Instech London Podcast

How can technology and culture drive successful insurance transformation? Aventum is blending innovation and ambition to transform its insurance operations into a tech-enabled powerhouse. Robin Merttens speaks with Hasani Jess, CTO at Aventum Group, about the company's growth, their approach to technology, and the cultural foundation enabling change. With over 650 employees and a tech team of more than 100, Aventum is building solutions to empower brokers, underwriters, and operational teams alike. Key Talking Points: Scaling from 450 to 650 employees while evolving technology and processes. Building an integrated platform to unify data and streamline business functions. Developing bespoke engineering solutions for competitive advantage. Adopting best-of-breed tools to complement in-house technology development. Leveraging AI to triage submissions and extract insights from unstructured data. Operating a dedicated Innovation Lab to explore future-focused technologies. Connecting brokers and underwriters with

You may have heard that Floodbase and Amwins partnered earlier this year, and are combining satellite data and parametric insurance to tackle flood risk, a peril often underinsured or uninsured altogether. Matthew Grant speaks with Emmalina, who leads Public Sector Partnerships at Floodbase, and Alex, Executive Vice President for Alternative Risk at Amwins, about their work insuring golf courses, municipalities and more. The discussion highlights how advancements in satellite technology and data-driven insights are bridging gaps in traditional flood insurance, providing faster, more flexible coverage for both private and public sectors. Key Talking Points: Learn how Floodbase uses satellite data to track and monitor flood risks. Understand the limitations of traditional flood insurance coverage. Explore how parametric insurance provides flexibility and fast payouts. See how municipalities can use parametric payouts to cover tax revenue losses and community recovery. Examine how historical flood data shapes

How can insurers, brokers, and risk managers better understand and adapt to the growing impacts of climate change on catastrophe risks? Reask is tackling this challenge by leveraging climate science and technology to enhance traditional catastrophe modeling and provide actionable insights for the insurance industry. Matthew Grant speaks with Jamie, Reask’s CEO, and Ian, Principle Quantitative Engineer, to discuss how their innovative models integrate global climate signals and provide more accurate assessments of hurricane risks, enabling the industry to manage dynamic and long-term challenges. Key Talking Points: Discover how Reask enhances traditional catastrophe models with physics-based climate insights. The distinction between natural climate variability and human-caused change Why globally connected models help insurers see correlations across regions and diversify portfolios. How Reask validates data through transparency and peer-review methodologies. Understand how flexible tools provide actionable

This week on the InsTech Podcast, Robin Merttens speaks with Martin Olley, Head of North America and APAC for AdvantageGo, and Laurence Trigwell, Head of Strategy and Chief Revenue Officer at Insurants, about how technology is transforming the commercial insurance and reinsurance landscape. Martin and Laurence explore how their respective platforms are addressing key challenges in the industry, from intelligent document processing to streamlining underwriting and policy administration. They discuss the demand for innovation, the role of AI in improving efficiency and how their recent partnership is creating seamless solutions for insurers through an integrated ecosystem. Key talking points: The shift from exploration to execution: Insurers are moving beyond AI experimentation to apply practical, value-adding solutions. Intelligent document processing: Unlocking valuable data from submissions, loss runs and slips to streamline risk operations. Ecosystem partnerships: How collaborations like AdvantageGo and In

From our highly successful webinar last month sponsored by Fathom, we bring to you everything you need to know about models in a bitesize podcast.  Flood models play a critical role in helping insurers, brokers and risk managers assess flood risk, but their inherent uncertainties make effective use challenging. Matthew Grant leads a discussion with Dr. Oliver Wing, Chief Scientific Officer at Fathom, along with Caroline Fox from Guy Carpenter, Stefan Wunderlich from Swiss Re Corporate Solutions and Tom Philp, a flood risk consultant from Maximum Information. Together, they explore how flood models can be tailored to support underwriting decisions, portfolio management and risk selection. Oliver highlights the importance of understanding model uncertainty, while Caroline and Stefan share practical insights on using flood maps effectively, validating outputs and collaborating with model vendors to create actionable insights. Tom provides guidance on defining use cases to evaluate and implement models more effec

