The ITHM invited the EUROFORUM conference to its hometurf at WERK1 to learn more about the ecosystem, what we do and to meet startups that are key to our ecosystem.
On one of the last stops of the two day EUROFORUM conference, InsurTech Munich edition, around 50 insurance corporates and journalists came to WERK1 to see how the InsurTech Hub Munich, WERK 1 and Plug and Play cooperation benefits the insurance startup and corporates alike.
To kick off the event, Dr. Florian Mann presented the WERK1 concept. He explained how the building has evolved from affordable office rentals to focusing more on a strong incubator culture where an easy exchange of ideas take place. Due to the growing startup culture, this also became the perfect location for the InsurTech Hub Munich’s operational office. Johannes Wagner, member of the ITHM board, and Manuel Holzhauer, new Managing Director, introduced our association as the one-stop for early stage startups looking for a no-equity accelerator while Robert Pechholz showed the benefits of working with a late-stage accelerator with international recognition, at Plug and Play.
However, the focus of the night was on the startup pitches. From the three presenters, two were from our past accelerator programs. Jasmeet Sethi, co-founder of Kruzr, based in Bangalore, India, presented it’s easy-to-use solution for preventive motor insurance. Questions in the audience were very focused on recent GDPR law changes and it’s application to the German market. Alexander Baron, founder and CEO of e-profound, a resident of WERK1 showed us the importance of bringing first-class lawyers to all budgets and sizes of firms. He also explained the important applicability of the legal tech to any contract heavy industry, like the insurance sector. Harald Nitschinger, co-founder and Managing Director of Prewave, from Vienna, Austria, presented how the startup analyses social- and news media data with advanced machine learning technology to deliver predictions on risks affecting the critical elements of an enterprise, that will later affect insurance payouts. After questions from the audience, they also clarified how they are GDPR compliant, only using publicly shared information on social media, and how even a few days pre-warning can drastically cut costs for an insurance company.
The evening finished with an open panel discussion focusing on the drivers of change is in the insurance industry and how innovation can only happen if both internal and external parties work together. The startups explained that they market their products and services to larger insurance companies, due to the fact that not enough corporates in the industry are focusing on innovation intrinsically, leading startups to have a bigger niche market. Ultimately, their goal is to motivate insurers to rethink their business model and allow extrinsic ideas to help them move into a more digital direction.
Thanks to the involvement from the EUROFORUM participants during the pitches and the panel discussion the day has been a success to corporates and startups alike. We hope that more insurers all over Germany become more receptive to the idea of extrinsic digital innovation along with more events in the future co-hosted with the EUROFORUM itself.
