Insurance Technology

Balance Re Raises $10m Series A Investment led by Anthemis Group

Balance RE | September 01, 2021

Balance Re, the life reinsurance start-up specialised in quantitative asset-liability management, today announced it has raised $10m in Series A funding from leading financial services investor Anthemis Group, with participation from Global Brain and the company's existing investors, Roland Berger Industries GmbH and Talabot Finance.

Balance Re offers comprehensive reinsurance solutions to life insurance companies and pension funds to support capital management related to their retirement and saving products. The Series A investment will be used to further develop Balance Re's proprietary asset-liability management technology and to support its fully licensed German reinsurance company based in Cologne.

In Balance Re's launch market, Germany, Solvency II's transitional measures represent on average ca. 150 percentage points of life insurers' solvency capital ratios. Balance Re's technology-first and data-driven approach to reinsurance instead enables its clients to release capital to fund growth, support product repositioning and improve (or regain) a competitive advantage. Thanks to real-time risk management capabilities, Balance Re is the first reinsurer able to offer to its clients easy-to-implement and cost-efficient reinsurance solutions which transfer the challenging interactions of financial and insurance risks.

Balance Re's new shareholders, Anthemis and Global Brain, bring in-depth knowledge of the insurance sector and expertise in technologies dedicated to the financial industry, ideally complementing the experience of Balance Re's initial investors rooted in investment management and corporate strategy.

Lucian Rautu and Michel Gauer, the founders of Balance Re, commented: "We are delighted to welcome Anthemis and Global Brain in the capital of Balance Re and at the Board. Their deep industry knowledge and capacity to take an "outside-of-the-box" approach to venture investments in the insurance space make them the perfect partners to disrupt the life reinsurance market".

Matthew Jones, Managing Director at Anthemis, said "Balance Re's team and their technology reflect the complex interactions between actuarial, financial, accounting and regulatory matters. Balance Re's coverage is designed to help clients reach their strategic goals whilst also keeping the interests of their policyholders in mind – we're excited to see them drive much-needed change in the life reinsurance sector."

Naoki Kamimaeda, Partner at Global Brain, said "We believe that the technology developed by the Balance Re team has far reaching applications beyond life reinsurance and Europe. We are enthusiastic to join them at this important stage of the journey and look forward to helping them realise their vision to improve the management of long-term insurance and pension liabilities globally."

About Balance Re
Balance Re tackles one of the most fascinating problems of life insurance: managing the complex interactions between insurance and financial risks. These problems exist in a multifaceted environment spanning actuarial, financial, accounting, and regulatory matters. To operate at the crossroad of so many fields, Balance Re takes down the cultural silos between insurance, investment, and technology to blend the expertise required to solve its clients' needs for truly comprehensive risk transfer.

About Anthemis
Anthemis cultivates change in financial services by investing in, growing, and sustaining businesses committed to improving the world. We are founded on three guiding principles — authentic collaboration, virtuous cycle outcomes, and diversity and inclusivity and our deep understanding of markets and models, passion for emerging technology and values inspire everything we do. By creating fertile ground for a diverse group of start-ups, investors, entrepreneurs, institutions, academics, and visionaries to converge, we believe we can solve the financial services world's most pressing challenges faster, better and for the benefit of all.

About Global Brain
Global Brain is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Tokyo. It supports start-ups that tackle pressing problems, create innovation, and contribute to the stimulation of the Japanese economy and beyond. Its high-achieving, experienced professionals identify excellent start-ups through multiple global locations in Europe, US and APAC, and provide hands-on growth support. Global Brain's total asset under management is over US$1 billion, making it the largest domestic independent venture capital firm.

