4 Asian InsurTech companies making waves in the industry

By Leandra Monteiro

The InsurTech ecosystem in Asia is relatively smaller as compared to that in Europe and North America. However, the InsurTech industry in Asia has witnessed a significant boom in 2020. According to Venture Scanner, Asia’s largest InsurTech hub is Singapore, followed by Indian cities Mumbai and Gurgaon.

Another big InsurTech hub is China. According to a report by ZhongAn Technology, China’s InsurTech market is expected to hit 1.4 trillion yuan (US$211.66 billion) by 2021,

Business-friendly conditions in these Asian cities is the main factor for growth of the industry. Furthermore, what has played a major role in contributing towards the development of the industry in Asia is the use of advanced technology, IoT and big data. Going forward, here are some of the InsurTech companies that are disrupting Asia’s insurance industry-

Acko: Founded in 2016, Acko is an Indian fully digital general insurance company. It provides personalised pricing to customers through deep-data analytics and studies customers’ interaction patterns and behaviours and accordingly suggests insurance products.

The company is backed by Amazon, Accel, Catamaran Ventures, SAIF Partners, Swiss Re Transamerica Ventures among other seasoned investors. According to the company it insured over 40 million Indians, acquiring 8% of the car insurance policies bought online in India. It also introduced Ola Ride Insurance for lost baggage, laptops, missed flights, accidental medical expenses, and ambulance transportation cover.

PolicyStreet: Malaysia-based PolicyStreet is an InsurTech company that provides insurance and healthcare through tech. The company was set up to make insurance accessible and affordable for Malaysia, where 45% of the population do not have an insurance cover.

PolicyStreet aims to democratise the insurance industry by making insurance fun and appealing to the millennials.  The company offers business insurance, life insurance, medical insurance, motor insurance, pet insurance, and travel insurance. Its insurance is commission-free, and it gives rebates on the part of its popular plans.

SingLife: SingLife (Singapore Life), a life insurance company licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to caters to the protection, savings, investment, retirement, and lifestyle needs of Singaporeans across all walks of life.

The InsurTech company offers affordable term life insurance, critical illness and cancer plans. Its protection solutions are available to the retail segment both digitally and through financial advisers. In addition, SingLife also offers universal life solutions to high-net-worth clients.

ZhongAn Insurance: China-based ZhongAn Insurance is an online-only InsurTech company that develops ecosystem-oriented insurance solutions covering multiple consumption situations. According to the company, as of June 30, 2017, it had sold more than 9.5 billion insurance policies.

ZhongAn operates its core insurance system on its cloud-based platform Wujieshan. The company has also developed improved AI capabilities to strengthen risk management, optimise product features quickly, and enhance customer experience.

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