QBE says a current pattern of insurers, brokers and reinsurers partnering with insurtechs will continue for the foreseeable future in collaborations that are vital for industry growth. 

QBE Ventures, the insurer’s investment and development arm launched in 2017, currently has 12 active investments. 

The insurance industry is facing cost pressures, ever-evolving customer expectations and global and climate volatility, and QBE says ongoing application of insurtech is essential. 

"We’re excited for the possibilities it holds,” QBE Ventures said. “Insurance is an industry built on data, so learning how to harness that data to create insights that help us create that future is paramount. 

“With insurtech providers joining forces with the industry to solve complex business and customer problems, and with new emerging technologies like large language models (LLMs), the movement has evolved to present some tremendously exciting opportunities along the value chain.” 

QBE says it invests and builds alongside early-stage technology companies, with the objective of creating long-term, strategic partnerships that add value to both organisations, broker partners and customers. 

“We have been conscious to define strategic focus areas to ensure we’re aiming to solve known business or customer problems, and not invest in new technology that is looking for a problem to solve,” it says. 

Partnering with early-stage companies gives the best chance of forming a strategic partnership whereby QBE can gain exposure to cutting-edge ideas, it says, and allows it to help influence the development of Intellectual Property. 

“As a business, we recognise the importance of looking externally and partnering with early-stage companies to access novel ideas, emerging technologies and talent to help us deliver on our strategic priorities, including portfolio optimisation, modernisation and growth.”  

Here are active QBE Venture insurtech investments:  

Clara Analytics: improves claims outcomes in commercial insurance through artificial intelligence, particularly in portfolios such as workers compensation. 

Cytora: helps commercial underwriters select and price risk more quickly. 

Demex: helps insurers and corporates quantify and transfer financial risks related to non-catastrophic weather events, such as heatwaves, droughts, and storms. 

Geosite: enables the easy integration of geospatial data. 

Hyperscience: turns documents into data by automating manual data entry and transforming data into digitised and actionable information. 

Iluminr: Australian-based firm that uses gamification to train for crises such as cyber-attacks, supply chain disruptions and natural disasters. 

Jupiter: provides data and analytics to better predict climate change risks. It analyses 11,700 metrics across multiple climate perils and 22 billion locations. 

LeaseLock: provides lease insurance, eliminating security deposits from the rental housing industry while removing complexity for residents and operators. 

Tensorflight: combines satellite, aerial and street-level imagery technology with a proprietary AI engine to automate commercial property inspections. 

YellowBird: connects businesses to vetted environmental, health and safety professionals by deploying its internal algorithm to provide a good match.