As part of the 2016 Entrepreneurial Insurance Symposium held Sept. 7-8 in Dallas, companies were invited to submit their ideas for innovative insurance products to a competition modeled after the ABC television show, "Shark Tank."
The six finalists were given 10 minutes to pitch their ideas, products and business plans to the Entrepreneurial Insurance Alliance judges' panel and the more than 300 C-level insurance executives, private equity and other insurance professionals attending the symposium.
EIA advisory board members Barbara Bufkin, executive vice president for business development forHamilton USA; Steve England, president and CEO of Global Risks; Richard Kerr, founder, CEO and chairman of MarketScout; and Matthew Power, executive vice president and head of strategic development at Lexington Insurance Co., served as the judges for the competition, moderated by Hank Watkins, president of Lloyd's North America.
One thing was immediately clear to all attendees: Innovation and creativity are alive and well in the insurance industry. The six products were all designed to meet a need for insurance professionals and their clients, using currently available technology. The winner would be named 2016 EIA Entrepreneur of the Year, which would qualify the company for investment capital, media exposure and affirmation of their concept by the best and brightest in the industry.
The packed room included representatives from major insurance carriers as well as other companies looking for "the next big thing" in insurance technology.
Here is a look at the five finalists and the winner.
6. Escape the Wolf
Clint Emerson, a retired U.S. Navy SEAL, and Mark Van Beest, formerly a special agent with the U.S. Marines, founded Escape the Wolf, a company that focuses on workplace violence prevention and response, terrorism identification and crisis management. In the words of the founders: "We help employees evolve from efficient sheep to alert sheepdogs able to detect and elude wolves."
Escape the Wolf provides customized crisis management program design, policy and procedure development and workforce education, but the item that caught the audience's attention is the company's Zero Trace products. They are a tailored line of travel accessories designed to increase travel and data security, and the line includes a cellphone pouch as well as a travel bag pouch for a laptop, RFID passport and the traveler's other digital devices. The pouches block signals from electronic devices making them undetectable to hackers. U.S. government employees use the pouches daily, the founders said.
General consensus from the audience? "I want one!"
5. Enspiri Solutions
Enspiri Solutions provides a software program designed for workers' compensation nurse triage.
The software combines medical guidelines, a report distribution platform and a database of approximatelyl 12,000 medical facilities that reat workers' comp cases, the founders said.
The company also said it provides nurses and related services to companies entering the nurse triage industry. This allows insurance companies to offer triage services around the clock without having to staff during off-peak hours or weekends.
The company was founded by Paul Binsfeld and Steve Schmutz. Binsfeld, president of Enspiri Solutions, is also the founder and president of Company Nurse LLC, which provides medical triage and injury management for workers' compensation. Schmutz, vice president of business development for Enspiri, was also the founder and CEO of Claimwire LLC and MountainView Software Corp., both software companies in the workers' compensation industry.
4. Cortaga
Cortaga was built to provide light duty fleets with a way to monitor and correct drivers' safety habits in order to reduce auto accidents and insurance-related costs, the founders said.
It's a mobile application that is installed on an employee's phone or tablet, and it monitors distracted driving, speeding, braking and acceleration, as well as providing accident detection with claim reporting. Planned upgrades include a dashcam and detection of hard swerving or cornering.
It was designed for ease of use by management and has reports built for underwriters to see the progress of an employee's driver safety and overall driver safety for the company. It also includes such features as real time GPS, geo fencing, and breadcrumb trails.
Cortaga's executive team includes Bobby Shuey, CEO; Tommy Shuey, director of finance and operations; Perry Holman, Ph.D., director of product development and technology; and Brian Williams, MIS, director of technology.
3. Livegenic
Livegenic is a cloud-based real-time video platform designed to help insurance organizations reduce claims handling costs and improve customer satisfaction, co-founder and CEO Alex Polyakov said.
The mobile-based technology lets claims professionals to see what the customer sees to help with first notice of loss, underwriting, field operations, supplemental claims, and other workflows without disconnecting from the calling customer, he said. In addition, the company provides field-loss documentation to help insurancers receive, handle and collaborate using the content of audio visual documentation.
Polyakov said has more than 15 years' experience developing software, leading development teams and creating enterprise software in many industries, including IT, government, insurance, pharmaceuticals and talent management. Olek Shestakov, co-founder and president, describes himself as "a serial entrepreneur and a vivid technologist." His background includes more than 17 years of experience in leading and managing lean technology organizations and numerous innovative initiatives.
2. Risk Genie
Risk Genie is a web-based risk management platform geared toward small businesses and entrepreneurs.
It generates a personalized risk management plan tailored for the business's risk needs. The platform has 10 risk categories — including property, liability and employee risk, for example — with multiple subcategories that businesses would review to create plans for their companies or specific departments within those companies.
Pratik Padooru is the founder of the company, which is still in its infancy and without a website. He holds an M.S. in predictive analytics from Northwestern University and a B.A. in behavioral economics from Rutgers University.
1. Surete
The winner of the innovation competition was Surete, an app and device combination developed by SmartDrive, to keep drivers safe by eliminating distractions such as texting, email or surfing social media while driving. The app can also dramatically reduce the underwriting risk insurance companies take on when insuring drivers and can help lower the number of claims filed significantly, according to Mitch Fonseca, Surete's co-founder.
To use Surete — which is targeted to the parents of teen drivers — an owner would install the Surete device in a vehicle, download the app and start adding users to an account. As a driver approaches the car, Surete will automatically sync to the smart phone and disable the distractions so the driver can pay attention on the road. If the phone doesn't sync to the device, the car won't start, ensuring the driver can't bypass the app. Parents can log into the online portal and control the functionality of the phone and access advanced features.
The device is available for individual users or on a family plan for consumers. Pricing is available for fleets and insurance companies, as well.
The company was founded by Fonseca and Jorge Amaro-Mustelier.
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