The digital insurance market is rapidly growing in South Korea. Insurtech is reshaping the insurance industry thanks to the rise of the sharing economy and the ability to improve operations using artificial intelligence.
Insurtech is the use of technological innovations to redesign the current insurance industry with the aim of saving time and money. Fintech has already done this for the finance industry and now, many venture capitalists feel the same will happen for the insurance industry. Through innovation, big data, and AI, insurtech startups in Korea are looking to revolutionise the industry.
We are already seeing insurtech providing on-demand policies that allow customers in Korea to purchase insurance for their house, car, and travel when they need it. This form of on-demand offering is just one aspect of how insurtech can be used to bring more value to customers.
Seoul Fintech Lab is a fintech startup incubator that is completely funded by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. They have over 95 fintech startups in their program, and among them, are innovative insurtech startups looking to disrupt the insurance industry in Korea. We have showcased some of them below.
Smallticket
Smallticket is the leading Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) insurtech player in Korea. They were the first to launch an on-demand mobility insurance product in the country. Their insurance product provides essential insurance coverage to gig-economy workers such as food delivery riders. In addition, Smallticket offers a comprehensive pet healthcare reward service. Their Petping app, a pet smart care platform, is likely to revolutionise the pet insurance and pet care industry in Korea.
Tobecon
Tobecon is an insurance underwriting platform using machine learning. Using insurtech-based underwriting, insurance companies can reduce related costs by up to 90% per case. In addition, the screening process, which took up to 5 days, can be processed in real time. Tobecon has also created a biological age analysis app called MOM, which analyzes 20 types of checkup records of policyholders and predicts major diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
Open Plan
Open Plan is the creator of an on-demand insurance platform called Toggle. Through Toggle, customers can easily find and sign up for short-term insurance via the website or app. The best feature of the product is its mini insurance subdivided into daily, hourly, location, and environment, rather than the existing yearly billing. In addition, insurance products are divided into life-related categories such as leisure, travel, home, auto, and even cyber risk, to name a few.
Starpickers
Starpickers uses sensor-based IT for delivery motorcycles and e-scooters through the installation of a black box which can detect accident risks and reduce loss ratio of insurance products. The black box is also able to identify basic information such as precise location, movement route, speed, illegal/reckless driving information. By connecting the black box to a smartphone via Bluetooth, accident information can also be identified in real time. And with the application of AI, tens of thousands of information can be processed instantly.
Sagolink
Sagolink provides accurate information to protect the rights of traffic accident victims and helps them to be compensated properly for the damage caused by the accident. It provides references to similar accidents and online service that requests insurance compensation along with the calculation of expected settlement payments for traffic accident victims, and is a platform service that connects free of charge with claim adjuster, medical institutions, and vehicle repair/rental companies.
Petfins
Petfins is a life financial service platform company that specializes in companion animals. The platform allows customers to compare prices for various pet finance products, sign up for insurance, and claim the money. In addition, Petfins is partnering with banks and insurance companies for pet financial products.
The future of insurtech in Korea
Depending on the success of these insurtech startups, we may see major insurance companies in Korea creating partnerships with them. Insurtech partnerships could enable insurance companies in Korea to position themselves as versatile, connected, and potentially disruptive leaders in the industry. It is important for these well-established insurance companies to embrace the development of new innovative technologies by these startups. The innovation that is closely associated with insurtech focuses on constant learning and growth. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how the insurtech industry in Korea embraces insurtech startups looking to bring something revolutionary to a traditional industry.
About John Yoon
John Yoon is the co-founder of Seoulz. He has covered the tech startup scene in South Korea for over 7 years and has written over 700 articles regarding the Korean startup ecosystem. He works with many government organisations in South Korea to help Korean startups expand into the global market as well as global brands wishing to enter South Korea.
About Seoulz
Seoulz is the top English-based tech media in Korea and ranks #1 on Google for some of the top keywords related to the top tech trends in South Korea. Seoulz helps connect global investors with startups in South Korea.
About Seoul Fintech Lab
Seoul Fintech Lab (SFL) is a fintech startup supporting institution providing an incubating and accelerating program completely funded by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. SFL selects promising fintech startups from around the world and provides office space, custom mentoring, and company growth programs to achieve successful scale-up and investment attraction.
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