MAPFRE unveils startup accelerator
Insurer MAPFRE has officially unveiled its new insurtech startup accelerator, insur_space. Based in Madrid, Spain, insur_space has been developed with the intention of masterminding innovative new tech-based insurance solutions for all different client types, which will then be incorporated into MAPFRE’s existing business.
Part of MAPFRE Open Innovation, the insurer’s innovation platform that launched early this year, the objective, according to Chairman and CEO Antonio Huertas, is ‘to become a global benchmark in innovation in insurtech and to progress towards the new business models and solutions emerging from the digital and technological changes we are witnessing’.
MAPFRE has said that it will allocate over €100 million annually to develop new solutions – on top of the more than €600 million that it is already investing in technology. This level of investment, the company hopes, will position it well to tackle new challenges head-on, as well as improving its overall proposition for clients.
The new accelerator, which is already working with 19 startups, takes a two-pronged approached to startup development – one programme helps new entrepreneurs to get their fledgling business off the ground, while the other helps startups whose proposal is already mature to consolidate their business and move to the next level.
This new initiative, coupled with MAPFRE’s recent announcement that it had become an anchor investor in the Alma Mundi Insurtech Fund, shows that the Spanish insurer is deadly serious about staking out a major position in the insurtech space.