Scouting for Growth

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Jeff Williams, Managing Director for Kayrros USA, a technology-focused earth observation analytics company using unconventional geospatial data to bring new insights to the world’s biggest industries, including energy, commodity, and insurance. Jeff has an incredible background in top 5 consultancy and M&A skills acquired in the energy sector. He uses these skills every day as he deep dives into the challenge created by methane on its impact on environmental change.  During the course of our conversation, the pair discussed: 1) Kayrros as a series C scaleup focused on delivering solutions using unconventional geospatial data, 2) Kayrros - Off the shelf platform… with white box data analytics and scoring mechanisms to meet the need of today’s underwriters and regulators, and 3) Kayrros, the long-term geospatial partner for the insurance sector looking at solving wildfire and other connected catastrophic events. KEY TAKEAWAYS I got my start, like many Texans who want to get into technology, I started working for a large consulting company at the tip of the spear of energy tech. There I started working with large energy companies on data, and realized that all their data is spatial-related. They have assets all over the country, a sensor network that they weren’t leveraging, but more importantly, we were solving problems that were facing challenges of where to go and where not to go. I then started working with geospatial startups and realized there’s a robust amount of data out there that companies aren’t leveraging correctly. Six months ago, I started working at Kayrros where they’ve made real profits within the commodities and energy network. I fundamentally believe I can use the foundation that they built to work with the insurance industry and expand that foundation from the commodities and energy industry into insurance. We’ve built our insights to include asset monitoring for energy companies to detect climate data–tracking emissions. We’ve evolved from just an insights company to a climate data company. We see the cause of methane emissions, and now we want to start tracking the effects, which include wildfires and floods, and the industries that are really going to be affected by those issues are insurance and banking, which is why we’re really starting to focus on those as the following industries to work with. We track pre-risk, we have a risk score, and we’re using several different geospatial datasets – weather and landslide risk. We also track live monitoring, using satellite data to track live fires with rapid updates that we can give to our clients. Also, post-fire, we provide a damage assessment. What we’re focussing on is not one specific thing. We’re affecting several parts of the insurance company, including underwriting, customer communication, and claims. A challenge that we see with geospatial data is there has been insufficient refresh, really bad granularity, and a lack of transparency. The lack of transparency has really hurt the geospatial industry over the past couple of years. We don’t view ourselves as a black-box solution. Many of our potential customers just get handed a solution by other companies. What we want to do is work with our customers and provide a white box solution where they know exactly what all the data inputs are, and we do that with them.  BEST MOMENTS ‘Companies like Kayrros really want to provide the right insights, and geospatial data really provides those insights for them.’‘Kayrros got its name using satellite data to detect global crude tank levels. We used radar to detect how much crude oil was in tanks.’‘Track climate data using satellites, drones, AI, and cell phone data.’‘We’re fighting the geospatial fatigue in industries. We’re doing that by positioning Kayrros as a true geospatial partner, not a vendor.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Jeff Williams is the Managing Director of Sales & Business Development for Kayrros, where he is responsible for driving the Kayrros North American growth strategy. Jeff's roots run deep in Houston, as demonstrated by his love for the Astros. Last but not least, his greatest accomplishment is his family, which includes his wife and two kids, Lucy and Jake Williams. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreydwilliams/  About Kayrros:  Kayrros is a technology-focused earth observation analytics firm using unconventional data to bring new insights to the world’s biggest industries. By harnessing the power of satellite imagery, natural language processing, machine learning, and advanced mathematics, the team at Kayrros deliver actionable intelligence on virtually any asset across the globe, in near real-time, for better decision-making. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kayrros/  Website: https://www.kayrros.com/  ABOUT THE HOST Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.  Twitter: SabineVdL LinkedIn: Sabine VanderLinden Instagram: sabinevdLofficial Facebook: SabineVdLOfficial TikTok: sabinevdlofficial Email: podcast@sabinevdl.com Website: www.sabinevdl.com

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Federico Spagnoli, at the time President and Head of Emerging Markets Ecosystems for Prudential Financial LATAM, now Vice President of International Total Wellness Solutions. Federico is well known for his work launching Vitality in South America and providing health services to over 1.5 million South Americans, who can today download an App from their mobile device to get access to a multitude of health services.  During this podcast, Sabine and Federico evaluate 1) Federico’s vision about enhancing people’s physical, mental, and financial wellness, 2) where the world of health insurance is going regarding protection and prevention, 3) relevant strategic distribution approaches by augmenting the broker channel, and 3) tips for those interested in monetization models.   