Firemark Ventures, IAG’s corporate venture capital arm, has made its first investment in Internet of Things (IoT) technology with the acquisition of a minority stake in Myriota.

Based in Adelaide, Myriota is a rapidly growing start-up specialising in low-cost and low-power satellite connectivity for IoT applications that counts former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull among its investors.

IAG will work with Myriota to develop IoT-based insurance solutions for its agriculture and business customers.

The aim is to help the insurer’s customers monitor and manage a wide range of assets such as checking water reserves or haystacks on a farm, machineries or goods in transit.

“IAG is looking at digital connected experiences to create value and better experiences for customers,” Firemark Ventures Managing Partner Scott Gunther said.

“IoT technology has the potential to unlock new ways to help our customers manage risks, which has until now been challenging without a physical presence on the ground.”

He told insuranceNEWS.com.au today the business is currently partnering with agri customers to explore trialling the technology for monitoring haystacks and will soon look at extending that to transport and logistics.

IoT is a term that generally refers to the billions of physical devices such as cars and tablets that are connected to the Internet, collecting and sharing data.

Industry think-tank the Geneva Association in May released a report saying IoT is the way forward for insurers. Real-time data generated by IoT-linked devices is a source of valuable insights for insurers, helping them improve risk reduction and prevention capabilities as well as expand scope of coverage.

Mr Gunther says the insurer sees strong potential in Myriota’s technology and its ability to provide secure, cost effective IoT coverage at scale for customers in agriculture or transport and logistics.

There is the opportunity as well to change the future of proactive risk management.

“We look forward to working with Myriota to explore how IoT technology can be used to help improve the insurance experience for our business and agri customers,” Mr Gunther said.

Some of the best opportunities to deploy Myriota’s expertise are in a commercial business or farm setting such as plugging a connected device into a silo or machinery.

“In our first trials we will use commercial and industrial devices, as opposed to connecting to a smartphone,” Mr Gunther said.

He says satellite connectivity provides extensive coverage across the globe, which creates a lot of opportunities in a country like Australia.

“Through the satellite connectivity, a device can provide real-time updates from pretty much anywhere,” Mr Gunther told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“We see great opportunity for our agriculture customers in remote locations to monitor farms or machinery and understand their assets and their risk in a new way.”

IAG declined to reveal the size of the investment in Myriota but says it is consistent with how the business approaches venture start-ups: to help the insurer connect with new and emerging technologies with the potential to its customers and business.

“The Firemark Ventures fund is focused on emerging technology, so we do see opportunity for more investment in the Internet of Things, along with artificial intelligence, machine learning and sensors,” Mr Gunther said.