A Glimpse of the Future of Insurtech

Today’s announcement that Bold Penguin is acquiring RiskGenius marks a milestone in the maturation of the insurtech movement. I’ve known Chris Cheatham, the co-founder and CEO of RiskGenius, for years and have closely followed the developments of what I have often described as my favorite insurtech. So, under embargo, I chatted with Chris to ask him to summarize how he surfed the first wave of insurtech so successfully and where he sees the movement going from here.

The deal feels to me like maturity because it exemplifies how insurtech has moved past some early ideas (e.g., that a Big Tech company like Amazon or Google would invade insurance and lay waste) and some early models (such as peer-to-peer provision of insurance coverage) that have yet to pan out. Instead, the Bold Penguin acquisition of RiskGenius exemplifies what I suspect will be the dominant model for some time: one where a company acquires a smaller firm for a particular skill or technology and incorporates it into the acquirer’s products and services... continue reading >