The accelerator is slated to end its three-year run after the current Spring 2020 competition
Hartford Insurtech Hub, a three-month accelerator program launched to lure new talent and insurtech enterprises to the capital of insurance, has announced that it will cease operations at the end of this year. According to an April 29, 2020 article in the Hartford Business Journal, the program’s third cohort, happening now during Spring 2020, will likely be the last. The accelerator, begun in 2017, is powered by London-based Startupbootcamp, a global network of industry-focused start-up accelerators. In addition to its support from the City of Hartford, the program also boasts an array of partners including Travelers, Locke Lord, The Hartford, USAA, White Mountain, Conning among others.
While the initial plan was for a three-year period, the accelerator’s managing director, Dawn LeBlanc noted that a proposal to extend the program beyond the initial contract period had been submitted. The insurers who fund the program, however, decided not to continue the program for the foreseeable future due to the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 public health crisis. This year’s cohorts, for example, were all required to leave Hartford and return to their local cities in order to continue the accelerator program virtually. Originally, the 11 start-ups selected for the program had moved to Hartford for the six-week program.
In a subsequent HBJ article in on the difficulties of start-up accelerator programs in the age of Coronavirus, it noted the shift to online and remote working and collaboration could fundamentally shift how many accelerators will operate in the long term.
