Global investments in the insurtech sector have reached a new quarterly high of $2. 55 billion during the first quarter of 2021, media reports said. Funds raised during the period have increased by 180 percent when compared to the first quarter of 2020, according to the new Quarterly Insurtech Briefing from Willis Towers Watson. We must also note that funding in the first quarter of 2020 suffered a dip due to the uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the period, the global insurtech sector witnessed eight ‘mega funding rounds’ in which around $1.13 funding was raised. The largest funding rounds were concluded by Next Insurance, Coalition, Zego, Sidecar Health, Pie Insurance, Clarify Health, Corvus Insurance Agency, and TypTap.
Andrew Johnston, global head of insurtech at Willis Re told the media, “The record level of activity this quarter reflects our industry’s ever more widespread willingness to engage and adopt technology, which continues to grow at an unprecedented rate. Technological innovation gains ground only when a community emerges to support it, and Covid-19, more than any other factor, has rapidly accelerated the change that was already well underway. Covid-19 has helped strengthen the narrative, and demonstrably illustrate the results technology can deliver, which are now being achieved at scale.
“That said, the solutions offered by insurtechs must make intellectual and commercial sense to their target users, whether they’re insurers, brokers, or insurance buyers. For them, the technology itself is the least interesting part of the initiatives. Unfortunately, a failure to understand these realities, in addition to the general difficulty of entering our industry as a nascent business, means that many insurtechs will most likely never achieve the grandeur of their aspirations.”