Insurtech investors worldwide executed the highest number of transactions, the highest number of property/casualty transactions, and the highest volume of Series B and Series C funding rounds during the first three months of 2019, according to figures from Willis Towers Watson.

Q1 2019 deals totalled 85 with a combined value of US$1.42bn, marking the third-straight quarter to deliver more than US$1bn in funding. Deal count increased by 35% over Q4, 2018, although total funding decreased by 11%. Some 54% of deals were outside the US, marking a continuing trend. Deal count in the UK increased by 50%, and in the US by 44%. However, deal count in China fell by 38% this quarter.

Two-thirds of investments were in Seed and Series A rounds, but Q1, 2019 recorded the highest-ever numbers of Series B and C investment rounds, at 12 and 6 respectively (up from 9 and 3 last quarter), as more nascent insurtechs reach adolescence. At 56, the latest quarter saw the greatest number of P&C transactions since this publication began, up 37% from Q4, 2018.

Global head of insurtech at Willis Re, Dr Andrew Johnston, said: “The sheer volume of hopeful insurtech companies and hype is becoming increasingly difficult to rationalize, and one could argue that much of the space is akin to the fable of the emperor’s new clothes. We are seeing, however, that a number of insurtechs are already adding some genuine value to our industry. We remain pragmatic about where in the value chain we believe this can be achieved.

“Our quarterly insurtech reports for 2019 will focus on the four major functional areas of insurance, exploring the activities required to make each work, and how technology could be applied to improve those processes. We continue to believe that success for any insurtech must follow that bottom-up approach, rather than targeting reinvention from the top down.”

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