MetLife Japan today announced six finalists for its open innovation program, collab 4.0. The program invites insurtech companies globally to scale their business with MetLife while solving some of the insurer’s biggest innovation challenges across its Japan business. Developed by LumenLab, MetLife’s Asia innovation center, the program invites insurtech companies to compete for a ￥10 million contract1 to create and pilot solutions in areas such as customer engagement, sales, and operations with MetLife Japan.
Since launching in August, collab 4.0 has attracted 140 applications from startups based in more than 40 countries around the world. The six finalists are:
1. Drawbridge, Inc. (United States) leverages Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies to build democratized, people-based identity management solutions in various applications including: advertising, personalization, content management, product recommendations, risk detection, and more.
2. Tricella, Inc. (United States) is addressing the drug adherence problem with its wireless smart pillbox. It reminds users when to take their medication and can alert family members through an app when a dose isn’t taken on time.
3. Sasuke Financial Lab, Inc. (Japan) offers robo insurance advisor, “Donuts”, which instantly provides users recommendations on what type of cover they need and which products they should purchase after they answer only seven questions.
4. CUBE Content Governance Global Limited (United Kingdom) provides a regulatory intelligence platform that automates the process of managing regulatory change. Global regulations are monitored and analyzed, alerting financial institutions to changes that impact their policy and procedures, across all lines of business and jurisdictions.
5. Color Genomics, Inc. (United States) helps people know what their genes say about their risk for cancer and heart conditions, and how they might respond to medications.
(Note: Genetic information collected by Color Genomics will not be made available to MetLife Insurance K.K.)
6. Knowtions Research, Inc. (Canada) unlocks messy health data to surface predictive insights for health insurers globally.
The finalists will hone their ideas over the next two months before attending the collab Summit and Demo Day in Tokyo on Dec.5 and 6, where the winner will be announced.
To help the finalists develop their solutions and enhance their understanding of MetLife’s business, they will be paired with “employee champions” who will provide tailored mentoring, underscoring MetLife’s commitment to talent development and promoting a culture of innovation.
“Collab is an opportunity to work with cutting-edge startups. Our employees work directly with the finalists to develop ideas for products and services that appeal to our customers,” said Webster Coates, senior vice president and chief strategy officer, MetLife Japan.
“We’re excited to see collab gain momentum in this its fourth batch. We have received more diverse entries from more countries than ever before. These six innovative finalists know how to work with insurers, and most importantly, they know how to help us address the rising expectations of insurance customers in Asia. It will be a pleasure to work with them in the coming months,” said Zia Zaman, LumenLab’s chief executive officer and chief innovation officer, MetLife Asia.
1 This amount equates to approx. US$89,555 based on the FX rate as at Aug. 3, 2018.
Collab 4.0 follows three successful collab programs, including one in 2017 which saw MetLife Japan award contracts to three innovative companies: Montoux, a product pricing solution; WorkFusion, an AI-driven automation solution, and Japan-based Moneytree, a leading personal finance management app.
Since its inception in 2016, collab has attracted 538 applications from more than 60 countries and MetLife has awarded US$700,000 worth of contracts through the program. These business contracts have gone into developing practical solutions that are delivering value to MetLife’s business and customer experience.
For more information on collab 4.0 and the six finalists, visit: http://collab.lumenlab.sg/
About MetLife
MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), through its subsidiaries and affiliates (“MetLife”), is one of the world’s leading financial services companies, providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to help its individual and institutional customers navigate their changing world. Founded in 1868, MetLife has operations in more than 40 countries and holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. For more information, visit www.metlife.com.
About MetLife Insurance K.K.
MetLife Japan started operations in 1973 as the first foreign life insurance company in Japan and currently operates as a Japanese corporation and an affiliate of MetLife, Inc., a leading global financial services company that aims to help people become more self-reliant and able to pursue more from life. MetLife Japan provides a broad, innovative range of products through diverse distribution channels to individual and institutional customers.
For more information, visit http://www.metlife.co.jp
About LumenLab
As MetLife’s pioneers for disruptive innovation, LumenLab is charging ahead to create new businesses in health, wealth and retirement. Lumen, a measure of light, symbolizes our commitment to illuminating a new path for solving the problems that the people of Asia face today. Through our focus on building new products and services grounded in technology and data, we aim to help people achieve richer and more fulfilling lives. For more information, visit http://www.lumenlab.sg
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