Vesttoo gets equity funding from Silicon Valley specialists Plug and Play

Vesttoo, a technology firm that uses proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions with the goal of helping companies assess and transfer risks to the capital markets, has secured a new equity investment from Silicon Valley specialist venture platform Plug and Play.

Plug and Play has a long history of investing in start-ups, having funded some tech giants such as Dropbox and PayPal, including in the insurance technology (insurtech) space.

Vesttoo wants to assist risk bearers to better forecast and price longer-tail insurance and reinsurance exposures, including longevity risk, excess mortality risk, lapse, as well as Value-in-Force (VIF) monetization and also what it terms excess mortality Industry Loss Warranties (ILW), then transfer those risks to the capital markets.

Vesttoo takes an actuarial approach to its offering of data-driven risk management solutions that can help insurance and reinsurance companies, and pension funds, unlock efficient sources of capital markets funding for their risk transfer needs.

The investment from Plug and Play is seen as “an exceptional vote of confidence in Vesttoo’s AI and Machine Learning technologies as well as the value Vesttoo can provide the insurance and capital markets,” by the company.

Plug and Play joins Vesttoo as a shareholder through an equity investment, which comes shortly after the tech company took on another new investor in Longevitytech.fund, which focuses on global longevity-related companies, including those focused on advanced technologies, as well as fintech and insurtech startups.

“We are very excited to have Plug and Play on board and to join the ranks of prominent and successful companies which have graduated Plug and Play’s programs. In today’s volatile economy and Covid-19 stress, taking advantage of AI-based technologies to assess, price and transfer risk to the capital markets is the best way to bridge the insurance industry’s funding gap and face the increasing challenges,” Yaniv Bertele, CEO of Vesttoo commented.

“We are very happy to support Vesttoo on their journey to bridge the insurance and capital markets. We invest in innovative insurtech companies that address the increasing challenges facing the insurance markets, and we believe that Vesttoo is uniquely positioned to do just that. We are looking forward to our joint collaboration,” added Saeed Amidi, CEO of Plug and Play.

Vesttoo also recently announced the publication of mortality risk models and forecasts for the U.S., including COVID-19 impacts, and offered the resulting index for use in mortality risk transfer transactions.