Top 10 insurtech accelerator programmes 2023

What use is an accelerator, anyway? Turns out, quite some use indeed. These often months-long programmes give early-stage startups valuable insights, knowhow, connections, mentorship and even funding. In a cut-throat environment, that level of support can be the difference between floundering and flourishing.

So, with that in mind, we have rounded up our Top 10 insurtech accelerators.

10. XL Innovate

Launched by European insurance giant AXA, XL Innovate is a venture capital initiative launched in 2015 to invest in “companies that have a strategic focus on developing new capabilities in the insurance sector”. AXA underlines its commitment in the companies it nurtures by taking an equity position in the startups that onboard with XL Innovate. Increasingly, this is being used as a canny strategy by companies keen to secure an edge in a competitive insurance landscape; incumbent insurers can nurture the next generation of insurance innovators while benefiting financially from all or part of the firm, should they hit the lofty heights that all insurtech entrepreneurs dream of. 

9. InsurLab Germany

InsurLab Germany, based in the western city of Cologne, works hand-in-hand with startups and scale-ups to ensure they capitalise on the drive towards digitisation and transformation. There is a captive insurance market on their doorstep; Germany is an affluent Western European nation with over 80m inhabitants, yet insurance penetration hovers around the 6.5% mark – lower than comparable nations like France, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. InsurLab Germany tends to take on around a dozen new entrants every year and has helped around 100 insurtechs so far to date.

8. InsurTech Gateway

Like many of the other inductees in this Top 10, InsurTech Gateway combines a focused incubator programme with a fund for investing in startups – but unlike other programmes on this list, it has a presence in Australia, as well as in Europe. It helps early-stage founders with the design of their insurance product along with underwriting capacity and regulatory considerations. So far, it has helped companies like Bondaval, CoinCover, FloodFlash, ByMiles, and Koala.

7. Tenity

Tenity describes itself as a “global innovation ecosystem and early-stage investor” that backs budding entrepreneurs who have the potential to reshape the finance industry. Previously known as F10, it was launched back in 2015 in Zurich – a hub for insurance innovation – and has since expanded globally with four locations spread across Europe and Asia. It attracts high-profile mentors from a diverse cross-section of technological, financial and regulatory backgrounds – and it has previously been involved in shaping influential insurtechs like CoverGo.

6. InsurTech NY

Based in the Big Apple – which, according to industry database Crunchbase, already has a thriving insurtech scene with 160 insurtech companies headquartered in the city – InsurTech NY is a targeted accelerator that gives founders an equity-free way of making connections, securing investment and growing their proposition in one of the world’s most lucrative insurance marketplaces. Insurtechs that have already gone through its doors include Hepster, Goose Insurance, TrustLayer and Insurmi.

5. Startupbootcamp

As its name suggests, Startupbootcamp whips budding enterprises into shape and gears them up for success in the real world. It has a range of specific accelerator programmes oriented around topics like finance, DeFi, cybersecurity and sustainability. In its time, it has supported 1,600 fintechs across 150 different cohorts to realise more than €5bn’s worth of potential, including more than three-quarters of whom gained funding post-accelerator. Insurtech alumni include Eqlaim, which is helping to reimagine cargo and business interruption insurance.

4. Global Insurance Accelerator

Based in Des Moines, Iowa, Global Insurance Accelerator works with early-stage insurtech startups who are intent on building disruptive products and technologies designed for use in the insurance industry. For nearly a decade, it has been investing and supporting insurtech founders with the goal of fast-tracking their business idea; indeed, it has been instrumental in the development of familiar insurtech brands including Cowbell Cyber, ReFocus, Soft Edge and TripDoctor.

3. Lloyd’s Lab

Launched by one of the world’s oldest insurance marketplaces, Lloyd’s Lab is an insurtech accelerator programme which hopes “to help innovative ideas gain traction and success”. Launched in 2018, it typically takes place across ten weeks, when startups and scale-ups get the chance to develop their concept for the Lloyd's market. One of the main appeals for founders will be the connection with Lloyd’s of London, a prestigious 300-year-old insurance marketplace; the relationship means that Lloyd’s Lab is rich with expert knowledge and access to mentors, who usually work with fairly small cohorts.

2. Plug and Play Insurtech

Plug and Play Tech Center is a prolific accelerator scheme with a stated aim of “catalyse technological advancement” across multiple industries, including insurance. Its insurtech-specific programme, called Plug and Play Insurtech, focuses on nurturing talented startups in some of the most critical insurance verticals – from P&C and General Insurance to Life & Health. It is one of more than 20 different programmes offered by Plug and Play, and takes place between four hub cities: three in Asia, and one in Europe.

1. Y Combinator

Y Combinator is a Silicon Valley startup programme that invests in early-stage businesses, and indeed has already funded around 4,000 startups with a combined present-day valuation in the region of US$600bn since it was conceived in 2005. Often held aloft as the shining standard in incubator and accelerator programmes, Y Combinator is sought after among founders of tech businesses – including fintechs, insurtechs and deeptech outfits. Graduates from the scheme include Newfront Insurance, Cover and Tint – and the programme has helped to launch three new insurtechs this year alone.

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