ILS Capital Management backs insurtech platform MLTPLY

Bermuda headquartered ILS fund and reinsurance linked investment manager ILS Capital Management has invested in an insurtech incubation platform called MLTPLY which aims to provide startups with access to funding and services including reinsurance capacity.

MLTPLY aims to launch a new insurtech startup offering every six months, by investing in and accelerating innovation for startup companies.

All of its investments include venture funding, services such as operational infrastructure, insurance product delivery and support as well as all-important fronting paper or facilities and reinsurance capacity.

MLTPLY targets seed-stage insurtechs that aim to solve small businesses’ and consumers’ protection and insurance needs in areas of property and casualty.

Areas of specific focus will include where technology and coverage are key areas of innovation, including through use of telematics, new data, new markets, complex markets, and non-admitted offerings that require technology scale.

“Simultaneous delivery of coverage, experience and technology innovation in insurance is prohibitively costly — it’s too highly regulated,” explained Gloria Guntinas, CEO of MLTPLY. “But there are plenty of $150 million opportunities out there that are blocked from funding because they’re too small for big insurance companies to dedicate resources to. There’s massive potential in these seed-level startups, and MLTPLY helps them realize that value by freeing them from the time-consuming core business functions so they can focus entirely on solving market changing problems.”

The idea is to incubate and accelerate delivery of insurtech products to market, by providing a lot of the market infrastructure required and that can be challenging for insurtech startups to access, leaving the founders freer to focus on the product and not get tied up in market compliance issues.

ILS Capital Management has been investing in insurtech startups for a while, as part of its diversified approach to accessing insurance and reinsurance market returns.

The investment manager has become a key investor in MLTPLY, while it is likely also attractive to be involved and able to assist with fronting and reinsurance capacity, given ILS Capital Management has its own insurance carrier and reinsurance collateral it can put to work.

“A good corporate accelerator eliminates distractions and enables the founders to focus time and resources on the problem they’re trying to solve. That’s exactly what MLTPLY brings to the insurtech market,” explained Tom Libassi, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of ILS Capital Management. “It doesn’t have to be all or nothing either. For example, even if a startup already has funding, MLTPLY can provide insurance and operational support. That kind of flexibility unlocks the potential we’re seeing in seed-stage insurtech companies.”