Jonathan Gonzalez, CEO & Co-founder of Raincoat, takes the reins as guest host to explore one of the most pressing challenges in insurance: the disaster insurance gap. Jonathan speaks with Carolyn Kousky from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), about the rising economic losses from climate disasters and the need for more inclusive and innovative insurance solutions. Carolyn discusses her extensive research on climate risk management and disaster recovery, while also introducing her nonprofit initiative, ‘Insurance for Good’, which aims to bring together policymakers, insurers and community leaders to create practical solutions.  Jonathan and Carolyn dive deep into how parametric insurance, policy innovation and collaboration can redefine resilience in a world of escalating climate risk. Key talking points: The scale of the disaster insurance gap: two-thirds of global disaster losses remain uninsured How parametric insurance tailors solutions to underserved communities and specific disaster needs Afford

How can parametric insurance transform risk management in an unpredictable world? Munich Re, a leader in reinsurance, is paving the way for innovative parametric solutions addressing weather-related and natural catastrophe risks. Robin Merttens is joined by René Mück, Global Head of Parametric NatCat, and Marcel-Steffen Reif, Global Head of Weather Agricultural Risks, to explore how Munich Re’s data-driven insurance products help corporates, public sector entities and industries navigate complex and evolving risks. A key focus of the conversation is understanding the growing demand for parametric insurance, its role in bridging protection gaps and how Munich Re is developing solutions for emerging risks like green energy and agriculture. Key talking points: What does the Capital Partners unit at Munich Re do? How parametric insurance addresses gaps in traditional coverage. Revenue smoothing for industries like renewable energy and agriculture. Client use cases – from supply chain disruptions to hurricane prot

How can impartial valuations drive transparency and trust in insurance? Kroll’s platform provides property valuations through data-driven insights that benefit insurers, brokers and property owners alike. Matthew Grant sits down with Kiran Aulakh, Kroll's VP of Fixed Asset Advisory, to explore how Kroll’s platform combines technology and real-time data to assess underinsurance and overinsurance risks across vast property portfolios.  Kiran shares her insights on the value of green valuations, and the importance of impartial assessments, which Kroll provides through both an API and a standalone platform for seamless integration into clients' ecosystems. Key talking points: The role of impartial valuations in improving insurer-client trust How Kroll’s platform combines technology with in-person expertise Reducing claims friction by accurately assessing property insurance needs Using valuation data to better negotiate policy terms for clients Kroll’s partnership with WTW and global insurers to streamline valuati

How do you shed light on ‘dark shipping activity’? S&P Global Market Intelligence aims to support insurers throughout the entire insurance value chain by providing critical data and insights. Matthew Grant is joined by George Devereese, who monitors and tracks shipping around the world to screen them against various forms of liabilities. This data is passed onto markets such as the insurance world, to build a better and fuller picture for the insurance contract.  A key aspect of this process involves identifying and understanding the risks associated with illicit or ‘dark’ shipping activities. Key talking points include: How are the analytics provided helping insurers? Why all navigation is a timestamp. What is AIS and how can it help an insurer understand a ship’s history? Understanding a ship’s risk - from tracking to insurance contracts Driving frigates and hunting pirates - George’s time in the Navy On becoming ‘dark’ - are there exemptions to turning off AIS? Collaborating with Concirrus  Cross polli

Ben Turner joked that he’d “be a rich man for every pound [he] had somebody asking” what Salesforce has to offer the insurance world.  Robin Merttens is joined this week by Ben Turner and Tom Swire at Salesforce, who touch on their journey to joining the company, the trouble with legacy systems and the exciting prospects for the future including an agency management system to be launched in 2025. If you enjoyed this conversation and would like to hear more, our October evening event hosted in collaboration with Salesforce and Azur Technology was recorded. The videos will be available on our website soon. Key talking points include: On working as an underwriter or in insurance market standards to joining Salesforce - the journey Salesforce’s place in insurance The importance of the workbench Case studies from the front line - N2G and Crux Underwriting The Salesforce approach to AI - creating your own bot Looking ahead to the future - all the exciting launches A match made in heaven - working with ecosystems an

