State Auto Innovation Unit: $25M; 5 Insurtechs; 18 Months

State Auto Labs, the innovation arm of the State Automobile Mutual Insurance Co., says in the 18 months after launching its $25 million corporate venture fund to support entrepreneurs and innovations in the insurance industry, it has invested in five insurtech startups and ushered into operation more than 15 new insurance industry-targeted technologies.

State Auto Labs has partnered with investor startup studio, Rev1 Ventures, State Auto Labs in its effort to identify, adopt, and invest in new insurance technologies and methodologies.

To date, the fund has invested in: Flyreel, (artificial intelligence for property insurance); Snapsheet, (virtual claims); Matterport, (3D capture technology and data); Authentic Inc., (medical claims efficiencies) and Cape Analytics, (property data for insurers and reinsurers).

As part of this initiative, State Auto works directly with startups to provide rapid feedback on whether a technology solution may be a fit with internal operations. When there is a fit, State Auto moves forward toward a full operational partnership as efficiently and quickly as possible.

All portfolio companies are in a working relationship with State Auto’s core business.

State Auto Labs continues to focus on partnering and investing with startups addressing four key areas:

• Technologies that connect, collect, and communicate with people, vehicles, offices, and homes (i.e., Internet of Things and wearables),
• Data-driven innovations that improve analytics and decision-making (i.e., machine learning and artificial intelligence),
• Technologies that help the independent agent run their business, and
• Operational solutions that seek to anticipate the changing needs of insurance customers and agents, while also tapping into excellence with internal operations.

State Auto Labs Corp. is a wholly owned subsidiary of State Automobile Mutual Insurance Co.

Source: State Auto

Topics Auto InsurTech Tech