work, so that we make decisions faster and accept the possibil- Corporate venture arms ity of failure,” says Mikael Toke Hvolgaard of Tryg. “You can’t Many large insurers looking to take an active role in InsurTech approach start-ups with a traditional corporate mindset.” are choosing to set up corporate venture arms through which Accelerators such as Startupbootcamp provide a vehicle they invest in start-ups at arms-length from the established for bringing together these very different organisations, in an business. This reflects an increasing realisation that the dif- environment that helps to align their different expectations ficulty of integrating a start-up into the culture and working and ways of working. This may be the ideal way for partner- practices of a large corporate organisation has often lead to ships to begin, as partners and programme participants work a loss of the value the acquirer hoped to gain. together on new ideas and use cases. Large insurers have already committed over $1 billion of investment into InsurTech start-ups with the list of insurers Acquisitions setting up their own venture capital arms, which already in- Some incumbents’ strategy is to identify what they expect to cludes Allianz, Axa, Aviva, XL Catlin and AIG, growing each be the winning challengers, or the start-ups offering the best- year. fit solutions for their own businesses, and then to acquire them. This has been a more popular approach in the past Digital innovation labs and internal innovation initiatives than today, though several Startupbootcamp partners contin- Some insurers are seeking to bring innovation within their ue to work this way. Acquisition may mean outright purchase businesses by setting up their own internal innovation labs, or taking an equity stake in the business. providing them with in-house digital and design capabilities. Examples include IAG’s Digital Labs, Axa Lab, Allianz’s Digi- tal accelerator and ManuLife’s LOFT (Lab of Forward Think- ing). Some 80% of Startupbootcamp’s corporate partners are forming internal innovation initiatives as part of their strate- gy for engaging with InsurTech. 29