It’s hard to believe another year has passed, and we’re publishing the Insurtech 100 for a fourth time. Should it be your first, though, welcome. This report is a comprehensive compilation of the hottest and most dynamic names driving change and innovation across insurance.
As the market matures and the needs of the industry become more nuanced, it is critical to look beyond the narrow lens of traditional ‘insurtechs’, and incorporate each and every startup or scaleup materially impacting the future of the sector — no matter where in the world they’re based.
As a result, the Sønr team has been tirelessly pulling together research and analysis of tens of thousands of companies across the globe, helping shape a unique and advantageous perspective on the trends we’ll see emerging in both the short and long term. It also allows us to curate a list for a panel of the industry’s leading lights, who then go through a gruelling scoring exercise that is, we hope, as fastidious as it is fair.
In the past few months the market has reached an inflection point. Funding is down (halved from its Q2 2021 peak), valuations are close to all-time lows, and many insurtechs are having to course-correct overnight to demonstrate and deliver shortterm viability. But it’s far from doom and gloom. In fact, I see this change as a huge positive for the industry. There is consensus across insurance leaders, globally, for the need to both accelerate digitisation and push beyond with the creation of new products, services and business models. But there is also a growing recognition that this is best achieved by working with, or acquiring wholesales and insurtechs.
Over the coming months we’ll continue to see a steady rise in collaboration between incumbents and insurtechs, and perhaps most interestingly, a spree of acquisitions at heavily discounted prices. The majority will be established players buying capability, but certainly not all. There will be plenty of heavily capitalised insurtechs entering new markets and broadening their offerings through acquisition. And if any will be leading the charge, it’ll be those appearing in this Insurtech 100.
The list remains as vibrant and diverse as ever, with 17 countries represented, 39 new entries, and the most even split between regions and sectors that we’ve seen yet. A question I remember posing last year — and I will once again — is just how many of them have you heard of? Or for those leading innovation and insurtech scouting, how many have you not heard of?