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Iowa Insurance Industry Offers Tech Startups Seed Funding and Ready Customers

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Iowa Insurance Industry Offers Tech Startups Seed Funding and Ready Customers

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December 30, 2014
By Peter Bernstein
Senior Editor

For those of us in the United States, we are familiar with Hartford, CT being the admittedly self-proclaimed “Insurance Capital of the World.”  However, move over Hartford, Des Moines, Iowa has aspirations for the title. In fact, for those who may be interested the application deadline is approaching fast for the first class of technology entrepreneurs in the Global Insurance Accelerator, which offers seed funding, mentoring from insurance industry professionals and a conduit to potential insurance industry clients worldwide.


An initiative of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, the Global Insurance Accelerator offers tech startups selected for the program the chance to gain an inside track in an industry many may not have considered a natural market.

"Startup and early-growth companies often need help getting a foothold at the enterprise level," Global Insurance Accelerator Managing Director Brian Hemesath, said. "The accelerator offers seed funding, mentoring and C-level introductions for activities such as product development, marketing and sales, as well as broad categories for scaling technology, raising capital and legal matters.

"The goal of the business accelerator is to accelerate growth. It is an entity that invites people with solutions and products to receive mentoring and fast-track their growth. The unique twist on our accelerator is that it is focused on companies that are, or can be, serving the insurance industry," Hemesath said.

As the sponsors point out, the Greater Des Moines area is a hotbed for insurance company activity, and the city hosts the annual Global Insurance Symposium. It is why the placement of the accelerator is so opportune.  For those unfamiliar with The Symposium, it brings together hundreds of international insurance industry leaders and technology as a means to improve back office operations and customer facing business processes is always a priority of the gathering.

You have to be in it to win it

Entrepreneurs and startup companies interested in being in the first Global Insurance Accelerator class should apply online now to beat the Jan. 15, 2015 deadline. The six winning concepts will receive $40,000 of seed funding in exchange for an equity share in their companies. Concept teams will be mentored by insurance industry professionals for the next 100 days, culminating when the teams will demonstrate their products at the 2nd Annual Global Insurance Symposium in Des Moines, May 26-28, 2015.

The sponsors note that areas of immediate interest to the Global Insurance Accelerator include security, fraud, performance analysis, data harvesting, mobile and self-service apps, risk management, reporting, actuarial, quoting and documentation. Indeed, the scope of interest demonstrates the breadth of activities where technology can enable what many in the insurance industry now believe is a sense of urgency for insurers to innovate in order to survive and prosper.

"Insurance is a global industry that is ready for new technology-driven solutions and products to help it be more efficient, and we're excited to see what comes of our first class of companies," Hemesath added. It certainly will be interesting, and one can expect other cities with heavy concentrations of vertical market vendors to initiate similar initiatives. 




Edited by Maurice Nagle

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