KEY TAKEAWAYS I joined Prudential 6 years ago doing an executive program with SAID within Oxford University focusing on disruption and innovation. Part of the theme of my paper was related to disruption in the insurance industry because we haven’t seen this in the industry in many years. When I started focusing on the critical driver affecting our customers. I realized there were a lot of opportunities there for us to start thinking very differently about how we approach business today. These past six years have been the first time I’ve worked in the life insurance industry. I was asked why life and health insurance companies aren’t doing more to prevent conditions and situations that eventually will become a claim, like high cholesterol, which – in some instances – include a pill that can reduce mortality rates by 50%. That led me to look at the aging population, which, along with global warming, is one of the biggest challenges we’re facing as a society. We need to look at the ability to retire comfortably and the ability to afford rising healthcare costs. This made me think about a lot of new technologies and data capabilities that are coming to market that life insurers could use to start preventing, anticipating, and mitigating bad conditions. Mortality risk is not top of mind for customers because today, we live longer. The problem we face today concerns aging populations and how to reduce the risk of being unhealthy through behavior change. Physical, mental, and financial wellness is the ability to understand your emotions around money and develop healthy feelings and a personal literacy around money and wellness. Physical, mental, and financial wellness topics also encompass the tools and strategies that help you feel secure and in control of your personal life. The insurer can engage directly with the customer through the SuperApp, where behavioral economics and gamification allow for the insurer to influence the customer’s behavior by providing annual physical checks and rewards through coins, integrated into a marketplace with choices for rewards, and continuously bringing fresh and exciting content to the viewer.   BEST MOMENTS ‘If you follow a customer-centric approach, you can't view customers with one lens. Not being able to afford healthcare services could result in mental health issues because one has anxieties, which also affect one's physical health -- all generated by limited financial means. We have to look at them all together and provide a single integrated solution.’‘We’re now shifting from life insurance protection to lifetime protection.’‘New generations are thinking more about global warming, social impact, financial inclusion, and a more balanced lifestyle. In insurance, we are already connecting with these customer groups over a long period of time because of the nature of the insurance that we sell. We can start introducing several solutions as part of a platform that can address and be much more relevant to our customer’s needs and behaviors and influence them.’‘Customers that are using the Prudential platform provide a Net Promoter score that is twice higher than those customers that don’t use the platform. The highest level of satisfaction has a direct impact on renewal rates, and platinum customers show higher life expectancy and lower claims ratios.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Federico Spagnoli is passionate about Ecosystem/Strategy and Innovation. General and Life Insurance professional with international experience. Expertise in re-underwriting insurance portfolios, strategic planning, M&A, and business development.  Over six years in Prudential Financial. PII Regional President of Argentina, Mexico, Chile, and Peru (through the JV with ILC/Habitat AFP). Direct responsibility for Prudential Seguros Argentina and Prudential Seguros México.  Responsible for managing the PII's relationship with AFP Habitat and acting as Europe - Latin America head of strategic business development. Member of the Board of Directors of Prudential Seguros Mexico and AFP Habitat About Prudential Financial:  Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) was founded on the belief that financial security should be within reach for everyone. For over 140 years, Prudential has helped our customers reach their potential and tackle life's challenges for now and future generations to come. Today, the group is one of the world’s largest financial services institutions, offering individual and institutional clients a wide array of financial products and services. With operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, Prudential Financial is known for delivering on its promises to its customers and is recognized as a trusted brand and one of the world’s most admired companies.  ABOUT THE HOST Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.  Twitter: SabineVdL LinkedIn: Sabine VanderLinden Instagram: sabinevdLofficial Facebook: SabineVdLOfficial TikTok: sabinevdlofficial Email: podcast@sabinevdl.com Website: www.sabinevdl.com

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Alexis Cierra Vaughn, the Senior Director of Agency Marketing at Cowbell and the producer and host of the Cowbell Factor, a podcast that is rated at the top of its category across several key international markets. Alexis is an outstanding professional and a mum with so much passion for business and enabling the success of others.  Alexis has been 13 years within the insurance sector and has built a strong expertise in explaining in simple words what Cyber security means AND why one needs to protect oneself against cyber risk. During the course of the podcast, they discuss three main topics: 1) Alexis has been in insurance for 13 years. SO Let’s discover a millennial’s path into insurance, 2) Cowbell's journey to becoming a cyber security risk prevention leader, 3) How the product works and why it is essential to educate the user and... 4) the Cowbell Factor! KEY TAKEAWAYS I started out my 13-year career in insurance as an agent, and within my first three years, I made a significant impact by being great at relationship-building. My background was in retail sales. I was asked to get into the insurance industry several times, but I thought it would be boring. I took a leap of faith and studied for a license to see if it interested me… I immediately fell in love with it. It was perfect for me. I then thought: “How do I help other single moms do this?” I didn’t want to keep all the diamonds and jewels to myself. I wanted to ensure I shared the wealth. So, I went independent and started my own agency with 26 single moms and taught them all there is to know about success in the insurance industry. I focus on creative approaches and different ways of getting the message out there about the importance of having cyber insurance, specifically to the small-and-medium-sized