The Global Insurance Accelerator (GIA), a Des Moines, Iowa-based mentor-driven business accelerator focused on fostering innovation in the insurance industry, is thrilled to announce the ninth cohort will begin on January 11, 2023, with seven InsurTech companies joining the accelerator’s annual 100-day hybrid program.

Each year, we look to find a cohort that not only has great ideas but those who are able to solve real problems and find opportunities in the Insurance industry.  This year’s cohort is made up of companies who are looking to solve some of the industry’s real challenges and problems including: leveraging data (both new and existing) to improve underwriting, creating deeper connections between science and insurance, ease chronic pain and helping insurers to better understand, connect, and partner with their current customers.

Dan Israel, Managing Director, GIA said “Our continued focus on providing founders with the ability to participate in a hybrid program – spending time both in Des Moines as well as returning home (globally this year), has allowed us to attract founders who are primed to change the industry.  As we build our team with new staff and expertise, I am excited to see how much progress this group will make over the next 100-days – and beyond!”

The GIA’s 2023 cohort members include:

• Amelio Health uses smart analytics-driven insights from a learning management system, wearable data, and live health coaching to drive better outcomes for those on claim with chronic pain.
• Informedic is building a web application that will extract all of the relevant information from medical records and make a preliminary decision as to whether or not the underwriter should accept the applicant.
• Invive is an AI-driven startup that uses the science of aging to help life insurers improve the accuracy of their underwriting and strengthen their customer engagement.
• Lightship Neuroscience is helping auto insurers create safer roadways for drivers of today and tomorrow with its new class of neuroscience-based analytics predictive of brain performance while driving.
• ReBLDing is a multimarket solution for homeowners, contractors & insurance companies that creates trust, transparency & timing thereby eliminating the gap where the problems happen & the costs rise.
• ReFocus AI is a machine learning platform that pinpoints which policyholders are most likely to leave at their expiration date with 90% accuracy up to six months before the renewal date.
• SOFT EDGE is offering solutions for quick and precise automatic hail damage detection and precise measuring of damage area using AI and ML on mobile devices.

 Each year, through a robust selection committee made up of the GIA’s 10 prominent insurer investors and two outside board directors, the program invites a select group of early-stage InsurTech startups to join the equity-based accelerator. The seven startups will each receive mentorship from insurance executives and professionals from all lines of business, along with a $50,000 investment and housing for the in-person portions of the program. Since the program began in 2015, the GIA has invested over $2.7 million across 58 startups to advance the InsurTech industry.

“Innovation for the insurance industry continues to be at the forefront of thinking for the investor companies of the Global Insurance Accelerator,” said Dave Wingert, EVP and COO of Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company (Grinnell Mutual) and board chair for the GIA. “It’s as important, or even more so, now as when the GIA started with our first cohort ten years ago. We are excited to learn more about the ideas the start-ups have and how we can partner with them to help accelerate their progress in one hundred days.”

The GIA will conclude the 2023 program with final presentations during the Global Insurance Symposium on April 19, 2023.