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Business Record innovationIOWA Weekly | April 26, 2018
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Going mobile: Insurance startups flip expectations
By Kate Hayden | Staff Writer
In the next few years, you might be saying goodbye to that file cabinet of insurance policies.
The eight startup founders presenting at Wednesday night’s Global Insurance Symposium represented the latest graduating class of the Des Moines-based Global Insurance Accelerator, which has graduated 26 startup companies from the program, Director Brian Hemesath told the crowd.
Each pitch rejected the most common accusations leveled at large insurance companies -- the inability to innovate -- offering white-label and mobile-to-consumer solutions to the headache of policy shopping. Here’s a brief roundup on this year’s GIA participants:
AuthorityData: Insurance companies haven’t yet dug into the benefits that households operating under the internet of things (IoT) smart home devices can offer, co-founder Tom Smith said Wednesday. His take: Let AuthorityData work between the consumer and the insurance company. AuthorityData uses smart home devices installed by the homeowner to determine a property score based on risks mitigated by IoT devices.
Byeo: Co-founder Avril Gomez and her family spent nearly a year after her father’s death trying to track down all his assets, including a life insurance policy he had never shared. Byeo is an app intended to protect other families from the same stress. Users can designate a digital vault on Byeo for all sensitive information, organize insurance policies and designate beneficiaries paper-free, designate a digital executor for social media, and write or record posthumous video messages for loved ones.
InsuredMine: InsuredMine consolidates all of a customer’s insurance policies into one paperless suite -- creating value not only for the customer, but also for their agent, who can use the data to identify what assets a client has and what new policies the client can benefit from. With the client’s
permission, InsuredMine can also access the client’s social media accounts and send triggers to an agent’s inbox when InsuredMine identifies a new policy the client is eligible for, co-founder Raution Jaiswal said.
Insurmi: Founder
Sonny Patel’s Insure Chat product is the white-label chatbot that serves millennials and legacy insurers alike, Patel said. The Insurmi chatbot offers digital natives an instant online guide to identifying coverage needs, getting a quote and applying for a policy in minutes -- while insurance teams track the chatbot’s progress on a dashboard and can customize the chatbot based on the specialty product being sold.
Jauntin: Insurance can be on-demand, co-founder Maya Strasser said. Jauntin’s mobile platform allows consumers to turn their insurance policies on and off with the swipe of their finger -- paying only for the coverage they use, be it one week or one hour. For travelers, the platform reminds users to turn on their policies when they approach geo-fenced national borders or an airport, but the implications of micro-policies can stretch well beyond traveling, Strasser said.
LVLFi: Founder Alex Devoto wants to decrease the levels of health insurance claims through mobile games. Devoto’s mobile gaming platforms lets employers and insurers alike incentivize employees through active mobile gaming, tracking the user’s steps through wearable tech and ultimately decreasing the risk of claims from disease or injury.
ProtectRisk: Founder Asseged Major’s platform aims to streamline the commercial insurance marketplace, matching the right consumers, brokers and insurance underwriters together, especially when businesses require high-risk or specialty coverage.
RiskPossible: Risks for insurers are never static, co-founder Michael Desiato said. RiskPossible designed the Continuous Underwriting Engine to help property and casualty insurers continuously assess risks by monitoring public and proprietary data sources -- from monitoring a public Facebook page to identifying new licenses granted by a state to a business. Once the engine identifies an industry-specific trigger, the
underwriter is alerted to take action on a policy.
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HOPE Agency develops documentation app for direct caregivers
By Joe Gardyasz | Senior Staff Writer
A Des Moines-based direct-care agency has developed an in-house mobile
documentation application that could also provide a less-expensive option for other care agencies. HOPE Agency, a nonprofit community-based provider of holistic care for children and adults with special needs, recently rolled out Quik Cliks, a documentation app that it built for its staff using an off-the-shelf platform from Salesforce.com.
"Having served in the direct-care field for almost
15 years, we wanted to find a solution to the time-intensive process that staff go through on a daily basis when spending hours documenting their visits with members," said Amy Wallman Madden, who co-founded the agency in 2004.
Her staff helped develop and beta-test the app over an 18-month period, with assistance from Jacki Askelson of TandemCRM, a Johnston consultant who specializes in working with nonprofits on Salesforce applications.
Because staff members are able to complete documentation in real time while providing services, the quality of the documentation increases because they are able to include more specific, accurate and goal-related information, said Julie Horton, a longtime staff member with HOPE Agency.
"The
time saved is also a huge plus," she said. "Your free time is not spent working on documentation."
The agency currently serves about 65 clients with a staff of 40.
Madden said her agency is now in discussions about how to market the app, and wants to make it available to other direct-care agencies. For more information, contact Madden at amywm@hopeagencydsm.org or call her at (515) 331-4142.
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IN THE NEWS
Deere announces plans for new test lab at Iowa State University
Deere & Co. will build a 33,000-square-foot design and testing facility in Ames for agricultural spraying and applications technology, the company announced Wednesday. The facility is expected to be completed by summer 2019 at the Iowa State University Research Park, and will allow increased collaboration with ISU faculty and students, said Aaron Wetzel, Deere’s vice president of the global crop care platform. "As a leader in precision agriculture, John Deere is focused on providing customers with innovative, high-quality products and services," Wetzel said. "Our customers will benefit from this investment as the spray lab is expected to enhance product design and improve our development cycle."
