Building Malaysia’s Insurtech Ecosystem
Hello Subscribers! Head’s Up has a special interview today with Amitabh Verma, Vice President of FWD Technology and Innovation Malaysia Sdn Bhd who will be speaking on the recently launched, FWD Start-Up Studio.
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Building Malaysia’s Insurtech Ecosystem
In early March 2021, FWD Insurance launched its FWD Start-Up Studio, an initiative to support insurtech and takafultech startups in Malaysia with a seed funding of RM1.2 million for over two years.
The first cohort of intakes started in April and the second cohort is set to open later in the year. Two more are slated for 2022.
Amitabh Verma, Vice President of FWD Technology and Innovation Malaysia Sdn Bhd speaks to Head’s Up on the latest initiative and what it has to offer for participating startups.
“The government regulators and various agencies of Malaysia have been working with the industry to develop the takafultech and insurtech ecosystem within the country. We wanted to align our efforts and contribute towards spurring more innovative insurance products and solutions,” Amitabh says.
The Studio also aims to build a new talent pool for insurance and takaful technology and help streamline the relationship between FWD, emerging startups and adjacent technologies in Malaysia.
And to better help participating startups, the Studio has customised tracks to provide the necessary support for startups at different stages of their journey.
a. Early-stage: Twice a year, FWD and 1337 Ventures (“1337” will be organising a pre- accelerator programme to help startups bring their ideas to the market.
The programme will be open to 25 startups in each cohort and offers startups the opportunity to accelerate towards a minimum viable product (MVP) and commercially partner with FWD. On the demo-day, FWD and 1337 Ventures will be co- investing RM150,000 each to the top two startups from each cohort.
b. Mid-stage: FWD is actively working and collaborating with startups and other venture building partners to test and co-create innovative products and services aiming to deliver superior service and experience to the customers; and extend outreach of financial services and products to the better serve our customers as well as the underserved market segments.
c. Later-stage: FWD will work with the Studio’s portfolio startups on proof-of-concepts or pilots and assist the start-ups to scale through bringing these innovative products and services to FWD’s pan-Asia markets.
The studio’s partner, Amazon Web Services (AWS) through the AWS Activate programme has offered participants up to a year’s free cloud credits worth US$100,000.
Participants would also be gaining access to coaches and mentors from the industry to help bring their products to the market. The Studio is also working closely with government agencies and regulators in the country to support startups on regulatory and compliance validation with these stakeholders.
“We are keen to work with startups to enhance the customer experience or help to reach underserved market segments, tapping capabilities in artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing and others,” he says.
According to Amitabh, the initiative is already receiving a welcoming number of submissions, and many others have expressed interest and are currently putting pitch proposals together.
The team is planning to ramp up the recruitment efforts through tapping into FWD’s existing local and new regional networks.
Government agencies have also been helping the Studio to promote their programme to their alumni network and local business communities.
Closing The Gap
According to Life Insurance Association Malaysia (LIAM), life insurance penetration rate in Malaysia has been hovering at about 54 percent for the past five years. And if one were to eliminate the people who possess multiple life insurance and takaful policies, the figure can probably be further reduced to about 41 percent of the population being insured.
“The Studio’s goal is to make insurance accessible to everyone through various distribution channels both digitally and physically. We are working with Startups towards offering simpler, easy-to-understand products with minimal exclusion,” Amitabh tells Head’s Up.
He further shares that the Studio has been working with various local institutions to understand the challenges and opportunities for startups and entrepreneurs who are passionate and keen in this space to contribute their innovative ideas into bridging the coverage gap in Malaysia.
Talent Pool
Commenting on the talent pool available for insurtech, Amitabh says the talent in Malaysia is very competitive compared to peers in Asia Pacific.
“A large number of the population have at least secondary or tertiary education, and the diversity in culture and language makes these talents even more attractive as they are adapted to a multicultural environment,” he says.
Malaysia is home to a very vibrant multicultural and multilingual community, which has been ranked 4th amongst Emerging Market in Asia Pacific 2020, 2nd in ASEAN for Competitive & Vibrant Ecosystem 2019, and 1st in the INSEAD Global Talent competitiveness index 2019.
The pre-accelerator programme’s 1st cohort application will close on May 14 and the programme will be kickstarted on May 19.
Interested startups can visit the pre-accelerator programme website for more information. To access, click here