business market – anyone from $0 to $1 billion in revenue. Cyber includes fishing emails, fishing text messages, and how people take QR codes and swap them. In a post-pandemic world, we are all connected to the internet in some type of way. We’re literally in an interconnected environment where we’re always on our phones, iPads, laptops and moving so quickly that we’ll miss tiny things like one letter change in the domain – for example, websites with .co instead of .com. That’s so important. Your first line of defense is always your employees. You want to make sure you have multi-factor authentification in place. It might take an extra 5 minutes to log in, but, I’m telling you, it’s so much better to spend that extra 5 minutes rather than fork out $5 million because you’re a victim of a ransomware attack. BEST MOMENTS ‘I took a networking approach, and within the first two years of having my agency, I grew my business from 25 to 1,165 clients off pure networking and building relationships in the community.’‘I break everything all the way down and make such a complex product topic, like cyber insurance, becomes digestible for agents, brokers, and policyholders.’‘I believe that the direction cyber insurance is going in should be the life insurance to a small business. If they don’t have cyber insurance and they are a victim of a cyber attack, it could put them out of business.’‘As a millennial, our biggest thing is we want to make an impact on our community and globally. We’re constant learners, and the insurance industry really creates a space where there’s always something new on the horizon, every product is ever-changing and the cyber landscape changes on a daily, if not hourly, basis.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Alexis is a 13-year Award-Winning Insurance Expert and Senior Director of Agency Marketing at leading InsurTech Cowbell, where she oversees all agency engagement efforts for 18,000 producers appointed with Cowbell. Alexis is also the Host & Producer of "The Cowbell Factors" Podcast she created to bridge the gap between the Cybersecurity and Cyber Insurance industries. The show is ranked #28 in the US, #16 in India, #35 in the UK, #20 in Israel, and #100 in Australia on Apple Podcast Business News. The show is now available on iHeartRadio for national distribution after only five months on air and can be found on Spotify and all other streaming platforms. She is also a highly sought-after Cyber Educator in the agency community. Cowbell is a pioneer of Adaptive Cyber Insurance, a leader in providing coverage for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that is adaptable to today’s and tomorrow’s threats and the advanced warning of cyber risk exposures. Alexis was recently named by "Insurance Business America," as one of the top 85 trailblazing Elite Women in Insurance for 2022" and a top "Influencer" on the "Top 100 Insurance Innovators" list as well in 2022. Alexis has over 16 years of experience spearheading sales, fundraising, recruiting, and marketing for companies in the middle of transition uplifts. Alexis has a very diverse background in Insurance, Cloud-based Technology, Benefits & Human Resource Consulting industries. Alexis has also managed Global Business Development Teams in the USA, Canada, and LATAM markets. Alexis has led countless marketing initiatives that increased market awareness, generate leads that have resulted in significant revenue in the Oil, Film & Entertainment, Government, Insurance, Logistics, Human Resources, Retail, Higher Ed, and Technology industries.  About Cowbell-Cyber Cowbell is the leading provider of cyber insurance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the pioneer of Adaptive Cyber Insurance. Cowbell delivers standalone cyber coverage tailored to the unique needs of each business. Our innovative approach relies on AI for continuous risk assessment and continuous underwriting while delivering policyholders a closed-loop approach to risk management with risk prevention, risk mitigation, incident preparedness, and response services.  https://www.linkedin.com/company/cowbell-cyber/  ABOUT THE HOST Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.  Twitter: SabineVdL LinkedIn: Sabine VanderLinden Instagram: sabinevdLofficial Facebook: SabineVdLOfficial TikTok: sabinevdlofficial Email: podcast@sabinevdl.com Website: www.sabinevdl.com

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Xavier Gomez, a Fintech Thought Leader and specialist in Investment Banking and Wealth Management with solid expertise in Fintech, Digital Assets, and Private Equity. Xavier writes and speaks about the emerging trends within our digital economy, with a sharp lens on what is disrupting finance, namely financial inclusion and regtech.  Xavier is also the co-chief editor of Invyo Insights, a Global Fintech Intelligence platform powered by Invyo. Xavier and his team partner with the best experts and entrepreneurs in the region to cover the latest trends in all topics related to Digital Banking, Payments, InsurTech, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Financial Inclusion, and Financial Literacy. Over the course of their discussion, the pair dive into the Digital Economy, FinTech, and WealthTech trends that affect the world of finance today and in the future. KEY TAKEAWAYS I started my career as an investment banker in equity capital, moving between top management positions and trading algorithmic and self-derivatives. I then moved into wealth management, so I have a good knowledge of the banking and finance sector, particularly in terms of digitalization. Invyo is a data-driven startup that uses machine learning to help private equity firms and VC to take investment opportunities to compare the data of the different kinds of investment they can do and also to detect what is wrong in terms of competition. We provide a solution for everyone from VCs, principles and partners to be driven and empowered by the data so they don’t waste time collecting the data themselves as they have all the elements possible. We have had so many opportunities in the last five years with the explosion of startups, business models, etc. It’s a lot of work for investment actors – especially as they’re all a little bit old-fashioned – they invest in technology. Still, they don’t apply the technology to enable it to be augmented by the data as investor and private equity