How much investors have sunk into insurtech

Insurtechs like one Canadian startup in particular are letting brokers provide better service, but the sector as a whole contains some money pits for investors, Willis Towers Watson suggested in a report released Wednesday. But nearly US$17 billion has been invested into insurtech in the past seven years – US$1.5 billion in the third quarter of 2019 alone, reports Willis Towers Watson. “There is a very large sinkhole somewhere,” said Willis Towers Watson. “Who can honestly say that we have seen at least US$16.8 billion worth of value created?” But one example of an insurtech that does create value is Kitchener, Ont.-based ProNavigator –  one of three insurtechs highlighted in the report. Joseph D’Souza founded ProNavigator in 2016 after he was placed on hold by his insurance provider company for more than 90 minutes after calling with what he thought was a simple question. ProNavigator uses artificial intelligence to do natural language processing. It is touted as a way for users get answers – both through chat and by phone – without using industry jargon, on underwriting, product or billing.