Spotlight

Spotlight

Related News

Core Insurance, Claims

National Indemnity Company Selects PremiumPay® from One Inc

Business Wire | August 09, 2023

One Inc, the leading digital payments network for the insurance industry, announced today that National Indemnity Company (NICO), a leading property and casualty insurance company based in Omaha, Nebraska, has selected One Inc’s inbound payments solution PremiumPay® to deliver a faster and easier payment experience for their policyholders. NICO becomes One Inc’s first insurer to select Guidewire BillingCenter and Guidewire PolicyCenter on Guidewire Cloud as its core system. The Guidewire platform is designed to offer the flexibility and agility to design and deliver new products to best-fit policyholder needs and support enhancements to the policyholder experience. One Inc and Guidewire expanded their relationship in 2022, announcing a strategic partnership that empowers insurers to deliver a modern payments experience. NICO and its users will be able to accept payments using PremiumPay products from One Inc. PremiumPay, which natively includes Apple Pay®, Google Pay™, PayPal®, and Venmo, amongst other options, will make payment processes a more cohesive and seamless experience. “Our integration with One Inc’s PremiumPay solution will help build a strong digital payments infrastructure for the National Indemnity Company to deploy innovative solutions to improve the policyholder experience. Leveraging One Inc’s digital platform with Guidewire will help us modernize and strengthen our core systems,” said Tracy Gulden, Senior Vice President of NICO. “Today’s policyholders expect enhanced digital speed and convenience, and we are thrilled that National Indemnity Company will be processing its policyholders’ payments on the One Inc network,” said Ian Drysdale, CEO of One Inc. “We are humbled by the company’s vote of confidence in our digital payment solutions and capabilities, and we applaud NICO’s mission of providing the best service to their customers.” About One Inc One Inc is modernizing the insurance industry through a unified and frictionless payment network. Focusing only on the insurance industry, One Inc helps carriers transform their operations by reducing costs, increasing security, and optimizing customer experience. The comprehensive end-to-end digital payments platform provides expanded payment options, multi-channel digital communications, and rapid digital claim payment, even for the most complex insurance use cases. As one of the fastest-growing digital payments platforms in the insurance industry, One Inc manages billions of dollars per year in premiums and claim payments. For more information, please visit www.oneinc.com. About National Indemnity Company (NICO) Located in the heart of downtown Omaha, Nebraska, and backed by decades of experience, National Indemnity Company specializes in commercial auto and general liability insurance. We are proud to be part of the Berkshire Hathaway group of insurance companies, boasting the highest possible financial strength rating of A++XV by A.M. Best.* We are Berkshire Hathaway’s oldest insurance company and established our roots in Omaha more than 80 years ago with the strength, stability, and integrity which remain today. *As of February 3, 2023. For the latest rating, access www.ambest.com.

Read More

Core Insurance, Risk Management

Annex Risk Selects Socotra Connected Core for Streamlined Policy Administration, Setting a New Standard in High Risk Homeowners Insurance

Businesswire | July 28, 2023

Socotra, the leading provider of modern, cloud-based solutions for technology-driven insurers, today announced that high-risk homeowners provider Annex Risk is processing business with Socotra. Annex Risk has successfully implemented the true cloud-native insurance policy core platform, Socotra Connected Core, and is now live, offering a digitally-forward approach to close critical coverage gaps in coastal Texas, Florida, and the Eastern Seaboard. Annex Risk’s innovative platform combines algorithmic underwriting and capacity, empowering retail agents to quote and bind high-risk homeowners insurance in less than 2 minutes. “Technology is core to our business, not an enabler - we needed the most modern, continuously improving policy administration system we could find. No-code/low-code platforms were less compelling to us than Socotra’s flexible, API-centric solution,” said Annex Risk Co-Founder Charlie Sido. "Socotra's API-driven platform allows us to configure the entire policy lifecycle natively, while also seamlessly integrating with external solutions for payments, e-signatures and inspections. This flexibility ensures our ability to adapt and scale as the business evolves, while also providing a foundation for future innovation.” Socotra's cloud-based architecture allows Annex Risk to eliminate significant operational overhead and leverage Socotra's ongoing investments in the platform. This partnership has expedited Annex Risk’s market entry, enabling them to sell their complex product in four states within six months. As a technology startup, Annex appreciates the capital-efficient and self-sufficient nature of Socotra's implementation, allowing them to maintain control and agility while minimizing reliance on third-party consultants. "We are thrilled to have Annex Risk join our ecosystem of innovative insurance providers," said Dan Woods, CEO of Socotra. "By leveraging Socotra Connected Core, Annex Risk can offer their retail partners a streamlined and digitized experience that sets them apart in the market. Additionally, Socotra's modern underpinnings will future-proof Annex Risk's investment as they continue to grow and evolve their business." Socotra offers a game-changing alternative to legacy underwriting systems that rely on emails, PDFs and proprietary tools, resulting in quote times that could stretch into days. With Socotra's powerful capabilities, Annex Risk can deliver an instant quote and bind experience, aligning with retail insurance agents’ expectations and setting a new standard in the industry. About Annex Annex is a leading provider of homeowners insurance for properties with significant natural catastrophe exposure. Through its partnership with over two thousand retail agents, Annex focuses on closing critical coverage gaps in coastal areas from Texas up the Eastern Seaboard. Annex's sophisticated algorithmic underwriting and capacity enable retail agents to quote and bind high-risk homeowners insurance in less than 2 minutes. With a technology-driven approach, Annex leverages innovative solutions to deliver an exceptional customer experience. About Socotra Socotra provides insurance companies with the flexible modern core platform and ecosystem they need to adapt, innovate, and grow their business. By leveraging solutions such as Socotra CorePlus and Socotra Connected Core, insurers can streamline policy administration, enhance digital experiences, and deliver products to market faster. Socotra provides open APIs, a product-agnostic data model, and out-of-the-box capabilities to manage the entire policy lifecycle, making insurance innovation faster, easier, and more affordable.

