Howden has formed a venture with £500 million ($962 million) of Lloyd’s underwriting capacity to support the development and fast-tracking of solutions for new and emerging risks. 

Insurance innovation expert Tom Hoad will lead Howden Ventures, which will have delegated underwriting authority backed by providers including Tokio Marine Kiln, Chaucer, and Liberty Specialty Markets. 

The company says Howden Ventures brings together funding, underwriting capital, expertise, governance and distribution, creating an end-to-end platform and commercial solution that accelerates product development and innovation. 

With new funding for the global insurtech sector continuing to fall following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Howden Ventures has initially committed £10 million ($19 million) of funding to the sector, with a view to supporting at least five start-ups over the next two years. 

“Combining the Managing General Agent (MGA) model with insurtech innovation provides the ideal platform to foster collaboration, and to merge external talent, fresh thinking, new technology, funding, and underwriting capacity,” Mr Hoad said. 

“By doing so Howden Ventures is aligning interests from all corners of the market to create an economic model that will help the insurance industry invest in the type of long-term, innovative solutions that clients are looking for.” 

Howden Ventures has concluded a first investment in CetoAI, a maritime technology company combining data analytics, engineering and artificial intelligence to manage machinery breakdown risk in global shipping with predictive maintenance. 

“Our investment in CetoAI is the perfect example of the power of insurance to drive market innovation and the development of new products that address climate risk and resilience,” Howden Global Head of Marine Daniel Whiteside said. 

CetoAI was one of the tenth cohort in the Lloyd’s Lab accelerator program, where companies are given the opportunity in a focused environment over 10 weeks to develop a new product. 

“Howden’s new commercial mechanism is a great example of industry collaboration which leverages the Lloyd’s market’s ecosystem of innovation and the MGA model to fast-track new solutions,” Lloyd’s Commercial Director Dawn Miller said.