actors. Being an influencer or the term influencing doesn’t matter. Why? I started by following others, who were all very kind to me and gave me advice, and pushed me to publish more, and I just want to share my insight and knowledge to educate people in the ways of financial literacy. By chance, a lot of people like what I publish. AI will be an up trend for the next ten years. With this kind of upwards trend, it is clearly a big top trend for the coming years. AI will also augment nearly every job in every business across industries. It will be used to manage and automate the complex inventory management processes that happen behind the scenes. It’s impressive in terms of customer experience because AI/machine learning can improve their experiences, and more or less, with FinTech solutions, you can have a priceless experience. BEST MOMENTS ‘We use a machine learning element to adapt solutions to the investment cases. Each is a little bit different. The philosophy of one partner will be different from that of another one. This is the beauty of machine learning with data.’‘I spent many years in London, and I know the French accent is very successful with women 😊 !!’‘Artificial intelligence will become real in organizations and enable any business to leverage its power to create more intelligent products and services. We saw this recently with the birth of OpenAI. This is the start. I didn’t expect it to come so far so early.’‘The metaverse is a concrete application in the GameFi (gaming finance) industry, where we see a lot of big developments. It's a $300 billion market with a lot of exchanges of payments. I don’t care for the term “metaverse,” but it’s become a shorthand for a more immersive internet. It’s expected to add $5 trillion to the global economy by 2030, and we will see by the end of 2023 an indication of what kind of direction the metaverse will go for the next decade.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Xavier Gomez is a Fintech Thought Leader and specialist in Investment Banking and Wealth Management with solid expertise in Fintech, Digital Assets, and Private Equity. Xavier writes and speaks about the emerging trends within our digital economy, with a sharp lens on what is disrupting finance, namely financial inclusion and regtech.  Xavier is also the co-chief editor of Invyo Insights, a Global Fintech Intelligence platform powered by Invyo. Xavier and his team partners with the best experts and entrepreneurs in the region to cover the latest trends in all topics related to Digital Banking, Payments, InsurTech, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Financial Inclusion, and Financial Literacy.  About Invyo INVYO is a leading technology solution provider specializing in data processing and analysis. Venture Capital looking for a new data-driven approach? Discover INVYO's newest solution designed for VC investment: https://marketing.invyo.io/en/vcdataasaservice See more www.invyo.io  ABOUT THE HOST Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.  Twitter: SabineVdL LinkedIn: Sabine VanderLinden Instagram: sabinevdLofficial Facebook: SabineVdLOfficial TikTok: sabinevdlofficial Email: podcast@sabinevdl.com Website: www.sabinevdl.com

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Meeri Savolainen, CEO and co-founder of Inzmo, a fast-growing European financial services provider, making renting a home affordable for everyone.  Inzmo is considered to be the fourth runner in creating a new standard for how people rent their homes. With more than 70,000 customers and over 400% growth in 2022, Inzmo has acquired recognition and investments from several insurers in Europe As an entrepreneur by trade, Meeri is passionate about breaking new ground to lead social change. She shares that the core innovation lies in understanding customer needs, struggles, and their values. "At Inzmo, we design our services around this purpose - this is what makes us authentic. We put the customer first.”  During their discussion, they cover what makes Inzmo a leader in its category across European’s rental and cash deposit market, Meeri’s interest in communication, relationships psychology, and strategic intervention, Inzmo’s innovation journey across Europe… Opportunities and challenges, and Team Inzmo: What is next to scale? KEY TAKEAWAYS I was a corporate and tax lawyer for quite a few years at Ernst & Young, and I started thinking that I wanted to grow more, take more risks and become an entrepreneur. When I began Inzmo with my co-founder, we wanted to create a digital disruption in the insurance industry because it was lagging behind on the technology side. As things proceeded and developed, we wanted to create a strong brand in the insurance sector. We wanted to mediate our own products. We didn’t just want to be an IT company or an enabler for insurance companies. Since 2016 we’ve become more consumer-faced. We’re creating innovation in the insurance industry by automating processes in underwriting and, first and foremost, the whole customer experience. We believe success in the future for insurance companies and InsurTechs relies on customer success and experiences. We understand that the majority of our customers are also vendors, and 80% of those customers are living paycheque to paycheque. This means that they have a financial burden daily, and 40% of their income goes to pay for rent, utilities, etc. These are the people we want to help with our different financial and digital solutions. Insurance is a very male-dominated industry, though it is getting better. I’m proud to say that at Inzmo, 50% of the employees are women, and 60% of the c-level/ management staff are female. Being a woman gives us much more opportunities to stand out. It’s also good for PR – especially for a small company like Inzmo, which doesn’t have a limitless budget – to get visibility. It does, of course, have its downsides as well. Women struggle more to get VC funding because they need to prove their success more than men. After all, there’s still a strong bias, even though the data proves otherwise. BEST MOMENTS ‘We’re always trying to find our niche. We don’t want to be another traditional insurance company or fight with the bigger companies.’‘Renting rather than home ownership is a growing trend globally because people want a flexible lifestyle. We want to be an enabler in this new lifestyle.’