Cologne, 18.04.2018 - Yesterday, the regular general meeting of InsurLab Germany took place at the premises of AXA Versicherung AG in Cologne. The now 51-member young initiative for networking insurance companies and innovative startups decided to expand its board from three to seven people and introduced five new member companies as well as the new strategic partner FinLeap from Berlin.
Seven board members for a strong industry initiative
At yesterday's general meeting of InsurLab Germany, the association voted unanimously to expand the board by five additional members. Chairman of the board Mathias Bührig-Uhle - also a member of the board of Gothaer - as well as Walter Botermann, chairman of the board of Alte Leipziger and Ulrich Pasdika of Gen Re continue to form the executive board of the initiative. From now on, the extended board consists of Arne Barinka, member of the board of IDEAL, Carlo Bewersdorf of VHV, Lothar Horbach, member of the board of RheinLand, Helmut Söhler of SCOR and Prof. Dr. Torsten Oletzky, who has intensively supported the initiative from the beginning. In his new role as professor, he represents TH Köln on the initiative's board.
Mathias Bühring-Uhle is very pleased about the new board colleagues: "As the initiative grows, so does the diversity of our members, whose interests need to be represented in the best possible way. This is exactly what we can achieve with the expansion of the board."
InsurLab Germany cracks 50 mark
Five new member companies were welcomed at yesterday's event. The Mecklenburgische Versicherungsgruppe completes the now 26 insurance companies of the association. NRW Bank now also belongs to this category and will become directly active: starting in April 2018, an employee of the new member company will work at the InsurLab Campus in Cologne for one year.
The strategy consultancy Qvartz Bülow & Consorten now completes the quartet of management consultancies at InsurLab Germany. As an additional educational institution, the association was able to win over the Research Center for Insurance at the University of Münster. In addition, the innovative technology provider Amazon Web Services from Berlin now complements the member portfolio. InsurLab Germany thus starts the new financial year with a total of 51 members.
Expansion of the network with a strong FinTech partner
For the first time, FinLeap from Berlin presented itself as a new strategic partner to the members of InsurLab Germany. FinLeap is a company builder specialized in the financial services industry with the goal of supporting founders in building sustainable, customer-focused and technology-strong companies. The team of experts around CEO Ramin Niroumand offers, in addition to an integrated development platform for startups, best practice processes, extensive expertise in the financial services sector and access to top talent, which is now also made possible for the members of InsurLab Germany.
About InsurLab Germany
InsurLab Germany is a young industry initiative of the German insurance industry, which is currently supported by 28 insurance companies and 23 InsurTech startups, industry-related service providers as well as colleges and universities. It is a think tank for innovation and digitization and sustainably promotes collaboration between startups and established insurance companies. The InsurLab Campus in Cologne offers 50 workplaces for InsurTech startups and digital departments of member companies. The association is part of the digital hub initiative "de:hub" set up by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and a competence location for the InsurTech scene in Germany. It was founded in 2017 by the City of Cologne, Cologne Chamber of Commerce and Industry, University of Cologne and TH Köln.