ITC Latam: Miami was the epicenter of the insurtech ecosystem

Miami was the epicenter of the insurtech, VC, brokers and insurers ecosystem, with launches, pitches and the topics of the future

Insurmarket Latam was present at ITC Latam, the first Latin edition of InsureTech Connect. In this note, a tour of what were the two main days of the meeting held at the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach, with all the news, winners and trends that are on the agenda of the innovators of the Latin American insurance market.

May 11, 2023

SPECIAL ENVENTS.- A few days have passed since the conclusion of the ITC Latam, the Latin scale that for the first time holds the largest insurance meeting in the world, the InsureTech Connect, which is based in Las Vegas and continues its globalization in Europe and Asia.

The Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach was the meeting place for more than 850 executives from Latin America, mainly (in addition to the United States, Canada and Europe, among others). After Monday the 24th with pre-conferences (see note), including a large welcome cocktail that was held indoors given the stormy weather, the event took place formally on Tuesday April 25th and 26th/23rd.

A full Tuesday

The first day started very early, with welcoming words from Drake Slaikeu-Lawhead, head of ITC Latam, thanking the delegations from the more than 35 countries present.

The MCs (Masters of Ceremony) called to lead the event, Argentines Hernán Fernández and Leonardo Redolfi, from 100% SEGURO, announced the main aspects to make the most of the event, generate connections and use the app to generate meetings, schedule talks and meet the attendees present.

Leonardo Redolfi and Hernán Fernández, summoned to be the hosts of the international event.

And there the talks began, first with Marcos Gunn, VP of Chubb for Latin America, and Mike Packer, partner at QED Investors, showing one of the main spirits of the ITC: generating alliances and connections between carriers and VCs.

They know very well the Chilean Eduardo della Maggiora, CEO and founder of Betterfly, who was the next speaker. Chubb has generated a strategic alliance throughout Latam and QED has invested heavily in three series in this insurtech, Latam's first social unicorn, valued at more than 1 billion dollars.

One of the novelties launched at the event was precisely between Chubb and Betterfly, with an innovative, disruptive product, in which you pay only when an accident occurs. It is added to those already developed by this prominent insurtech, such as dynamic insurance, which increases its coverage with good habits and other solutions with 100% digital access, “with a single click” and that do not require prior medical examinations.

What is the new proposal about? It is a solution that has the particularity that it is not paid from the moment the validity begins, but only at the time of use and includes coverage against medical expenses due to accidents, hospitalizations, catastrophic events (cancer, myocardial infarctions and heart attacks). brain), accidental disability, natural and accidental death. With this solution, companies are part of a risk pool, where in the event that accidents occur, the cost charged by Betterfly is divided by all the companies that are part of the community with a payment proportional to the total number of their employees. who are entitled to the benefit, plus an administration fee. In addition, 10% of the fee will be allocated to social donations, as is the case with other products offered by Betterfly.

Eduardo della Maggiora from Betterfly, along with Marcos Gunn from Chubb.

“This new product is inspired by the community origin of insurance and seeks to continue democratizing access to financial protection, taking into account that less than 3% of Latin American SMEs offer life or health insurance to their workers and only 30 % gives them some type of wellness program,” said della Maggiora.

After the opening plenary sessions, the Expo Hall was opened, with nearly a hundred operators present, stands, a drinks bar, coffee spaces, meeting points for meetings, and the “Innovation Stage”, a stage where products and services were presented. services (for example, from Latin insurtech companies such as 180Seguro, Jooycar, InMotion or Shift Tecnologies). And as a star, the Lloyds Lab pitch competition at Lloyd's of London.

It was a long pitch, with finalists from different countries in Latam, which had a winner at the end of the day: Loro Insurtech. It is an online platform that connects insurers, MGAs and brokers, open source, easy to use and without the need for an initial investment.

All this occurred while talks were given with panels in parallel on two different tracks, with the most varied topics that make up the present and future of the sector: new distribution channels and embedded insurance (see note), telematics, the growth of bancassurance. , the vision of investors regarding what they are looking for in insurtech, life and health.

Good closing day

Wednesday, April 26, was another full day. It started with the Expo Hall open early, with places to have breakfast and begin the endless meetings that took place from start to finish.

At a content level, the offer was once again rich and broad. It began on the main stage with a talk by Hugues Bertin, CEO of Digital Insurance Latam and partner at HCS Capital, about the new stage of insurtech and how they are beginning to be interested in “putting society at the center of the value proposition, something that the young generations are increasingly considering, who are the ones who are managing the startups and, ultimately, are the new consumers.” Sustainability as a new business model and being a class B company, with a social purpose, as a differentiator of tomorrow, were some of the axes of his presentation.

On this day, there was a large presence of women, with a panel with insurtech entrepreneurs (see note), with an increasingly important specific weight. Renata Oliver, co-founder and Business VP of BMG Seguros, was the winner of the Wi! Awards.

Renata Oliver, from BMG Seguros, winner of the Wi! Awards.

There were many panels that took place simultaneously in both tracks, and they continued talking about everything: the growing role of embedded insurance, omnichannel for insurance distribution, the strong automation of processes, the role of intelligence artificial, the possibilities generated by the GPT Chat, the revolution of conversational channels, the complementarity between technology and professional advice in an era of digital brokerage, and the advantages of full stack insurance (100% digital) versus traditional incumbents.

In the "Innovation Stage" - as in the previous day - innovative solutions of all kinds were presented, among others, from Claims Services, Clupp, Betterfly, and Blitz.

On the other hand, the so-called “Pacific Insurtech Alliance” was launched, made up of the insurtech chambers of Mexico, Chile and Colombia, seeking to implement a series of axes for their development and mutual empowerment.

Caribou Honig is the chairman and co-founder of InsureTech Connect, businessman, entrepreneur, influencer, doer, investor... and he closed with his view and projections for the next 12 months and next 5 years, with a disruptive view of the insurance business, with agile methodologies, without being the "heavyweights" that they were and where everything cost time and money, with a vision aligned to the dynamic needs of clients.

An ITC Latam that concluded at night with a closing meeting, Havanna Night, in a more relaxed way, to be able to finish the relationship and deepen ties in an informal and fun way. A meeting that all those present valued, needed, and have the expectation that it is here to stay. Although a second edition is not confirmed, the truth is that at ITC Vegas (October 31 to November 2/23) it will have a 100% Latin chapter for the first time, within the framework of a mega event in which more are expected. of 9,000 attendees from all over the world.