‘Inzmo means “insurance” and “mobile,” insurance that is always accessible – it’s instant, it’s always there, and very easy to follow.’‘We’ve been focussed on the German market so that we could prove we’d done well in one very significant market, but in the next 12-24 months we’re ready to expand to other European rental markets, the most interesting to us are Spain, Italy, Portugal, and France.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Meeri, also called Mrs InsurTech, is strongly driven by innovation, meaning the development of new products, services, and processes within a forward-thinking world.  She specialized in developing innovative, creative and visionary products and services for the insurance sector. A serial entrepreneur with a passion for breaking new ground to lead social change, with management experience and the ability to lead and build high-performing teams. She is interested in communication and relationships psychology - currently focussing also on developing her knowledge in Strategic Intervention (also known as SI). SI is dedicated to extracting the most practical and effective forms of strategic action and communication from various disciplines: Ericksonian therapy, Human Needs Psychology, organizational psychology, neurolinguistics, psychology of influence, strategic studies, traditions of diplomacy and negotiation, and others. A practical method for acting strategically to get things done is also that human needs are fulfilled and elevated. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meeri-savolainen-b5a85b25/  About Inzmo Inzmo is a fast-growing financial services provider in Europe, making renting a home affordable for everyone. The team’s aim is to become #1 provider of zero-deposit solutions for EU renters. We believe the core innovation lies in understanding customer needs, struggles, and their values. Inzmo designs services around this purpose - this is what makes the team truly authentic. Inzmo puts the customer first. Always. The team thinks big, takes risks, innovates constantly, hires the best, and strives to earn customers' trust. Inzmo is the fourth runner in creating a new standard for how people rent their homes. With over 70,000 customers and over 400% growth in 2022, Inzmo has acquired recognition and investments from several insurers in Europe. In 2017, the company was recognized as the best fin-tech company in the StartUp Europe Awards by the European Commission, and in 2019 awarded as the Insurance Shaper of the Year. Inzmo's customers are renters, primarily for mid-term and long-term rental homes. Today, finding a home online might be easy, but the road to moving in is time-consuming as the 600 billion EUR annual private rental market in the EU is still operating offline. To finalize a rental agreement, one must provide proof of income, a cash deposit (3 months rent), home contents, and liability insurance. This takes 1-2 weeks and thousands of euros for cash deposit. Inzmo is solving all these four pain points with one insurance product that you can get in seconds online for a small monthly premium. As Inzmo focuses on covering each customer when he or she signs up for a rental home, the team sees this as an opportunity to serve the customer for the whole rental cycle with different insurance products and services. More on Inzmo on their site and LinkedIn profile. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.  Twitter: SabineVdL LinkedIn: Sabine VanderLinden Instagram: sabinevdLofficial Facebook: SabineVdLOfficial TikTok: sabinevdlofficial Email: podcast@sabinevdl.com Website: www.sabinevdl.com

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL shares some timely insights from the team at IBM. One of these findings relates to one of IBM’s strategic themes for 2023, as well as IBM’s new partner program.  KEY TAKEAWAYS Autonomous vehicles are expected to account for about 12% of car registrations and global car sales of autonomous vehicles are expected to reach some 101 million units by 2030. Autonomous vehicles or companies that are working on self-driving technologies include perception, mapping, and localisation solutions as well as cybersecurity risk prevention, testing, and fleet management solutions are doing very well. The autonomous vehicle market received over $51 billion across 500+ companies, meaning that, on average, each company received $102 million in funding. Many devices use embedded intelligent systems today besides car functionalities, like Point-of-Sale terminals, smart TVs, smart metres, video surveillance equipment, traffic light controls, digital signs, and aviation controls. This means we need to understand how embedded intelligence systems operate and how they allow new breakthroughs to emerge for established and new market players. For years, IBM Research and Centres of Excellence have invested in developing AI capabilities that are embedded in IBM software offerings. IBM's partnership strategy is combined into one organisation where all the pieces of the IBM Partner Ecosystem within the sales and distribution organisation operate. It is also consolidated under one single leadership and direction. IBM is making the same capabilities available to its IBMers accessible to its ecosystem of partners, providing them a more straightforward path to create AI-powered solutions and accessing engagement materials to ensure that each ecosystem partner can create bullet-proofed propositions aligned with IBM’s high standards. BEST MOMENTS ‘Embedded intelligence 'is a term used for a system or program that can analyse and monitor their own operations and then adapt and optimise consequently in real-time their routines with limited human intervention. They enable companies to get more innovative in the way they deploy and use technology, identify market opportunities, and target new markets.’‘The global embedded intelligence market is projected to reach a market value of $ 86 billion US dollars in 2032, increasing from $ 25.5 billion dollars in 2022 and expanding at a CAGR of 13% between 2022 and 2032.’‘Today, the lack of expertise and skills in Artificial Intelligence remains the biggest barrier to adopting advanced programming techniques by businesses, large and small, while limiting biases and ethical issues.’‘It is indeed crucial for data scientists, developers, sellers, and experts, among other types of users, to gain access to cutting-edge capabilities to learn new business development techniques and technological skills regardless of their level of expertise.’ ABOUT THE IBM PARTNER ECOSYSTEM PROGRAM: IBM has worked over the course of 2022 to enhance its approach and systems to deliver a unique partner experience giving partners access to the same capabilities offered to IBMers. To find out more, use the two links provided below: Embeddable AI IBM PartnerWorld ABOUT THE HOST Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.  Twitter: SabineVdLLinkedIn: Sabine VanderLindenInstagram: sabinevdLofficialFacebook: SabineVdLOfficialTikTok: sabinevdlofficialEmail: podcast@sabinevdl.comWebsite: www.sabinevdl.com

