It's been a week since I wrote something for this blog. I've been shifting house and all that entails- what a performance. I've also managed to put out one press release, on a new data company in New Zealand that focuses on insurance. The release is attached with a few bits added, such as the exciting times had by the executives in Las Vegas.
Press Release
Vallum on road to international expansion
26 March 2018, New Zealand New Zealand InsurTech start-up, Vallum, was one of 25 international early-stage businesses chosen to pitch at the Global InsurTech Roadshow, which was held in Frankfurt, Germany earlier this month.
The prestigious Goethe Business School organised the event in cooperation with InsurTech Asia.
Vallum received excellent feedback from its pitch.
Co-founder and CEO, Kai Dwyer, a fluent German speaker, represented Vallum at the event. It was also an opportunity to form partnerships with leading companies in the sector such as Munich Re and to progress Vallum’s international development.
“Demonstrating Vallum’s improved distribution model and unique customer journey at Global InsurTech provided a great opportunity to develop new business partnerships”, says Dwyer, who is a 30-year insurance industry veteran. “Contacts made at events of this calibre have the potential to accelerate the company’s planned expansion into offshore markets,” he says.
“Frankfurt was a fantastic opportunity to validate our digital platform solution in front of an audience well aware of the problems facing the global insurance industry”, says Vallum’s co-founder and Head of Strategy, Ben Northrop.
Dwyer adds: “The team has put a lot of time and smarts into improving the end-to-end customer journey. We are equally happy with the the gains in efficiencies and new insights for our insurer partners.”
“Our early goals were to help improve policy accuracy and reduce the risk of fraud. Through a mixture of design, digital and data, we have achieved these,” he says. “These improvements are essential if insurers are going to be able to invest in and manage new services and changes in traditional models.”
Vallum has developed a faster, easier, data rich and pure digital way to match people with policies and explain them in plain English.The process is also efficient and transparent.
“An efficient and transparent model for delivering insurance will provide a relevant and convenient user experience and enhance customers’ understanding of their risk exposures,” says Northrop.
The solution means that the efficiency gains achieved across the value chain are available to customers and will support the reinvestment of any savings achieved into closing these protection gaps.
This “protection gap” puts communities at risk of business failure if a loss happens.
“SMEs are frequently underinsured due to a poor understanding of risks. The costs for insurers to underwrite and sell cover to SME’s in a traditional linear distribution model are excessively high. That’s why Vallum’s solution works so well,” explains Northrop.
The new business partners, Dwyer and Northrop, are aligned in their views on the problems and ideal solutions for insurance supply. “The industry doesn’t need disrupting,” says Northrop. “It’s been operational and generally paying out on claims for thousands of years. It just needs a bit of modernising. A digital makeover of sorts.”
Prior to co-founding Vallum, Dwyer was in charge of the New Zealand division of global Insurance giant, Zurich. Over the last 20 years Northrop has founded, and managed several online and digital businesses. Most recently he exited Run The Red, an enterperise messaging company, to mobile payments company Pushpay (NZX:PPH), based in the US.
The winner of the pitch competition (https:nect.com) is from Germany and provides a secure, compliant site over which all customers can make payments to insurance companies
More information:
The last time Dwyer and Northrop travelled offshore for business was late September 2017 when they went to Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The plan was to spend three days at Caesars Palaceattending the world’s largest “InsurTech” conference and to launch Vallum.
Having been in Vegas for only 15 minutes, Northrop was soon to bare witness to the worst mass shooting in US history.
Referring to the night of the Mandalay Bay shootings, “It was a terrifying and surreal experience,” said Dwyer,
“Ben was right there as it happened, driving past Mandalay Bay when the first survivors were fleeing the carnage. He actually heard the last rounds being fired “.
Consequently, the pair received more media interest than they could have imagined but not for the intended reason.
With Northrop staying home, overseeing upcoming channel partner projects developing Vallum’s digital collateral and hiring new staff, Dwyer is hopeful for a less eventful trip this time.
