UK insurtech investment jumps to $1bn in 2018, declines globally

Insurtech investments in the UK jumped nearly 20 percent in 2018 whilst the overall global investment levels declined year-on-year by almost half, according to a KPMG report.

UK-based insurtechs secured more than $1 billion of investment activity through 2018, up from $792 million in 2017.

However, the overall global investment saw a sharp decline, standing at $5.7 billion for 2018. The decline was despite thirteen $100m+ insurtech deals taking place globally.

“Clearly, the UK has a thriving insurtech sector. We are seeing the market mature as fewer, but bigger, deals take place," said Simon Ranger, head of insurance at KPMG UK.

"In line with overall fintech investment activity, insurtech was fuelled by the first half of the year with investment nosediving in H2. Between July and December 2018, just $63m of investment activity took place, versus $406m during the same period in 2017. Whether this is a trend that will continue remains to be seen,” Ranger added.

Ranger expects the trend to continue with insurance companies increasingly deploying advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance their claims and other internal functions.

He said: “Claims management and the unbundling of services and processes were magnets for investment through 2018, and I expect that to continue. Exciting technologies like AI and Machine Learning are going to redefine insurance, but it will be almost impossible to see their full potential until firms have dealt with the basics - their data and legacy systems - and that for most, is still a work in progress.”

Will Pritchett, head of insurtech, KPMG Global, added: “Whilst globally there has been a sharp drop in insurtech investment since 2017; $6 billion is still easily the third-highest annual total ever.

“Looking to the year ahead, Asia is poised to see substantial growth in insurtech investment, in part driven by US and Europe-based traditional insurers looking to use Asia to test alternative insurance offerings. Compared to the US and Europe, Asia is seen to have relatively low barriers to entry, a high population base and fairly light regulations — making it highly conducive for testing innovative options. The UK is positioning itself well as our government and regulators continue to build fintech bridges with Asia, to help reduce regulatory barriers and support growth in a post-Brexit world.”