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Elizabeth Lumley, an all-around FinTech expert who is currently the deputy Editor at The Banker, a company from the FT. Elizabeth has received State Street's UK Press Award for Journalist of the Year for Technology and Digital Finance in 2022. For 20+ years, Elizabeth has been a global specialist commentator on regulations, risk, data, and technology in investment, retail, and global transaction banking. She is recognized internationally as one of the leading voices in FinTech and banking technology innovation as well as a well-established global conference speaker, as well as conference organizer. During this discussion, Sabine and Elizabeth dive into the trends affecting FinTech in the upcoming year. KEY TAKEAWAYS I’ve been in this industry for about 28 years – kind of by accident, I wanted to be a journalist, specializing in politics. Still, most of what I’ve done in this space is being a reporter or an editor covering how banks and financial insurance firms use data and technology. Now, I’m deputy editor of The Banker magazine as part of the Financial Times. It’s been an exciting journey through this really varied and immense industry of banking and financial services. I got on Twitter when it was first starting, and my voice became amplified. I’m full of opinions, and I can’t keep them silent, so I write blogs next to doing interviews with people, webcasts, and events, and I started posting on Twitter, and people really responded to that. Social media has been perfect for me and my career. This was also when smaller FinTech companies started emerging, it was a perfect storm. A lot of people are talking about where financial services are going with the metaverse and web 3.0 and how payments and services are going to be embedded in that world in the future. That’s an interesting conversation, but right now, it’s very innovative theatre-y, something to talk about on stage, and nothing is actually happening. What’s actually happening right now is that we’ve had so much growth over the years – not just in startups but in banks as well – there is a focus on efficiency, cost-cutting, saving money, and talent retention. It’s not a sexy thing to talk about, but I guarantee you that it's what every bank is working on right now. Insurance is one of those sectors where the sexiest part of it is that you don’t know it’s there. We’ve had insurance embedded into things for a very long time when you buy a car, for example. You only know it’s there when you need it. I think that having that service there for the customer when they need it is harder to achieve than people realize. I think the idea of owning the customer so you can sell them more stuff is the mindset of a lot of people in the industry, instead of acknowledging the customer so you can serve them better, which I think would actually make them more profitable customers actually in the long run. But that’s not the mindset a lot of people have.  BEST MOMENTS ‘Pick your investors wisely.’‘Journalism has changed a lot in the past 30 years. I wanted to be a magazine editor, and I’m glad I didn’t go into that world because I probably wouldn’t have a job. You’ve got to pay for quality, which is why the FT and The Banker are behind paywalls.’‘Social media puts you in charge of what you’re putting out into the world and the narrative you’re putting out into the world.’‘To me, FinTech is any way of using technology to improve banking and other financial services.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Elizabeth Lumley is an all-around FinTech expert who is currently deputy editor at The Banker, a company from the FT. For 20+ years, she has been a global specialist commentator on services, regulations, risk, data and technology in investment, retail, and global transaction banking  Elizabeth is internationally recognised as one of the leading voices in FinTech and banking technology innovation, and is a well-established global conference speaker, as well as conference organiser. Her expertise includes: technology installations and market data usage at global investment banks, retail banks, institutions and exchanges as well as the emerging FinTech ecosystem of new entrants and startups. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethlumley/  ABOUT THE HOST Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.  Twitter: SabineVdL LinkedIn: Sabine VanderLinden Instagram: sabinevdLofficial Facebook: SabineVdLOfficial TikTok: sabinevdlofficial Email: podcast@sabinevdl.com Website: www.sabinevdl.com

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Steve Abel from EPAM, a dedicated, results-oriented executive with a proven hands-on track record and superior ability to build highly effective teams to deliver success within all levels of an organization. EPAM is one of the best-kept secrets, voted one of the leading and fastest-growing information technology companies in the world. EPAM today leads the charge in the field of global digital and physical transformation and digital platform engineering services. The company has over 61,000 employees across 6 continents and 50 countries. In this episode, Sabine and Steve cover three main topics: Changes in the way innovation is delivered today, repairing broken processes with the right engineering mindset, and the requirements for building the business of tomorrow. KEY TAKEAWAYS The way technology solves problems today is from point solutions to point solutions. This is a flawed way to solve the technology problem and build highly effective business models. Imagine if there were tools that had 95% of what a business needs to operate. You would only buy things that are available as part of the packages. As an insurer, you would be able to gain benefits