Astorya.io, which aims to serve as the search engine for Insurance and Banking technologies, has published a blog post, titled InsurTech Europe: 10 Years Of InsurTech In Europe Analyzed Through 800+ Startups (based on data from astorya.io).
While discussing how InsurTech startups are gaining considerable ground across Europe, the blog post notes that insurance tech firms are “moving the lines in the insurance world.” This, according to the study performed by astorya.io for L’Argus. These startups have played a key role in the transformation of the sector which is expected to expand further.
As noted in the blog post:
“Unrecognized five years ago, InsurTech startups seem to have found their place in the insurance industry, despite pockets of resistance. A recent study by research firm Juniper thus underlines that globally they already account for 5% of the turnover of the entire market, a rate that is set to double over the next four years. But this groundswell covers distinct trends.”
The blog adds that the US and China have witnessed the rise of a relatively large number of online or digital insurance providers “oriented B to C (business to consumer), the size and regulation of local markets allowing it.” The post further notes that this may be “an approach that is less suited to Europe, even if Alan or Luko are showing [solid] growth.”
For example, Maif announced last year that it had managed to acquire 66,000 new clients “across all of its products.” Meanwhile, Luko, on home insurance alone, “won nearly 100,000” customers — according to Florian Graillot, founder astorya.vc, an InsurTech fund.
The post further noted that “beyond these exceptions, the world of European InsurTech has experienced certain structural and historical trends, which astorya.io (database on InsurTech and FinTech, created by the founders of astorya.vc) analyzes in a study for L’Argus.”
The Astorya team added:
“First observation: the European InsurTech ecosystem has entered a phase of maturity for two years, as shown by the significant decrease in the number of newcomers. And for good reason: in France, Alan, Luko and Shift Technology have monopolized new financing, as has pet insurance specialist Bought by Many in the UK, or even, in Germany, players such as Coya and WeFox. For several years now, these three countries alone have grouped together three-quarters of the continent’s InsurTech startups.”
The report pointed out that another key highlight is “the positioning of these newcomers in the insurance value chain.” It also mentions that in this regard, the astorya.io study emphasizes one important point: “the preponderance of these InsurTech startups in the individual insurance segment, mainly car and home, to a lesser extent health.”
The blog post added that P&C insurance products are “simple, therefore standardized, and have low margins … For traditional insurers, they are primarily starter products. ” It also noted that to gain a foothold, InsurTech startups must “rethink its distribution” — according to Florian Graillot.
The blog post continued:
“Although there have been a number of failures in this segment, the founder of astorya.vc believes the market is far from saturated and new start-ups may appear: E-commerce is estimated to account for 30% of total commerce, almost 50% if outside of the food market. Where are we in insurance? Comparators represent 10% of the market … In short, if insurance follows other sectors of the economy, there is still plenty of room for these new digital native players.”