Latest Startups Headlines

All the headlines from our Startups Topic Page, ordered by recency.

What Insurers Want and Get from Insurtech Partnerships

Nov 29 2018 // Remember the scene in the 1989 movie When Harry Met Sally? During lunch with Harry at a deli, Sally very publicly fakes a wild orgasm. A nearby patron, when asked what she’d like to order, signals in Sally’s...

China’s Ping An Invests $47M in German Fintech Incubator Finleap

Nov 19 2018 // Ping An Insurance Group Co., China’s biggest insurer by market value, led investors in injecting 41.5 million euros ($47 million) into Germany’s Finleap GmbH in its latest round of funding.The Chinese...

The Rise of Risktech: How Startups Are Saving Lives and Property in Construction

Nov 19 2018 // Construction has a major problem: every year, construction sites suffer $11 billion in losses due to damage from fire and water, worker accidents, and theft. In addition, a fifth of all worker deaths in the U.S. –...

Winning, Sharing, Trusting, Failing, Losing: 10 Insuretech Connect Takeaways

Nov 5 2018 // Pulling together some loose threads from October’s Insuretech Connect Conference, here are 10 takeaways: Innovation Rap. “I actually feel the industry gets a bad rap in terms of innovation,” Dan Glaser,...

Insurtech Partnerships: What Insurers Want and Get

Oct 15 2018 // Remember the scene in the 1989 movie When Harry Met Sally? During lunch with Harry at a deli, Sally very publicly fakes a wild orgasm. A nearby patron, when asked what she’d like to order, signals in Sally’s...

Insurtech Pilots and Pivots: Learning by Doing and Undoing

Oct 15 2018 // “If you can’t admit a failure, you’re not an entrepreneur. You are not a good business person. There’s nothing brilliant about what you are doing.” –Mark CubanInsurtechs are great for...

Berlin Insurtech Startup Simplesurance Sets Sights on U.S. for Future Expansion

Oct 12 2018 // Simplesurance founder and CEO Robin von Hein sat down last year with Insurance Journal’s sister publication, Carrier Management, to discuss the company’s strategy.Based on the edge of Berlin’s trendy...

UK Self-Driving Startup Oxbotica Appoints Former Uber Executive to Board

Oct 10 2018 // Oxbotica, a U.K. startup whose self-driving vehicle software will help guide the European Space Agency’s Mars rover, has appointed former Uber executive Fraser Robinson to its board.Robinson served as the...

It’s Not Easy to Teach Robot Drivers to Think Like Humans

Oct 9 2018 // Robot cars make for annoying drivers.Relative to human motorists, the driverless vehicles now undergoing testing on public roads are overly cautious, maddeningly slow, and prone to abrupt halts or bizarre paralysis caused...

Assurant Invests in Connected Car Services Startup

Sep 20 2018 // Niche market specialty insurer Assurant has invested in a technology startup focused on connected car services.The New York-based company declined to disclose the level of investment in Mojio, a technology platform and...

GC Genesis, Guy Carpenter’s Insurer-Insurtech Matchmaker, Aims to Prevent Bad Relationships

Sep 11 2018 // Insurtech is often touted as the cure that will solve the insurance industry’s inefficient and antiquated processes – from distribution, to underwriting, to claims. While many insurers want to investigate the...

Comcast Executive Joins Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan Health Startup as COO

Sep 7 2018 // The newly formed healthcare venture of Amazon.com Inc, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Tuesday hired Jack Stoddard as chief operating officer.Stoddard was previously general manager for digital...

Zurich Insurance Begins Competition to Find Cutting-Edge InsurTech Startups

Aug 31 2018 // Zurich Insurance Group believes a competition will help it find cutting-edge startups and entrepreneurs with whom to collaborate in the insurtech space.The Swiss insurer launched what it is calling the Zurich Innovation...

Startup’s Newest Employee Benefit, Stem Cell Storage, Could Last Forever

Aug 28 2018 // As MyCrypto mulled what benefits to offer employees, the new blockchain startup asked them what they wanted. “Surprisingly, we found that the traditional health benefits and 401(k) benefits—they had no interest in...

Startup Root Raises $100 Million, Prepares to Go National

Aug 23 2018 // Root Insurance raised a $100 million financing round in a bid to fuel market expansion and hiring as the auto insurance startup with its telematics-based platform goes national.Tiger Global Management led the Series D...

Embroker Launches Direct-to-Customer Online D&O Policy for Startups

Aug 8 2018 // Embroker, a digital commercial insurance brokerage, has launched a fully digital directors and officers (D&O) insurance policy, specifically designed for venture capital (VC) backed tech startups.The D&O policy is...

Mortgage Startup Blend Labs Enters Homeowners Market With MetLife

Aug 6 2018 // Blend Labs Inc., a startup that first became known by helping big banks make it easier for homebuyers to get a mortgage online, is branching out into a new industry: insurance.The San Francisco-based company is launching...

Nationwide Invests in Online Business Financing Startup BlueVine

Jul 31 2018 // Nationwide said it is making a new venture-capital investment in BlueVine, a provider of online working capital financing for small- and medium-sized businesses.The BlueVine announcement is part of Nationwide’s...

Canadian Insurer Backs Autonomous Car Startup in Florida Retirement Community

Jul 26 2018 // There’s a village in Florida where self-driving cars rule the road, and a Canadian insurance firm wants to come along for the ride.Toronto-based Intact Financial Corp. is investing $3 million in startup Voyage as the...

Interest in Crypto Insurance Grows, Despite High Premiums, Broad Exclusions

Jul 23 2018 // In the staid and buttoned-up world of insurance underwriting, few want to talk about it. You won’t find many ads promoting it or details on company websites offering it.But according to industry insiders,...