Determined to write delegated business better, Ben Laidlaw joined Nick Tye and Jacqui Ferrier to found Carbon Underwriting.  Carbon Underwriting is a Lloyd’s Syndicate MGU that provides shareable underwriting conclusions on its Graphene administration system. The company has matured since its conception in 2018, and Ben discusses navigating ‘Decile 10’ to gaining approval for Carbon’s second syndicate earlier this year, which will exclusively underwrite US business.  Key talking points: The story behind the creation of Carbon Underwriting and growth in the Lloyd’s market The thinking behind the second syndicate US business - why enter a competitive market?  Smart syndication  Graphene - who built it and what’s so good about it?  Plans for the rest of this year and 2025 On being Private Equity owned and waxing lyrical If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world ever

Fadata’s CEO, Liselotte Munk, returns to the InsTech podcast with Robin Merttens to discuss the company’s recent developments, including its expansion to APAC and South America.  Discover in this episode the intricacies of running a policy admin system provider, where Liselotte thinks the market is heading to next and the challenges with entering new regions. Key talking points include: The market’s maturity and the problems this may pose. Running a business when policy admin system changes are rare  Working around compliance  Working with a new generation of tech-savy insurers Culture shocks upon entering new markets Navigating a highly competitive marketing with key players Using AI in Fadata Ecosystems versus agnostic systems provider - which is best? If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning. Continuing Professional Development This In

According to Mike Hobday, CEO of Insurants, the company is “a bit like being the Google Translator of the commercial insurance market”. Insurants is developed by Antworks in collaboration with Marsh McLennan to help commercial insurance companies manage and process their documents. This week, Matthew caught up with Mike, who previously having spent 12 years at IBM, witnessed early AI automation with the likes of Watson, through which he fell in love with document processing. At Insurants, Mike is bridging the language barrier (so to speak) between data that flows between brokers and carriers. Key talking points include:  The importance of summarisation - courtesy of the InsTech AI bot intern Falling in love with document processing - Mike’s career journey What is the current problem with document processing in insurance The Periodic Table Insurants accuracy - working with Marsh Commonality between insurance and the left side of the brain Moving business back to the UK Vital advice for small carriers and broke

This week we are combining youthful enthusiasm with sage wisdom on the podcast, as Robin Merttens speaks to InsurX’s CEO, Gilbert Harrap and Chairman, Michael Watson. InsurX is a platform that enables insurers and brokers to undertake portfolio underwriting, automated contract binding, algorithmic underwriting and instant risk matching. Touching on the importance of driving digitisation in the London Market, Michael also shares highlights from his distinguished career, with a focus on his success at Canopius and his reasons for joining InsurX.  An important episode for all those interested in digital trading, algorithmic underwriting and the future of the London Market. Key talking points include: The Hot Topic - digital trading solutions and an introduction to  Never close to being at the “end” of a career - looking back at career achievements Wise owls and youthful enthusiasm - the perfect pairing? Plans for fundraising  Development in the London Market - where are we at? The tension between centralised inf

According to Yann Barbarroux, Co-founder and CEO of Otonomi, “every year is like starting a new company”. It has been a year since we last caught up with Otonomi, and Matthew reconnects with Yann to discuss how parametric insurance helps mitigate supply chain risks, particularly in situations where traditional insurance falls short. Key topics include: Addressing pain points in maritime freight and global trade Developing and refining parametric insurance products Real-world case studies demonstrating Otonomi’s solutions Strategies for managing accumulation risk Yann’s expertise in risk management and its influence on Otonomi’s approach Expansion of the air cargo market and new maritime product offerings Growing awareness and adoption of parametric insurance Leveraging AI to scale and enhance business operations Otonomi’s global expansion plans and future funding strategies If you are interested to learn more about parametric insurance and non-damage business interruption, read our report here. If you like w

