Insurtech Australia hosted a sell-out InsurtechLIVE 23 event on Wednesday where hundreds of experts, many who flew in from other countries and states, gathered in Sydney to discuss the latest trends and breakthroughs in insurance technology.

Host Luis Nejo, CEO and founder of Digital Experience Labs, addressed an enthusiastic crowd at the Musuem of Contemporary Art and introduced session topics ranging from geospatial data and AI, to funding challenges, to cyber.

“This magnificent location is better than the average hotel dungeon,” he said, adding he was happy to be part of a community committed to “actually trying to evolve an industry that needs evolution”.

"In saying that, I think we would also all agree that it's an industry that evolves at a glacial pace - that's why events like these are really important, especially during a time of such technological disruption.

“There's a lot happening, so this brings minds and action together and recognises that no one can do it on their own.”

Popular with the crowd were five-minute pitches from select insurtechs - Group insurance platform Sentro, independent broker and client website Advisr, Hollard-backed Kanopi, compliance platform Curium, and Sydney-based construction data firm Sync Technologies.

Victorious was Sync Co-Founder and CEO Carolina Dreifuss-Aravena, who detailed how Sync’s visual property data had cut insurer claim assessment times and travel costs by up to 75% and “saved over 7000 working days”. Her team will now compete at InsureTech Connect Asia 2023 in Singapore.

IA CEO Simone Dossetor said InsurtechLIVE 23 was all about connecting, learning and showcasing the best talent of insurtech in Australia.

"Today we have over 200 in the room - sorry it's a bit squishy,” she said. “As an industry association, it's important that we provide opportunities to lead and advocate on important topics impacting the industry.”

She acknowledged attracting capital is harder now than in recent years and is “challenging for many”.

"This is an interesting time, the first that we've seen a drop in the global overall investment in 'insurtech' since that phrase first came about in 2016,” she said.

“Our mission is to be a world leading ecosystem, and to bring together insurtech and innovation and to foster this diverse community of professionals who are striving to improve the industry.”

Here is a sample of the InsurtechLIVE 23 sessions, attended by insuranceNEWS.com.au. More will be published on Monday:

Stella

Stella Insurance CEO Sam White flew in from the UK and roused the crowd with a frank and impassioned talk featuring childhood photos and the terror of playing British Bulldog, overcoming anxiety and weight gain via a love of exercise, splitting with boyfriend Lee and later marrying her wife, living in LA’s Mullholland Drive and seeking IVF, and the highs and lows of her journey in insurance.

"Resilience is one of my strongest characteristics, yet it would not be picked up on any insurance application form … and I think it would be a really great indicator of whether somebody is going to claim on their insurance policy or not,” she said, adding that setbacks are not losing and "sometimes you win, sometimes you learn”.

Ms White insisted insurance is a “feminine business,” and Stella – which has 70% female customers – is “unapologetically for women”.

“We launched in Australia two and a half years ago, we've got nearly $20 million in premium in motor alone. We launched in the UK recently, the numbers - they're absolutely flying. This stuff absolutely works,” she said.

When founding the business, she had “really tapped into the things that were frustrating”.

“It wasn't all fun and games. I really struggled to get funding, I was hitting some brick walls and I started to get this sort of burning feeling that something needed to change in insurance.

“That really was where Stella came from.”

A recent Stella commercial was thought-provoking for attendees, listing the many ways language has evolved with unconscious gender bias. You can see the ad here. 

Geospatial & AI solutions

QBE Ventures CEO James Orchard, Geosite Founder and CEO Rachel Olney and Reask Co-Founder and CCO Nick Hassam discussed how geospatial and AI solutions can address climate risk, affordability and accessibility insurance issues.

Ms Olney explained geospatial data can help with decision making by "helping people interpret it and integrate it at scale”.

“We would say, if you can put it on a map, we probably have it on our platform, and then we help integrate that into the core processes of major organisations.

“I think of it as a digital twin for the earth - actually understanding what is going on with the climate and with these properties. What is it that's making them risky? And to help reduce that.”

Mr Orchard says there are applications across the insurance value chain, and that for modelling, risk selection, pricing and fraud claims management this technology “can be really, really game changing”.

“At QBE Ventures, we're actually really bullish on the topic of geospatial. We think that in a number of years, it's going to be sort of table-stakes type technology in … multiple areas across the insurance value chain.”

EY outlook

EY Asia-Pacific Insurance Leader Grant Peters said the insurance sector had done well to embrace modern technology to accelerate digitisation and automation but “there's more to do and we shouldn't get complacent”.

Embracing digitisation of business operations and use of data is essential going forward "to go beyond the nuts and bolts of service delivery”.

"Looking ahead, insurers need to make a more strategic and long-term view to simplifying their businesses, not just to reduce costs but to meet the increasing demands of their consumers,” he said.

"The role of insurtech will only continue to grow in importance and to deliver even more value to the insurance industry and their customers.”