Munich Re partners with Plug and Play
German reinsurance company Munich Re has announced that it has entered into an insurtech partnership with Silicon Valley-based startup accelerator Plug and Play. Through the partnership, Munich Re will engage in collaborative practices with up-and-coming insurtech startups in China.
Plug and Play Insurtech effectively acts as an intermediary between emerging startups and established corporate entities, facilitating partnerships where a new offering could potentially complement an insurer’s established service provision. Any startups that are accepted into this new programme will receive funding from Plug and Play Ventures and be granted access to Munich Re’s resources.
“We have successfully collaborated with Plug and Play through our innovation lab in Silicon Valley and this new agreement extends our efforts to cultivate innovation in the insurance industry in China,” commented Tobias Farny, Munich Re’s Chief Executive for the Asia Pacific, Greater China, Australia and New Zealand regions. “It comes at an exciting time when China has truly established itself as a technology leader in a number of areas such as e-payments, artificial intelligence, robotics and machine learning, all of which are having a significant impact on the future of the insurance industry.”
Willis Towers Watson and MSIG Insurance have also recently announced expanded partnerships with Plug and Play. Earlier this year, the accelerator announced the inaugural 16 startups that it had selected to join its ‘Insurtech Europe powered by Plug and Play’ scheme, including Bleenco, Digital Fineprint, FairFleet, LexaTexer, omni:us, RightIndem, Slice and Xapix.
“Plug and Play has been working with startups for 12 years and is active in over 20 locations globally,” said Saeed Amidi, Founder and CEO of Plug and Play. “Our goal is to match startups to corporations based on their interests to create mutually beneficial partnerships that embody the Plug and Play spirit of open innovation. We are excited to introduce these companies into our ecosystem in Munich and help them grow.”