Lloyd’s Lab selects ten new InsurTechs for fifth cohort focused on COVID-19 risks

Lloyd’s, the world’s leading specialist insurance and reinsurance market, today announced its new cohort of InsurTech disruptors that will join the Lloyd’s Lab innovation accelerator programme, and includes start-ups who are focused on providing solutions to support the Market to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 140 applications were received from across the world for the fifth cohort of the Lloyd’s Lab, which begins 7 September 2020. The ten successful teams were selected after presenting their ideas in a competitive process during a virtual pitch day on 29 July 2020. This is the second completely virtual Lloyd’s Lab cohort following the successful completion of cohort four. The new Lab teams will join Praedicat, Metabiota and Dialogue; three teams specially selected in June to work on our COVID-19 response.

The InsurTech start-ups will focus on three key themes: data and models; new insurance products and markets; and response to COVID-19, This year the cohort will have a particular focus on COVID-19 products and solutions to help fast-track bringing these innovative solutions to market, looking at: new types of insurance to support the COVID-19 response; helping the Lloyd’s market to assess COVID-19 risks; and helping Lloyd’s customers to adapt to a changing workplace.

In July, the Lloyd’s Lab ran its first ‘Fusion’ programme, a new three-day event designed to test early-stage start-up ideas aimed at dealing with COVID-19 and other systemic risks. Three of the teams who took part in Fusion, Ryskex, Hivemind and Geollect, have been successful in their application to the fifth cohort of the Lab.

In the first four cohorts, start-ups, entrepreneurs and businesses have presented ideas ranging from live-streaming drones to event-based parametric insurance solutions for catastrophic flooding and on-demand insurance for the gig economy. Examples of success stories so far can be seen in alumni members such as ClimaCell, Parsyl, Layr and Flock.

The ten teams selected for Lloyd's Lab cohort five are:

• RYSKEX provides a blockchain-based ecosystem for Alternative Rysk Transfers and innovative insurance solutions. Their focus is on uninsurable risks in today's insurance environment. (Berlin, Germany)
• Hivemind Technologies provides a software platform for managing human-in-the-loop data preparation. Its newest product, AGORA, is a tool for eliciting and aggregating expert judgements using a prediction market mechanism. (Oxford and London, United Kingdom)
• Geollect is an agile geospatial intelligence and analysis company, providing dynamic insights for decision support to a network of global clients in the defence, maritime insurance and cruise industries. (Bristol, United Kingdom)
• KnowRisk is a consortium of companies bringing the insurance and audit industries together for the first time. The platform builds a digital twin of site and supply chain risk by combining insurance, audit and internal company data. (London, United Kingdom)
• Predata is an AI company focused on uncovering predictive behaviours in online activity. The company has built a global comprehensive predictive analytics platform for geopolitical risk, enabling customers with global exposure to discover, quantify, and act upon dynamic shifts in online attention. (New York City, United States)
• Thimble the business insurance startup known for its monthly and on-demand policies, is developing a low-limit, first-line-of-defence, parametric contingent business interruption coverage to protect SMBs from COVID-19 and future pandemics. (New York City, United States)
• Blink Parametric is focused on parametric insurance innovation and transforming the complex products of its insurance and insurtech clients into simple, intuitive, real-time, online services via its customisable platform. (Cork, Ireland)
• HazardHub provides a comprehensive, detailed set of peril risk and property characteristics is a lightning-fast API. They deliver over 800 characteristics for any location in the US, allowing insurers to better understand the risk of a property before committing to an underwriting decision. (San Diego, United States)
• Hailios is an IoT and data analytics company that empowers the insurance industry with real-time, ground truth weather data. They have tight focus on severe convective storms and an ability to sense multiple characteristics of hailstorms. (Colorado Springs, United States)
• Inclusivity Solutions designs, builds, operates and innovates digital insurance solutions that enable financial inclusion and address the protection gap in emerging markets. They partner with mobile operators, banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions to deliver simple and affordable insurance cover through mobile phones. (Cape Town, South Africa)