Brisbane-based insurtech Upsure and Community Broker Network (CBN) have partnered to support UK insurtechs and MGAs keen to launch in Australia.

Tech-focused broker Upsure offers corporate advisory, networking, events and investor introductions.

The new initiative aims to help UK firms bring forward Australian launches by providing market evaluation, setup, marketing, compliance and distribution. Upsure mostly provides “go-to-market" assistance, while CBN aids with setup, compliance and distribution.

“We’re initially just assessing the demand but it feels like there’s great potential to be a strong partner for UK based MGA’s and insurtechs looking to break into the Australian market,” Upsure tells insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“There’s a lot of innovation happening within various sub categories of insurance that we’re really interested in,” it says, listing on-demand products, usage-based products, climate risk and parametric.

"We’re keeping close eye on those types of MGAs.”

Founded in 2020 by Andrew Birt and Matt Almond, formerly an underwriter at Zurich, Upsure says it has more than 220 firms on its books, including Forcite, Thriday, Payble, Joyride, AirBolt and Greener.

It is currently hiring a UK head of broking as it sets up in the UK, writes just under $2 million in gross written premium a year, and plans to continue growing its base in Australia.

Upsure – a finalist in FinTech Australia’s “Service to Fintech” Finnie Award category this year – says it is a business insurance portal that helps early-stage companies get insured and manage their insurance documentation, contracts, renewals and more. 

“We appreciate the risks involved in the founder journey, and love helping tech companies offset their risk as they scale up and take on the world,” Upsure says.