May 11, 2022

Sam Evans: InsurTech, Sustainability and ESG

47 minutes

On this episode, Sabine VdL interviews Sam Evans, Partner at EOS Venture Partners, a Strategic Venture Capital fund and an InsurTech investment specialist with offices in London and Philadelphia. This is their 2nd interview as Sam appeared in episode 6 of Scouting for Growth. Here, the pair discusses sustainability and ESG, the impact of urbanization, climate risk, and supply chain risk. Topics that have become increasingly important for many sectors of the economy, with over 2.2 trillion searches on Google's search engine for the term ESG (as of May 2022)

KEY TAKEAWAYS

As a global economy, we’re facing a number of pivotal challenges. These include major weather-related events linked to climate change and other natural catastrophes, significant population dynamics in many parts of the world, including aging populations, as well as the development of the right urban infrastructure to support people. With current urbanization trends, a significant proportion of the population is moving into cities, resulting in challenges with housing and logistics. Insurance and InsurTech have a key role to play in supporting these major macro shifts.

Equality of access to healthcare is going to be critical as we face growing populations. Here we’re looking at the ability to leverage different ways of thinking about insurance, making it less about a pure protection-driven product and more about a protection-focused approach to help them live healthier, longer lives.

We’re going to see a lot more gig economy workers, and we’re already seeing that traditional insurance solutions aren’t fit for purpose because they’re generic, not usage-based, and don’t align with policyholders' underlying behaviors.

Responding to natural catastrophes is an area where the insurance industry as a whole is already doing significant work, and there are many initiatives to reduce the protection gap, but clearly, a large proportion of vulnerable economies and populations still lack insurance. So, closing that protection gap will be important.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Clearly there’s a lot that can be done to make healthcare more affordable, easier to access, but also a lot more efficient.’

‘Close to 50% of the US population score badly from a credit risk perspective and are therefore penalised through the cost of their insurance. The ability to tailor usage-based coverage that switches seamlessly between personal and commercial usage – for example, if you’re using your vehicle for a ride-share scheme, this becomes very relevant for individuals.’

‘Energy usage and efficiency gains are going to become a lot more important. We have to be much more focused and smart around how we use resources. Technology can play a key role even from a home perspective on energy usage by using IoT, sensors, and smart AI to improve behaviours, enhance efficiency, and lower energy usage.’

‘Insurance touches every single part of the economy, so it’s a natural enabler for driving these initiatives.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Sam is a partner at EOS Venture Partners, a Strategic Venture Capital fund and an InsurTech investment specialist with offices in London and Philadelphia. EOS invests in Series A and Series B growth ventures with emerging business models and new technologies that will impact and transform the insurance industry.

Today, EOS provides financing and advisory services to leading entrepreneurs building innovative insurance businesses. In partnership with RAW Capital Partners, EOS offers a unique solution for growth-stage InsurTech companies.

ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.

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