeconomic headwinds and other market challenges, every aspect of insurance is being redefined in the context of the future, and next-generation technology is foundational for that future. Recent history has proven that pulling back is a big mistake. Those leading will accelerate their investment rather than pull back. And they will be prepared for the next major disruption, leaping forward from the competition.