as you would need fewer specialists to determine whether to buy, build, or partner. Pull widgets that could be your integration engine. Could be cheaper than what is available, and you could rebuild in a bespoke way that is unique. I was in a stable job at KPMG. When the pandemic hit, I worked on a project with no real choice but to deliver tech assets quickly. Then I decided to do some investigating and discovered EPAM. They loved my idea and then thought about new technology in new ways to solve the client’s problem with purpose in a different way. EPAM is multi-sectors, and I sit within the insurance business unit. How do startups grow? One option is to use cloud-based assets that ease the creation of reusable assets. This is a profound change in how people think about technology and business; cloud-based tooling, data mash-up, etc. We can unlock the power of these tools and bring them together as a unified landscape. Insurance carriers are struggling with geospatial data (for instance) because of their legacy systems and the way each carrier goes about integrating data into systems. Each carrier wants to know if they are getting unique information from you, but they don’t need the dashboard or data very often. They want to process an algorithm that gives them an answer. BEST MOMENTS ‘A lot of commercialized software is not fit for purpose. Still, businesses operate thousands of spreadsheets. This is not right for the employees and gives poor customer service.’‘I love to wake up and ensure that customers do every day what they do best with others.’‘If you have not thought on how to do so. Hire an expert to think through the problem in a new way for you. You will get to the optimum outcome faster and likely cheaper too.’‘Get the right tools and get the approach right. I can ensure you, you will be impressed them.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Steve Abel is a transformation executive with a dedicated, results-oriented executive, a proven hands-on track record and superior ability to build highly effective teams to deliver success within all levels of an organisation. Specialties: Program Management, Insurance, Operations, Shared Services, Enabling Technologies (Oracle, SAP, Workday, PeopleSoft, HFM, etc.), Business Process Reengineering, Finance Leading Practices (e.g., Procure to Pay, Record to Report), Insurance products and data, actuarial platforms (AXIS, Prophet, MG-Alfa, PolySystems, etc.), digital enablement, machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud solutions, business, and technical architecture. Steve worked with large companies such as Capco, EY and KPMG. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenabel/ EPAM: Since 1993, EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM) has leveraged its advanced software engineering heritage to become the foremost global digital transformation services provider – leading the industry in digital and physical product development and digital platform engineering services. Through its innovative strategy; integrated advisory, consulting, and design capabilities; and unique 'Engineering DNA,' EPAM's globally deployed hybrid teams help make the future real for clients and communities around the world by powering better enterprise, education, and health platforms that connect people, optimise experiences, and improve people's lives.  In 2021, EPAM was added to the S&P 500 and included among the list of Forbes Global 2000 companies.   Selected by Newsweek as a 2021 and 2022 Most Loved Workplace, EPAM's global multi-disciplinary teams serve customers in more than 50 countries across six continents. As a recognized leader, EPAM is listed among the top 15 companies in Information Technology Services on the Fortune 1000 and ranked four times as the top IT services company on Fortune's 100 Fastest Growing Companies list. EPAM is also listed among Ad Age's top 25 World's Largest Agency Companies for three consecutive years, and Consulting Magazine named EPAM Continuum a top 20 Fastest Growing Firm. Website: https://www.epam.com/  ABOUT THE HOST Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.  Twitter: SabineVdL LinkedIn: Sabine VanderLinden Instagram: sabinevdLofficial Facebook: SabineVdLOfficial TikTok: sabinevdlofficial Email: podcast@sabinevdl.com Website: www.sabinevdl.com

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Yann Barbarroux, CEO and co-founder of OTONOMI, an InsurTech startup dedicated to mitigate supply chain risk. Yann shares insights about himself, his successes, and the recent fundraising round of USD $ 3.4 million he and his team finalized during very uncertain times. KEY TAKEAWAYS Around 2003 – the onset of the internet bubble in the tech industry – I redirected myself toward financial services. I moved to the US and got a job on Wall Street in New York, and I never left. I’ve spent my entire career in the capital market, risk management, and technology at several financial institutions and brokerage firms. From 2013-2020 I joined CitiGroup in downtown Manhattan doing risk management for structured credits and emerging markets, but more interestingly, in 2017, with the ramp-up of the digital asset era that we encountered, I got involved with emerging tech, deep tech, and blockchain within Citi Ventures' innovation arm and I got incubated as a startup within their innovation lab. I’m not the earliest adopter of blockchain, but 5-6 years of experience in this space feels like decades compared to other industries. Transitioning into entrepreneurship, what became very visible is a lot of the operations, pricing models, and pricing procedures and processes within financial services became very obsolete and very heavy-handed in terms of regulation, and there was a need for new, fresh products in the space. I was working on those items while I was in the innovation lab at CitiGroup ventures. While I was working there, I also came across deals in InsurTech and FinTech, which was very exciting for me. That’s where I came across the fascinating space of parametric insurance – the equivalent of financial derivatives or other binary products in financial markets but in the insurance space. What we bring with OTONOMI is a binary event contract for the supply chain space. We fund-raised in 2021 for our pre-seed or the first tranche of our seed round. This raise was pre-product, pre-revenue. This year we expected to struggle