Cambridge-based Insurify wins the 2016 ACORD Startup Disruptor Award
Online insurance start-up, Insurify, was presented with the 2016 ACORD Insurance Innovation Challenge Startup Disruptor Award. The ACORD Insurance Innovation Challenge is the first “…insurance-specific innovation competition that spotlights technology to transform the way we think about insurance.”
A competition/business incubator hybrid that focuses on technology, operations and process improvements for insurers, the competition celebrates and promotes those companies creating sustainable innovation and improvements to the insurance industry.
This year’s ACORD awards were presented during the 2016 ACORD Conference held in Boca Raton from November 1-4th. Beating out four other finalists in its category, Insurify won for its work in creating the first virtual insurance agent using artificial intelligence coupled with natural language processing. The other finalists include smart battery start-up Roost, Domotz an app for connected homes, the smart driving company Sitata and the company Concordata.
“Insurify has adopted the ACORD standards and vision at every level of product innovation and development,” said Founder and CEO Snejina Zacharia. “The award is a testament for our efforts to make the insurance value chain much more efficient by leveraging our advance RateRank™ algorithms and providing a single view to the customers across the value chain.”
An MIT Spin-out launched in early 2016, the company was created with the goal of simplifying the online insurance shopping experience. It has planned to achieve this by creating a mobile-first platform, Insurify powered by advanced analytics that are continuously optimizing a consumer’s experience to create a higher user value and hence conversion rate. As a result, an average quote using the Insurify platform can be completed in a mere two minutes.
Since its official launch, the company has grown exponentially over the past year to become the largest insurance marketplace in the U.S. Its profitability has grown with an average 42% increase in closed policies month over month.
“There more than 250M insured vehicles in the USA and 75% of the insured are searching for insurance online with 65% reporting they will switch if they had an easy way to compare and buy. The mobile searches for car insurance has grown 4.5 times for the last 4 years. Insurify is filling the existing gap of comparison shopping tools by bringing the top carriers across all 50 states under one roof,” says Insurify Founder and CEO, Snejina Zacharia.
Westborough-based Veruna also wins an award at the ACORD 2016 Challenge
In addition to officially launching earlier this month, Veruna, also made a splash at this year’s ACORD2016 by winning the event’s annual Global Innovation Challenge. The company, based in Westborough, was founded in 2015 by three insurance-based companies: etfile, NexGen Consultants, and Eisenhart Consulting Group.
In addition to winning this year’s challenge, the company was also a recipient of a 2016 ACORD Leadership Award recognizing those in the insurance industry going “above and beyond in guiding the insurance industry toward greater clarity in the sharing of insurance data.”
In commenting on the company awards, President Jonathan Lincoln said, “We are beyond excited to win the ACORD Global Innovation Challenge. Winning this award validates all the hard work our team has put into Veruna over the past 18 months. We have known for a long time that what we are working towards has the potential to innovate a section of the insurance industry that has been stale for a long time. Having ACORD chosen industry experts agreeing is a big deal.”
