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Lloyd’s moves ahead on insurtech investment

Posted On: May. 9, 2019 9:35 AM CST

Insurtech investment

Lloyd’s of London on Thursday said it will invest $150,000 in Layr Holdings Inc., a cloud-based commercial insurance platform for small businesses, following a successful trial in its insurtech innovation lab.

The investment comes after Lloyd’s last week unveiled a wide-ranging modernization plan that will see much of its business move online as it looks to cut the costs of doing business in the market.

As part of that plan, Lloyd’s said it was looking to partner with several technology and insurtech companies.

In a statement, Lloyd’s said the investment in Layr would enable it to develop its solution further and that the insurtech firm is exploring potential distribution opportunities with several Lloyd’s syndicates.

Lloyd’s has invested $150,000 as part of a larger pre-seed round that Layr is in the process of closing, a spokesperson confirmed in written response.

Atlanta-based Layr was among the first cohort of insurtechs participating in the Lloyd’s innovation lab where it tested its cloud-based platform that provides faster access for small businesses looking to buy liability insurance, Lloyd’s said in the statement.

The platform uses a proprietary price and appetite prediction engine to match business with “the right policies from the right carrier at the right price” which allows it to provide indications for more lines of coverage across industries in real-time, Lloyd’s said in the statement.

Unlike comparison engines or aggregators, the start-up uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to compare an insurance applicant against clusters of similar small businesses, according to the statement.

In December 2018 six Lloyd’s syndicates subscribed to use an IoT risk management product offered by Denver-based startup Parsyl Inc. that offers crafted risk coverage for sensitive marine cargo shipments, the statement said.

“Lloyd’s Lab provides us with an exceptional environment to test and accelerate the implementation of new technological solutions,” said Lloyd’s CEO John Neal in the statement.