At InsTech, we love featuring founders who took matters into their own hands to solve the problems they encountered. This episode shines a spotlight on one such entrepreneur who did just that. In the insurance industry, manually cleaning data remains a costly and time-consuming challenge. To explore this issue, Matthew Grant sits down with Nicola Turner, CEO and Co-founder of Scrub AI. Scrub AI is a platform that automates repetitive data cleaning tasks—a solution born from Nicola's own experience as an underwriter struggling with inefficient processes. Key talking points include: Nicola’s journey from underwriter to ‘accidental’ entrepreneur How identifying a persistent problem led to a solution The challenges and successes of raising funding for a tech start-up Why data management remains such a significant issue in the insurance sector The role of AI, machine learning, and technology in transforming data processes Insights on working with co-founders and finding the right partners Balancing the demands of

Next month, Martin Reith will mark 40 years in the London Market. As he approaches this significant milestone, we sat down with him to discuss his journey into the industry, his most notable achievements, his decision to become Chairman of Artificial Labs, and his thoughts on the challenges of modernising the London Market. We also explored his strong advocacy for algorithms and the advice he has for the next generation of industry leaders. Key talking points: Starting 40 years ago Founding Ascot Underwriting and receiving backing from AIG  What has gone well in the Lloyd’s Market and what can be improved? Is there a good time to invest in technology Smart Follow - a term often misunderstood The world of algorithms Martin’s advice for anyone thinking about entering the Marketplace The London Market - it works on people If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world e

What does it take to build a company like Guidewire or attract investor interest? This week, Matthew Grant talks with Marcus Ryu, Co-founder and Chairman of Guidewire, and Partner at Battery Ventures. Marcus, one of Guidewire's five founders, shares his experiences from starting the company in 2002 and the lessons he learned along the way. In this episode, Marcus discusses his shift from leading Guidewire to investing through a multi-stage technology investment firm. The conversation covers topics relevant to those interested in the insurance industry, current trends in insurance technology, and practical advice for entrepreneurs and investors alike. Key talking points include: Graduate school and finishing at the beginning of the dot-com era What ingredients are necessary to found a successful company?  Startups are insurgents The first sale cycle - what is ‘wandering in the desert’? Why you need recklessness to start a company The Guidewire story and staying agile in 2024 From founder to investor - joining

Have you ever built your own solution to a problem? Quotech, founded by Guillaume Bonnissent, provides technology for commercial underwriters and brokers. Its integrated solutions cover data ingestion and extraction, pricing, distribution, policy administration and claims. Matthew Grant caught up with Quotech’s CEO and founder to touch on his underwriting past and how it has helped build a company, the issues with Excel spreadsheets and targeting specific insurance lines to produce tailored products. Key talking points include: From underwriter to entrepreneur - the journey Producing innovative solutions for underwriters  Targeting specific insurance lines - can you really do everything if you can do marine? The importance of user experience Transitioning from coding to leadership Investors and future prospects If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn. Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wedn

This week Matthew and Robin are pointing the microphones at each other and back for our popular "Partners' Chat" as they review the world around us. Find out what is making Robin happy this month - almost 10 years after the term Insurtech was coined are established insurers now finally embracing innovation and technology? What can we learn from the start of the hurricane season and do investors share our enthusiasm for the role that start-ups and scale-ups can play in really changing insurance for the good in 2025. Key talking points: Robin on becoming a grandfather Robin’s article on the positive aspects of the industry Alignment of interest between technology and insurance in the US Reflecting back on InsTech’s events in New York Hurricane season and the companies to look out for Is parametric insurance a potential solution to volatile risk? 2024 and funding The rise of partnerships and ecosystems and Smart Follow Wine tasting and looking into what InsTech has in store for 2025   If you like what you’re he