MUNICH, Jan. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On January 23, 2019, 14 insurtech startups pitched during Insurtech Europe's Batch One Winter EXPO held at Plug and Play Munich's Event Center. The audience consisted of over 200 members of their insurtech ecosystem including corporations, investors, and startups from China, Israel, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Insurtech Europe EXPO is the culmination of the three-month program and features a dynamic morning of pitches from startups, where founders share their unique solutions and major milestones reached since joining the accelerator program. Amongst others, one success story was shared by Vlot, who announced today that they were able to negotiate four pilot projects in the last three months, two of them facilitated through Plug and Play. Vlot won the People's Choice Award for this year's Winter EXPO in Munich.

Keynote speakers at the event included Dr. Arndt Pechstein, founder of phi360 and Biomimicry Germany, and Dr. Christoph Wetzel, Member of the board HDI Deutschland AG (HDI Germany) and CEO for Operations and Claims P/C (Property/Casualty), who shared their viewpoints on corporate innovation and collaboration within the insurance space. "Hybrid thinking in the sense of collaboration and co-creation is the future! We must change from measuring our IQ to WeQ and design the future together. Tradition is not a business model, which makes it urgent to change our way of thinking, how we innovate, and our entire culture," said Dr. Arndt Pechstein.

Plug and Play also handed out awards for the most innovative members of the ecosystem. Versicherungskammer Bayern (VKB) was presented the Corporate Innovation Award due to their engagement and dedication collaborating with startups alongside the Batch One. "Through our partnership with Plug and Play, we have been able to analyze over 50 startups in detail, evaluating concrete business models and cooperation opportunities. This has led to a number of joint workshops with startups, where both sides benefited from the knowledge and experience of the other," said Johannes Wagner, Leiter Startup Cooperation of Versicherungskammer Bayern.

Made official through a signing ceremony the day of the event, Plug and Play Insurtech announced the commencement of their partnership with Generali Germany, part of the international Generali Group, which is the largest retail insurer in Europe. Giovanni Liverani, CEO of Generali Deutschland AG, said, "Generali is a pioneer in the insurance industry in the development and application of intelligent technologies. By working together with Plug and Play, we are opening up new opportunities to strengthen our innovation leadership." Together with Generali, the platform "Insurtech Europe powered by Plug and Play" expands their network to a total of nine partners committed to driving transformational innovation in the insurance industry.

"We look forward to the start of our Batch Two in Munich. Our platform welcomes a deeper involvement from regional insurers during our next program and aims to build a more favorable environment to assist in the sharing of ideas and technological solutions with the startups," says Xenia Poppe, Head of Programs for Plug and Play Insurtech.

About Plug and Play Insurtech
Established in 2016, Plug and Play Insurtech is one of Plug and Play's largest industry-specific programs. Alongside its headquarters in Silicon Valley, this platform runs programs in five global locations including Beijing, Munich, New York, Singapore, and Tokyo. The program currently has over 70 corporate participants including Farmers Insurance, Allianz, Nationwide, SOMPO Digital Lab, and Travelers, and has worked with hundreds of international insurtech startups to date.
For more information, visit http://plugandplaytechcenter.com/insurance/.
Plug and Play Insurtech Contact: insurtech-munich@pnptc.com

About InsurTech Hub Munich
InsurTech Hub Munich is one out of twelve digital hubs initiated by the German Federal Ministry of Economy, in cooperation with insurtech startups, corporate partners, investors and research institutions, all based in Munich. Our goal is to determine the future of the insurance sector by providing a platform for the everyday exchange between all important current and future players, building meaningful partnerships across industries and enabling alternative ideas and business models.
For more information, visit https://www.insurtech-munich.com/.
InsurTech Hub Munich Contact: hello@insurtech-munich.com

SOURCE Plug and Play

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