Willis Towers Watson has completed the sale of its usage-based insurance assets to Octo Telematics, a U.K.-based telematics company focused on the auto insurance industry.
Both sides first announced the planned transaction in October. Neither company disclosed financial details.
This acquisition includes Willis Towers Watson’s DriveAbility solution and the DriveAbility Marketplace. Additionally, Geoff Werner, global telematics leader, will join Octo, reporting directly to Fabio Sbianchi, CEO of Octo.
DriveAbility aggregates and analyzes telematics and insurance data to provide a driving score to assist insurers to design, score, issue and bind telematics-based insurance policies, according to Octo.
As part of the sale, Octo will also form a strategic alliance with Willis Towers Watson, focusing on advancing UBI data analytics through algorithms and tools to provide insights to the insurance industry. The alliance will be led by Octo, under the guidance of an advisory board chaired by Werner.
From Octo, Gianfranco Giannella, chief operating officer, and Jonathan Hewett, chief marketing officer, will serve on the board, alongside Willis Towers Watson personnel Duncan Anderson, global leader, Insurance Technology, and Tom Coughlin, national partner, Willis Towers Watson North America.
“DriveAbility is a welcome addition to the Octo product suite, and the work we do with Willis Towers Watson will allow us to continue to build an InsurTech ecosystem that provides ever-greater technological advantages to insurers,” said Sbianchi.
Alice Underwood, global leader, Insurance Consulting and Technology, Willis Towers Watson, said that the tech sale and alliance will be beneficial in multiple ways.
“We are looking forward to working with Octo and continuing to pioneer the use of big data analytics for UBI,” Underwood said in prepared remarks. “By combining the capabilities of our two companies, we will work together to develop the industry and open new markets, especially with the growth that is predicted in the UBI segment. This work in the field of data analysis will enable the driverless cars of the future.”
Source: Octo Telematics