Startups vs. Incumbents Revisited: Q32018

December 17, 2018 by Matteo Carbone and Adrian Jones

We first pointed out in a second quarter analysis of VC-backed startups Root, Lemonade and Metromile that companies run or led by well-known underwriters were growing slowly but far more profitable than those with venture capital backing. That hasn’t changed in third-quarter 2018.

Executive Summary

Carrier Management is republishing this analysis of the statutory financials of three InsurTech carriers as a four-part series. For the complete original article, visit the LinkedIn pages of Matteo Carbone or Adrian Jones.

Here are the four subsidiaries of big companies that are selling direct or have a claim on being an InsurTech. These companies often depend on parents for reinsurance and infrastructure, so we show mainly the gross figures.

Here’s how they compare to the trio of VC-backed InsurTech carriers we have been tracking:


Related Articles

In Part 1, the authors present overall loss ratio, expense ratio and combined ratio results from statutory filings of the three insurers. “Between An Ant and A Grasshopper, Lemonade’s Results ‘Most Improved’ for Q32018

In Part 2, “Getting to the Root of the Problem: Why One InsurTech’s Loss Ratios Still Disappoint,” the authors take an in-depth look at results for one of the three carriers.

In Part 3, they answer the question, “Can an InsurTech Startup Compete With Progressive and GEICO?”