Fintech startup LenderClose secures funding for 25 new employees
Des Moines-based fintech startup LenderClose announced Tuesday the business has secured funding to add 25 employees. Since launching in March 2016, LenderClose has added 100 lenders to its client list; in March 2018, LenderClose secured investment from two Iowa credit unions and added Chief Operating Officer
Ben Rempe to its team. LenderClose’s latest round of funding was led by Next Level Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in growing companies based in Iowa.
Study: Facebook data centers give a $5.8 billion boost
RTI International reports Facebook’s data centers have been a $5.8 billion boost to the U.S. gross domestic product.
The construction and operations of the centers, including the complex in Altoona, added 60,100 jobs between 2010 and 2016. Facebook reports that every data center job supports five more in the economy, according to the study. And every $1 million supports 13 jobs in the economy. Altoona’s Facebook operation employs 300, and there are 20 open positions. On an average day, there are 800 construction workers at the site.
32 teachers graduate from NewBoCo's inaugural computer science training
Thirty-two teachers have graduated from NewBoCo’s Computer Science Professional Learning Program, a multiweek computer science course offered in partnership with Code.org, NewBoCo announced this week. During the 2017-18 course, teachers taught 1,774 students computer science skills
previously inaccessible to students. In 2016, an estimated 75 percent of Iowa’s public schools were not able to offer computer science courses. The program aims to ensure every Iowa school has a certified computer science teacher by 2022.
U.S. Cellular donates $25,000 to Boys & Girls Club of Central Iowa
U.S. Cellular announced a $25,000 donation to the Boys & Girls Club of Central Iowa in an effort to support K-12 science,
technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education for students. In total, U.S. Cellular is donating $85,000 in Iowa to the Boys & Girls Club. The effort is part of a $1 million total donation across the country. This is the fourth year U.S.
Cellular has supported national chapters of Boys & Girls Clubs, with a focus on STEM programming.
CenturyLink upgrades tech for Boys Town National Hotline
CenturyLink Inc. has completed a networking communications overhaul for the nonprofit Boys Town National Hotline’s Sioux City office, CenturyLink announced last week. CenturyLink installed a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) network to connect 12 Boys Town facilities throughout the U.S. Boys Town National Hotline (800-448-3000) operates 24/7 and received more than 180,000 calls and online contacts in 2017 from teenagers, parents and families seeking support for abuse, suicidal thoughts and other issues. The hotline and online portal allows individuals to contact Boys Town staff by phone, text, chat or email.
Mediacom's discounted services program aids 256 Iowa families
Mediacom Communications reports the company’s discounted broadband service, Connect2Compete, is now providing service to more than 1,000 low-income families with K-12 students, including 256 families in Iowa. The program partners with national nonprofit EveryoneOn to provide affordable, high-speed service to students who qualify for the National School Lunch program. Currently, 62 Iowa communities have eligible families that are paying $9.95 per month for internet service. The program waives equipment and installation fees for families. More information is available at www.mediacomc2c.com.
Symphony Software Foundation becomes FINOS
A nonprofit organization promoting financial services innovation is rebranding. The Symphony Software Foundation has announced its launch as the Fintech Open Source
Foundation (FINOS). The FINOS brand will continue to provide an independent forum for high-impact collaboration across the financial services community, the organization said in a statement. FINOS also announced several new members, including Platinum Members UBS, GitHub, Red Hat, Thomson Reuters and Nodesource.
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FROM THE BUSINESS RECORD:
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
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ONE GOOD TECH READ
Team 'Rebel with a Cause' gets Iowa woman back on her high horse through engineering project
By Kate Hayden | Staff Writer
Three University of Iowa engineering students were searching for a bioscience project, and one horsewoman, Mona Metcalf, had a problem for them. The Daily Iowan reports on how students Paighton Schrupp, Madison Chrisman, Glen Schoenbeck Jr. and Elizabeth Niedert worked with Metcalf to design a specialty attachment for Metcalf’s prosthetic leg so she could start riding her horse, Rebel, again. The team invited Metcalf and her daughter to attend the final project presentation on Friday, and Metcalf will then bring the attachment home for some well-deserved trail time with Rebel. Read more
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MEMBERSHIP EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
McLellan: Email marketing persists
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By DREW MCLELLAN: Even though it seems a little old school in the days of virtual reality, artificial intelligence and bots, email marketing is still one of the most effective marketing tactics available to us. A recent study by SmartFocus looked at over 1.4 billion email marketing messages to identify best practices to drive engagement and customer impact. If you want your audience to take action, click on a link or respond to an offer, then Tuesday should be the day you launch your campaign. The study revealed that click-through rates were 30 percent higher than other days. Read more
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BUSINESS RECORD CALENDAR
UPCOMING EVENTS
May 11: Tech Brew
TechBrew AM is a morning networking event for entrepreneurs, technologists, government officials, business leaders and funders to connect over coffee and learn about a local technology executive. At TechBrew AM, TAI President Brian Waller conducts a casual interview with an Iowa technology executive, who shares their favorite music for vinyl Friday, discuss their career path, and talk about what’s most important for Iowa's technology community moving forward.
Where: West End Architectural Salvage
Learn more
May 17-18: EntreFest
This two-day conference is one of the largest celebrations of the Midwest’s entrepreneurial
and innovation community, taking place in unique venues and settings and benefiting a variety of minds.
Where: Cedar Rapids
Learn more
View our full calendar to see the latest curated business and community events, or suggest an event.
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