Insurtech Adiona launches showcasing new UBI model
A new UK Motor Insurer Adiona has launched today in London. Adiona is a new technology-driven brand led by a group of global industry figures who are aiming to make changes to fix the ‘broken’ motor insurance market.
Adiona’s Usage-Based Insurance (UBI) model to challenge others
The company has developed a tech-enabled insurance product that leverages data at scale to deliver a revolutionary customer experience and real value. Operating with its own Usage-Based Insurance (UBI) model, Adiona challenges the outdated legacy models used by many industry incumbents where policies are only priced according to factors such as age, income, location, and occupation. Whilst using the traditional factors initially, Adiona’s focus will be different; its UBI model is supported by leading technology to measure and base premium costs on how, where and when customers drive.
Adiona CEO Paul Harvey said: “Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to analyse driving behaviour, and putting this all in the hands of the driver, ensures our customers will be treated fairly and can at last benefit from personalised premiums. Adiona good drivers will not end up paying the penalty caused by insuring more dangerous drivers.”
With its advanced digital platform, Adiona aims to ensure fairer car insurance premiums and also provide a far better consumer experience, based on the consumer’s favourite personal device (their smartphone), from buying a policy to digitally processing a claim in minutes. This platform also enables Adiona to significantly reduce the cost of policy administration and these savings will be passed on to the customers.
Paul added: “We in Adiona have rejected the opportunity to make money from our customers’ misfortune in making a claim. We appreciate that this is a traditional revenue stream but we are determined to change the way policyholders in the UK are treated.”
Adiona founder Paul Harvey is an international business figure with more than 30 years in key leadership roles with Arma Partners, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley in the UK, Europe, and North America. A graduate of Harvard Business School and Georgetown University, Paul also spent six years’ operating directly within the Insurtech sector, serving as Executive Chairman North America for Octo Telematics where he led business development and M&A.
The 18-person team behind Adiona is one of the most diverse and experienced assembled within a start-up company, with a combined 200 years of insurance technology experience between them. The company’s advisory board is comprised of some leading names in the global insurance market including Richard Hutchinson, who will serve as a strategic advisor. Richard has 30 years’ executive-level experience in motor insurance and is a pioneer of data-driven insurance with Progressive’s Snapshot programme.
Penny Searles, one of the UK’s most successful insurance entrepreneurs, is also on Adiona’s advisory board. With 25 years’ experience in the sector, Penny has managed a number of successful exits, including with Wunelli (acquired by LexisNexis, 2014) and Smartdriverclub (acquired by Markerstudy, 2019).
The UK car insurance market
Adiona aims to initially target the UK motor insurance market which covers 32mn cars and is worth over £14bn annually. With technology that is fully scalable, the company plans to pursue longer-term opportunities across global P&C insurance markets where premiums currently amount to US$2trn annually. Global Motor insurance premiums alone amount to over US$780bn annually.
Paul continued: “We are delighted and excited to launch Adiona, a customer-centric, tech-enabled motor insurance product that leverages data at scale to offer revolutionary customer experience, fairness, transparency and real value.
“The motor insurance sector is currently confusing, biased and untrusted by consumers. Instead of making money from the core product itself, because of incumbent models and legacy systems traditional insurers have had no choice but to generate income by selling claims, charging administration fees, add-ons and high-interest rates on premium finance. Worse still, they have practised price laddering for years.
“Adiona is determined to be different. Our innovative technology represents the most scalable Insurtech IoT platform with the most advanced AI/ML analytics ever built by an InsurTech start-up team anywhere. Through an easy-to-use smartphone app, our customers’ motor insurance premiums will very quickly be based on how they actually drive, not who they are as a person, their level of wealth, their age, or where they happen to live,” Paul said.
