Invest in the US: A European Insurance Venture

The US has attracted billions in assets and funding for its insurance companies, and has the largest customer base in the world – in both life and motor insurance. Insurtechs big and small can be found in every state, for all types of cover.  

Though a meta-ecosystem all on its own, there are many similarities between the US and Europe in the way they approach and deliver insurance. “There is not a marked difference between Europe and America, ” said Ron Rock, the Senior Director of Insurance/Insurtech at homegrown investment organisation, JobsOhio. 

“(With all insurance) the customer has an asset they want to insure, that asset has a certain value, and they’re going to pay a premium on top of it.”

Rock has had a storied career in the insurance and financial services industry, starting in the very core of insurance as a financial analyst for Nationwide Financial, and trying his hand in marketing with Bread Financial. He has since returned to a more “exciting” insurance environment at JobsOhio. 

“My previous job was in fintech [Bread Financial] where we were developing creative payment solutions. I saw that fintech had taken a stronger hold in people’s daily processes whereas Insurtech is more slowly adopted. It is still very young and I know many people want to develop innovative solutions. From my perspective, if you’re a company and you aren’t pursuing some type of insurtech solution, you’re going to be behind. Similar to skipping a training day, your competition will pass you by.”

Insurance is no longer an antiquated arena for straightforward actuarial jobs, the industry has expanded and exploded with the embrace of technology and more concern around the customer and user experience. Looking at Dealroom.io’s scrupulous database on insurtech funding, a record $15.1 billion of VC funding was invested into the industry in 2021, from pre-seed to 250+ mega-rounds. Unsurprisingly, US insurtechs are leading the way, with Devoted Health, Sure, EIS Group and Corvus. 

What is most insightful is the distribution found outside of the coastal kingdoms of Silicon Valley and Tampa Bay. 

Returning to the data collected by Dealroom.io, new unicorns have germinated out of all four corners of the nation. Ohio in particular has developed an ecosystem for insurtechs to thrive. JobsOhio’s extensive catalogue of start-ups boasts the likes of Beam Dental, Branch and Bold Penguin, proving the state to be an ideal test market for insurance. 

Just this June, Branch secured $147 million in a Series C funding round, hiking its valuation to $1.05 billion, proving that Ohio is home to one of the nation’s biggest financial services sectors. 

“If you think about the Midwestern US, it’s a great region to test the market. From a weather-related catastrophe perspective, they are less frequent than on the coasts where you have a higher frequency of hurricanes and wildfires. Loss ratio is a significant factor in starting up an insurance business, said Rock. 

The old notion of the Midwest being stuck in the past, especially with insurance, is long gone due to its investment in technological solutions. When you look at a game plan like this, it’s difficult to find the difference between the way insurance is done in the US,