Zurich Financial Services Australia (Zurich) has announced that Australian insurtech start-up, ‘Kanopi’, had won the Australian round of its global Innovation Championship for its innovative customer-facing software platform designed to empower insurers and their customers.

In its fourth year, the Zurich Innovation Championship offers start-ups the opportunity to work with Zurich on solutions to solve key challenges within the insurance sector. In 2023 these were identified as: customer experience; commercial insurance; distribution partnerships; digital enablement; and sustainability.

Australian winner, Kanopi, is a cloud-native, data-driven platform that uses modular, low code software to help insurers create, manage, distribute, embed, and scale new products to customers.

Jacqui Lennon, Head of Retail, Zurich Australia & New Zealand said: “As an insurer, we understand how quickly risks can change. Investing in innovative, digital solutions is incredibly important to ensure we are evolving at the same rapid pace and can continue to serve customers to the high standard Zurich is known for.” 

“The Zurich Innovation Championship provides a fantastic opportunity for us to support start-ups on their journey, propel their solutions and fresh ideas to market, and have a significant positive impact on our industry, customers and community,” Ms Lennon said.

Nigel Fellowes-Freeman, Chief Executive and Founder of Kanopi said: “We are incredibly excited to win the Australian round of the Zurich Innovation Championship – and at the prospect of Zurich’s support to really scale our product offering to the next level.”

The 2023 Zurich Innovation Championship attracted a record number of submissions, confirming its status as one of the largest startup events in the industry. Globally, the competition saw a record 3,500 applicants – up from over 2,600 last year – with the Australian round receiving over 100 entries.

Kanopi will now present to Zurich executives in Switzerland at the global round against other national winners from across the world. The overall global winner will then enter a four-month accelerator program to test their solution, receiving up to USD100,000 in funding and up to USD120,000 for software and cloud support services.

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