About Vallum:
Vallum is a digital company that focuses on the insurance market. It is a customer-centric, forward-thinking, trustworthy, data-focused company that employs the most up-to-date technology.
Vallum uses the latest in data science, both mobile and web technologies to make decisions. This means that the customer is able to get the best insurance protection at the best price.
Vallum has a local support team who are available 24x7.
Go to www.vallum.insure
New Zealand InsurTech start-up, Vallum, is one of 25 international early-stage businesses chosen to pitch at the Global InsurTech Roadshow, held in Frankfurt, Germany, from March 13-14.
The start-ups participated in pitch-sessions and discussion rounds and compete for the Goethe InsurTech Award to be handed out at a networking dinner on day one.
The prestigious Goethe Business School organised the event in cooperation with InsurTech Asia.
With the tagline “Intelligent Insurance”, Vallum intends to impress the awards panel, and make its mark on the USD 4 trillion global insurance industry.
Co-founder and CEO, Kai Dwyer will be representing Vallum at the event. He is also a fluent German speaker.
“Demonstrating Vallum’s improved distribution model and unique customer journey at Global InsurTech provides great opportunities to develop new business partnerships”, says Dwyer, who is a 30-year insurance industry veteran. “Contacts made at events of this calibre have the potential to accelerate the company’s planned expansion into offshore markets,” he says.
“Frankfurt is a fantastic opportunity to validate our digital platform solution in front of an audience well aware of the problems facing the global insurance industry”, says Vallum’s co-founder and Head of Strategy, Ben Northrop.
Dwyer adds: “The team has put a lot of time and smarts into improving the end-to-end customer journey. We are equally happy with the the gains in efficiencies and new insights for our insurer partners.”
“Our early goals were to help improve policy accuracy and reduce the risk of fraud. Through a mixture of design, digital and data, we have achieved these,” he says. “These improvements are essential if insurers are going to be able to invest in and manage new services and changes in traditional models.”
Vallum has developed a faster, easier, data rich and pure digital way to match people with policies and explain them in plain English.The process is also efficient and transparent.
“An efficient and transparent model for delivering insurance will provide a relevant and convenient user experience and enhance customers’ understanding of their risk exposures,” says Northrop.
The solution means that the efficiency gains achieved across the value chain are available to customers and will support the reinvestment of any savings achieved into closing these protection gaps.
This “protection gap” puts communities at risk of business failure if a loss happens.
“SMEs are frequently underinsured due to a poor understanding of risks. The costs for insurers to underwrite and sell cover to SME’s in a traditional linear distribution model are excessively high. That’s why Vallum’s solution works so well,” explains Northrop.
The new business partners, Dwyer and Northrop, are aligned in their views on the problems and ideal solutions for insurance supply. “The industry doesn’t need disrupting,” says Northrop. “It’s been operational and generally paying out on claims for thousands of years. It just needs a bit of modernising. A digital makeover of sorts.”
The last time Dwyer and Northrop travelled offshore for business was late September 2017 when they went to Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The plan was to spend three days at Caesars Palace attending the world’s largest “InsurTech” conference and to launch Vallum.
Having been in Vegas for only 15 minutes, Northrop was soon to bare witness to the worst mass shooting in US history.
Referring to the night of the Mandalay Bay shootings, “It was a terrifying and surreal experience,” said Dwyer,
“Ben was right there as it happened, driving past Mandalay Bay when the first survivors were fleeing the carnage. He actually heard the last rounds being fired “.
Consequently, the pair received more media interest than they could have imagined but not for the intended reason.
With Northrop staying home, overseeing upcoming channel partner and hiring new staff, Dwyer is hopeful for a less eventful trip this time.
Prior to co-founding Vallum, Dwyer was in charge of the New Zealand division of global Insurance giant, Zurich. Over the last 20 years Northrop has founded, and managed several online and digital businesses. Most recently he exited Run The Red, an enterperise messaging company, to mobile payments company Pushpay (NZX:PPH), based in the US.