The initial participants of the new Global Insurance Accelerator arrived in Des Moines in mid-February amid arctic chills, and they have since been immersed in a near-dizzying schedule of back-to-back meetings with potential mentors. 

 

During this first month of engagement, the six startup teams will refine their concepts and receive feedback from experts from multiple areas as they prepare to pitch their solutions to potential partners and investors. 

 

Started last year as an initiative of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, the accelerator is backed financially by seven Central Iowa-based insurance organizations: American Equity Investment Life Insurance Co., Delta Dental of Iowa, Farm Bureau Financial Services, Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company of Iowa, Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co., The IMT Group and Principal Financial Group Inc.

 

Participants in the accelerator will receive seed funding, mentoring and introductions to executives in a program that will culminate in presentations during the Global Insurance Symposium in May.

 

I interviewed several of the teams recently with the goal of providing an early look at some of the leading-edge technology solutions that the startup companies are preparing as they begin the 100-day accelerator process.

 

The accelerator participants I met ranged from two insurance professionals with decades of experience who have identified a market need and are running with it to a young couple with no insurance background who have developed a concept for making an evolving insurance technology tool more consumer-friendly.

 

Central to the process are dozens of mentors from Greater Des Moines companies who have been “speed-dating” with the companies to determine whether they can provide particular expertise to the mix.

 

From one mentor’s perspective, “I think the nice thing about having all the different mentors here is that we all look at how to spin something up differently,” said Dan Shipton, principal of Change.io, a Des Moines-based company that developed an iPad point of sale app for bars and restaurants. “There’s a ton of ways of building something up, so I hope these teams can walk away and say, there are a lot of different ways we can approach this; let’s step back and think about the best way of doing it.”

 

It’s clear from the startups I spoke with that each had already made significant progress – if they were not already poised on the launch pad – before finding out about the Global Insurance Accelerator. As several told me, they viewed the accelerator as an incredibly opportune fit for accelerating the connections they want to make within the insurance industry.

 

Below are links to stories about two of the companies currently in the insurance accelerator:

LifeDB’s goal is to bridge the gap between a life insurance policy and the intended beneficiary. Its software makes it easier and faster to facilitate the payment of a life insurance claim. Continue reading >>>

 

CityMile

CityMile seeks to use mobile technology solutions to bridge the gap between humans, their vehicles and their insurers, saving drivers money and improving safety. Continue reading >>>

 

•  ClinicNote – Ames. ClinicNote is a software platform designed to simplify the relationship between private-practice therapists and insurance companies by eliminating inefficiencies by automatically aggregating therapy session notes to generate required insurance reports and reimbursement claims. Continue reading >>>

 

• Drive Spotter – Omaha. The “Rumble Road” team uses wearable devices, image processing and other patent pending technologies to reduce driver distraction and other risks of interest to the insurance industry. Continue reading >>>

 

• Pablow – Berlin, Germany. Pablow is a next-generation global insurance platform that connects targeted travel insurance to small travel retailers. Continue reading >>>

 

• Tyche – San Jose, Calif. Tyche is using legal, financial and insurance data to build predictive models of legal risk. It plans to help stakeholders in lawsuits understand, manage and value their litigation portfolios.