tremendously considering the market circumstances: rampant inflation trends, the political climate between Ukraine and Russia, and the East side of the globe. You would expect an early-stage startup would be struggling enormously for funding, but it turned out our fundraising campaign was more productive this year, and we managed to close it out in 3-4 months. £3.4million raised, and we’re very, very grateful for it. The starting point for us in 2021 was the rippling effect of the global supply chain breaking down. But for us, a few months beforehand, there were two events that were very critical and instrumental. The first was the snowstorm in Texas which was a 1 in 100-year event which has a lot of climate and weather components of parametric that ripple down into transportation. That created such traumatic volatility in the market that it became visible that cargo players, freight, and logistics while being at the forefront of trying to operate as fast as possible, were constrained with huge financial liabilities that they couldn’t recoup from any traditional insurance contract. The second event was a few weeks later in the Suez Canal. Everybody saw it and talked about it. Again, the supply chain couldn’t function properly, and insurance and financial contracts were not transparent enough to serve those players in due time. What was interesting for us was not just the parametric aspects but the binary delay of a potential delay/ interruption of supply chains (which we cover) and also the facilitation of operations and payments.  BEST MOMENTS ‘I’m a nerd at heart but a financial engineer by trade.’‘The turning point for us was when we actually visited Austin, Texas, in person. We were in touch with several VC teams virtually, but the mere fact that we actually went to this conference, handshaking, having coffee, and having in-person chemistry actually created much more interest for our raise, and the VCs sent us a terms sheet two weeks after. This was a tremendous difference from the previous two years during the pandemic.’‘The Insurance sector wants to take the leap of faith now with several projects in the space, us included.’‘We believe that if we have the right infrastructure to collect premium, manage collateral and settle compensation payments within this very much ring-fenced and consistent infrastructure for digital payments, then essentially we can be creating very streamlined processes.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Yann Barbarroux is CEO and co-founder of OTONOMI, an InsurTech focused on transforming the transportation and cargo insurance industry. He was born and raised in Marseille (France), went to grad school (graduated with an MS in Computer Engineering) in Paris, found his first job in Wall Street back in 2003, and never left NY.  He wants OTONOMI to become the one-stop-shop operating layer for parametric insurance policies (data-activated insurance smart contracts), with applications in air freight, marine, trucking, weather, and device coverage. First and foremost, alleviating the customer’s pain points of going through the lengthy claim adjudication process: OTONOMI compresses resolution time from 45 days to 45 minutes. OTONOMI aims to be the de facto “detect, active, and pay” infrastructure InsurTech for all data sources that can be used to create parametric products: database server APIs, logistics analytics, and IoT sensors. For that, it works with data partners such as Chainlink, which provides security and integrity to its event triggers. Website: https://www.otonomi.ai/  Email: yann@otonomi.ai  ABOUT THE HOST Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.  Twitter: SabineVdL LinkedIn: Sabine VanderLinden Instagram: sabinevdLofficial Facebook: SabineVdLOfficial TikTok: sabinevdlofficial Email: podcast@sabinevdl.com Website: www.sabinevdl.com

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast. Sabine talks to Paul Roetzer. Paul Roetzer is the founder and CEO of Marketing AI Institute. He is the author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence, The Marketing Performance Blueprint, and The Marketing Agency Blueprint, and the creator of the Marketing AI Conference (MAICON). In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine and Paul discuss how Artificial Intelligence will evolve marketing practices. Drawing comparisons to how we use AI in our daily lives through social media and marketing. KEY MOMENTS 0:00 Introduction 3:56 What Does Paul Mean by Traditional Marketing Is All Human? 6: 02 What Are the Obstacles to Artificial Intelligence Adoption 8:32 How Did the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute Come About? 11:50 Paul Talks About the Revolutionization of the Market Today. 15:42 What Trends Should One Look Out For In Artificial Intelligence Marketing Technology 18:44 How To Make Artificial Intelligence A Part Of Our Daily Lives. 21:05 What Is The Gap Between The Business School And Learning Artificial Intelligence 23:06 What The Next Generation Need To Have to Lead Them To Success 10. 25:08 What Are The Metrics We Need To Look At In Artificial Intelligence Marketing? 29:12 Advantages and Disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence. 32:24 Five Steps To Implement Artificial Intelligence In The Marketing Environment 34:42 Tips on Tools To Use For Artificial Intelligence 38:42 Words Of Wisdom From Paul   ABOUT THE GUEST Paul Roetzer is the founder and CEO of Marketing AI Institute. He is the author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence (Matt Holt Books, 2022), The Marketing Performance Blueprint (Wiley, 2014), and The Marketing Agency Blueprint (Wiley, 2012); and the creator of the Marketing AI Conference (MAICON). Follow Paul on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulroetzer/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/paulroetzer?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor The Marketing Institute - https://www.marketingaiinstitute.com  ABOUT THE HOST Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, & commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators around the world working with over 30 corporate insurers & accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.  Twitter: SabineVdL LinkedIn: Sabine VanderLinden Instagram: sabinevdLofficial Facebook: SabineVdLOfficial TikTok: sabinevdlofficial Email: podcast@sabinevdl.com Website: www.sabinevdl.com