Two former Suncorp executives have founded RS Insurance Ventures, a private equity investment firm focused on innovative companies in Australia.
 
RS was co-founded by Shaun Hutchison and Clarence Chee, and its principal owner is a former Macquarie bank executive.  
 
The Brisbane-based duo will travel to US tech conference ITC Vegas next month with Insurtech Australia, of which RS is a member.
 
Mr Chee told insuranceNEWS.com.au advanced talks are under way with several prospective insurtechs, and claims management is a focus but “nothing is off the table”.
 
“Our first intention is to support or develop specialised and strong competitive solutions for the claims process,” said Mr Chee, who spent seven years at Suncorp, finishing in February as EM of supplier performance in motor claims.  
 
“Within the $1-$5 million injection is the typical entry appetite, but we don’t want to put limits to it, so we’re going pre-seed all the way to mature companies.”
 
Mr Hutchison spent more than 21 years at Suncorp, finishing in February as head of investigations, recoveries and settlements. He is part of the executive leadership team at Risk & Security Management. 
 
“At Suncorp, he has been through a significant number of different departments, seeing how the place has grown or stayed stagnant in many particular areas,” Mr Chee said.  
 
“We’re quite familiar with exactly what gaps there are in the insurance sector and we understand that throughout the claims process there are  opportunities in terms of dealing with the end-to-end claims management process.  
 
“We have for quite some time had an interest in developing solutions, having been involved in a number of implementations with large insurers."
 
The RS team’s expertise spans underwriting, claims, risk management and technology integration, and it says it will “push industry boundaries and leverage our principal owner’s extensive experience to identify and develop high-potential opportunities”.