Bindable, an InsurTech for alternative distribution, joined Guidewire’s Insurtech Vanguards Program, a new initiative led by property/casualty cloud platform provider Guidewire to help insurers learn about the newest InsurTechs and how to leverage them.

Insurtech Vanguards is a community of select startups and technology providers. As part of the program, Guidewire provides guidance to and advocates for the participating InsurTechs, while also bringing them to the attention of Guidewire’s property/casualty customers. Through the program, members will also regularly contribute to various Guidewire-produced and hosted marketing activities and content to share their insights and innovation best practices with a broader audience.

Bindable works to enhance alternative distribution channels by providing a digital marketplace and a full suite of agency services that connect insurance providers, brands and consumers. Through Bindable’s product distribution platform, partners can provide their customers with access to coverage through an auto and home insurance digital choice product and a full suite of ancillary products, including renters, pet and travel insurance to supplement existing coverage plans.

Bindable is headquartered in Boston, Mass.

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U.S. InsurTech Root Insurance will use artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline and accelerate its claims operations using Tractable’s suite of AI products.

Root will launch the partnership with the AI Subro product from Tractable to enable it to assess and respond to subrogation demands more accurately and efficiently. Tractable specializes in AI for accident and disaster recovery.

By integrating Tractable’s AI, Root will accelerate its end-to-end claims process, beginning with subrogation. This is the process by which two insurance carriers align on the split of expenses when multiple parties are involved in a claim. Tractable’s AI Subro product reviews subrogation requests made by one insurance carrier to another and helps them to reach consensus more quickly and consistently.

Root is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.

In a separate move, Spanish multinational insurance group MAPFRE and Tractable announced they are collaborating to help MAPFRE customers have their cars repaired more efficiently with the help of AI.

MAPFRE will now apply Tractable’s AI to its auto claims, with the goal of helping its customers recover faster from minor auto damage. The product, which will first be applied at MAPFRE’s operations in Brazil, will accelerate how quickly it can return vehicles to customers after an accident by as much as two weeks.

As part of the collaboration, MAPFRE and Tractable have deployed an AI model that uses photographs, taken on a customer’s mobile phone, to carry out an end-to-end, automated appraisal on car claims with low-value damages.

After automatically reviewing the images, the system identifies the damaged areas and the severity and subsequently determines the extent of vehicle repair that is required, which can range from touching up the paint to repairing or replacing certain parts. In addition, Tractable’s technology features real-time pricing of the appraisal and the ability to route work orders directly to repair shops.

Tractable’s AI uses deep learning for computer vision, in addition to machine learning techniques. The AI is trained with many millions of photographs of vehicle damage, and the algorithms learn from experience by analyzing a variety of different examples. Tractable’s technology can be applied globally to any vehicle.

Specialists from both companies in advanced analytics, technology, operations and innovation are working side by side on the project, together with engineers from CESVIMAP, MAPFRE’s research and development center, and appraisal experts.

Tractable develops artificial intelligence systems for accident and disaster recovery. Its AI products process more than $2 billion a year in vehicle repairs and purchases and have been deployed by more than 20 of the global top 100 insurers across Europe, North America and Asia.

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DUAL North America Inc. announced a new partnership with Munich Re Syndicate Ltd., Lloyd’s 457, launching a crisis management underwriting program offering product recall and contaminated products insurance services.

DUAL Crisis Management is quoting new business beginning in January 2022. The team will underwrite and provide specialty claims handling for a range of food and beverage, agriculture, consumer products, and manufacturing industries.

Worldwide coverages for U.S.-based risks will include accidental contamination, government recall, malicious product tampering, product extortion, adverse publicity, defect, error in design, epidemic failure, workplace violence and more.

The crisis management program will be offered by a team of 11 veteran underwriters and a claims professional, who all joined DUAL last year from Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. The team is led by three managing principals: Mark LeBlanc, Christian Waeldner and Robley Moor. LeBlanc and Moor brought the team to Swiss Re in 2016.

DUAL North America Inc. is a specialty program administrator offering property, casualty and financial lines products through several specialized operating subsidiaries.

Sources: Bindable, Root Insurance, MAPFRE, Dual North America Inc.