Read More

Compliance

NEXT Insurance Revolutionizes Agent Experience with Fully Customizable Coverage for Small Businesses

PR Newswire | September 21, 2023

NEXT Insurance, a leading digital small business insurer, today announced a differentiated new offering that will enable agents to fully customize coverage quotes to better meet the needs of their small business clients. NEXT's Coverage Builder represents a fundamental leap in allowing agents the ability to micro-tailor small business quotes for their clients, all while maintaining NEXT's superior instant bind capabilities. Coverage Builder is fast, easy to use, and tailored exclusively to agents pre-purchase, equipping them with the tools they need to select the appropriate limits and fully control the coverage they're quoting. With Coverage Builder, agents can select their base policy limits, add or remove coverage or update limits post-purchase, all while benefiting from the convenience of instant underwriting and price updates. This saves agents valuable time and money, allowing them to make changes automatically without the need to pick up the phone and connect directly with an underwriter. NEXT's Coverage Builder offering furthers the company's commitment to its agents by providing a user-friendly and accessible digital quoting experience, 100% online. Coverage Builder is also available to all NEXT customers post-purchase, allowing small business owners to tailor their policies with immediate price updates and seamless policy management. "NEXT's Coverage Builder feature is 100% hassle-free," said Cody L Slocum Lammers, Commercial Lines Agent & Broker at Affordable Insurance Solutions. "This new feature sets NEXT Insurance to a new level, above its competitors, as this allows agents the flexibility to customize policies to fit the needs of each individual small business. It's user-friendly and simple to understand- this is truly a game changer for NEXT Insurance agents!" "Agents are the go-to insurance experts and know exactly the unique types of coverage small business owners need - that's why we're offering them the opportunity to customize policies for their clients instead of standardized coverage packages," said Jack Ramsey, Vice President of Agent Business at NEXT Insurance. "Now, with NEXT's Coverage Builder, we are empowering agents to instantly quote and easily customize and bind policies that will best serve their customers. As a result, small business owners will gain the peace of mind that they're only paying for the coverage they need to protect their business and livelihood." NEXT's Coverage Builder offering comes on the heels of the company's launch of commercial umbrella/excess liability coverage to support small businesses in their entrepreneurial journey. The digital small business insurer also recently announced its integration with Ivans Download™ for General Liability and Workers' Compensation policies and its strategic hire of Jack Ramsey as the company's Vice President of Agent Business. These developments are further evidence of NEXT's commitment to agents and dedication to providing them with a smoother, more intuitive insurance purchasing process for small business clients. If you're interested in working with an insurance agent through NEXT Insurance, visit our website to find an expert to help you get the right coverage at the best price. About NEXT Insurance NEXT Insurance is transforming small business insurance with simple, digital, affordable and tailored coverage. Trusted by over 480,000 business owners, NEXT offers policies that are easy to buy and provides 24/7 access to Live Certificates of Insurance, additional insured, and more. Revolutionizing a historically complicated insurance industry, NEXT utilizes AI and machine learning to simplify the purchasing process and provide more affordable coverage. Founded in 2016, the company is headquartered in Palo Alto, has received a total of $881 million in venture capital funding, is rated "A- Excellent" by AM Best and has been recognized by CNBC Disruptor 50, Forbes Fintech 50, Inc.'s Best-Led Companies, and Forbes Best StartUp Employers. For more information, visit NEXTInsurance.com. Stay up to date on the latest with NEXT on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and our blog.

Read More