Big Players in InsurTech You Can’t Afford Not to Know

As InsurTech is picking up speed, the insurance industry is seeing many new faces spearheading digital innovation projects.

Vernam Official
6 min readApr 18, 2018

Startup founders today are the driving force behind the changing face of the insurance industry, a change many agree is absolutely necessary to improving this sector. It’s time that new technology enters the insurance space, just like it did with the financial sector, to recreate insurance ecosystems that takes advantage of new technical capabilities to provide a better experience to both clients and providers.

Here are five key players who are changing the face of insurance as we know it, and show no signs of stopping. We can’t wait to see where they’ll take us next.

Matteo Carbone, Founder & Director at the Connected Insurance Observatory

Matteo is one of InsurTech’s Top 10 Thought Leaders, if not the #1 thought leader in the industry. He’s the founder and director of the Connected Insurance Observatory (also known as IoT Insurance Observatory) a think tank dedicated to providing multiclient research, one-on-one workshops and plenary symposiums.

A world-recognized author and speaker on the future of insurance, Matteo has recently co-authored All Insurance Players Will Be InsurTech with Andrea Silvello. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the future of insurance and/or joining the InsurTech movement.

Matteo can be found at most prominent insurance events. His line-up for the past year included the 2017 Global Insurance Symposium (watch his Innovation Keynote here), the 5th Annual Insurance Canada Executive Forum (ICEF2017), and InsurTech Rising, Europe’s largest InsurTech event, among many others.

If you’re not following him yet, there’s nothing better you could in the next few minutes. Check out and connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter, and make sure to read his latest articles on Insurance Thought Leadership in addition to his publications on LinkedIn.

Val Ji-hsuan Yap, Founder at PolicyPal and PolicyPal Network

Val Jihsuan Yap, CEO and Founder of PolicyPal

Val founded PolicyPal in 2016. The platform is a digital direct insurance broker which provides users with a clean, easy-to-use dashboard where they can buy, manage, and optimize their insurance products. It works with works with many major insurance providers, such AIG, HSBC, Liberty, Allianz, and more.

Although buying insurance can often be viewed as stressful, PolicyPal’s makes sure users feel at ease. Who knew that was possible?

In recognition of her achievements so far, Val was featured in Forbes’ 30 under 30 Asia 2017: Finance and Venture Capital.

Going forward, PolicyPal’s young and talented CEO has big plans brewing. Aside from expanding PolicyPal to countries beyond Singapore, she’s also spearheading PolicyPal Network — a blockchain-based platform focused on peer-to-peer mutual aid insurance for the unbanked and cryptoassets.

Connect with Val Yap on LinkedIn.

Matjaz Peterman, Founder at InsurePal

Matjaz (left, seated) with the InsurePal team

Hailing from Slovenia, Matjaz (Matt) has over 15 years of experience in insurance and venture capital, with 1 IPO and 7 exits under his belt. He’s also a co-founder and CEO of InsurePal, a distributed social proof insurance platform.

InsurePal provides a comprehensive alternative to traditional insurance, by leveraging peer-to-peer lending. At the heart of this project lies an innovative alsocial proof system. While it will start off as the basis for insurance products, the social proof methodology will be modulated for all kinds of further applications, making it truly revolutionary.

In addition to leading InsurePal’s growth and development post it’s ICO in January 2018, Matt acts as an advisor in Adacta Group, Business Development Manager at Salviol Global Analytics, and faculty member at Ljubljana University’s Economics department among other pursuits.

Connect with Matt Peterman on LinkedIn.

Charlotte Halkett, MD of Insurance at buzzvault

Charlotte is now pushing innovation as the Managing Director at buzzvault

A passionate veteran of the insurance and telematics industry, Charlotte is an active advocate of change and bringing new tech into the insurance & auto sectors. She’s been recognized as a top tech & finance influencer by Women in Finance, Instech London, Onalytica, Women in Tech and more.

Bringing multi-year executive experience from Insure The Box, a top UK telematics provider, Charlotte is now pushing innovation as the Managing Director at buzzvault, the world’s first digital asset vault built on the blockchain.

The startup has been recognized as one to watch by TechCity Insider and Techworld.com, included in the Disrupt 100, and been shortlisted for Amazon Growing Business Awards and the Digital Insurance Awards.

Connect with Charlotte Halkett on LinkedIn.

Kristian Feldborg, Co-founder at PolicyCastle, JustCompareCa, and Vesuvio

Kristian is a true visionary, working as a consultant and founder at several exciting startups: Policy Castle, a home insurance digital broker in the UK; JustCompareCA, a comparison platform for lending products in Canada; and Vesuvio, a full-stack software platform for bankers and insurance providers.

A truly well-rounded professional, Kristian also provides executive IT consultancy for companies in banking and insurance.

In all of these pursuits, Kristian has demonstrated a drive to push stale industries into a new technological frontier. All three of the startups he’s founded/co-founded are focused on personalization, quickness of service, and transparency, for an overall improved user experience.

Want a quick introduction to his brilliant mind? Listen to what he has to say about Connected Homes on the podcast InsurTech Insider, freshly recorded in March, 2018.

Connect with Kristian Feldborg on LinkedIn.

Rising Star: Roman Angelov, CEO & Co-Founder at Vernam

Roman is the CEO and Co-Founder of Vernam, the world’s first 0% commission insurance, and a soon-to-be well-known name in InsurTech, joining the ranks of the other experts listed in this article. An advocate for change, fairness and freedom, he’s committed to revolutionizing the insurance industry through Vernam.

Already a coding expert at age 13, Roman started his first successful company at just 15 and patented his first invention at 23.

An active player in the software industry, he’s spent the last 15 years 15 at various IT companies including De Cronos Groep, Latona, b-process SA, Proxiad Bulgaria and SAP Ariba. Since 2015, Roman has been acting as co-chairman and director at Dimiroma Group, a consulting, IT, and digitization company. He’s also been awarded DNI Innovation Funding by Google.

Roman is now putting his entrepreneurial spirit and rich business experience to work as CEO of Vernam. The startup will create a decentralized marketplace connecting insurers and end-clients for a more transparent, democratic, accessible, and efficient insuring experience.

With a talented team and a powerful vision, Roman aims to do nothing less but revolutionize insurance alongside the top InsurTech leaders. Get to know Roman better by watching this video.

Connect with Roman Angelov on LinkedIn.

Are you ready to join the revolution? We’d love your support and can’t wait to welcome you to the team.

Team Vernam

To find out more about the Vernam Project, download our whitepaper or visit ourwebsite. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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Vernam Official

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