Our CEO, Jodi Scarlett and Chairman, Ross Huartt, were thrilled to make the trip across the pond to London, during Insurtech week. Lloyd’s Labs was hosting cutting-edge Insurtech’s in cohort 12 live in person for its pitch day, which would be followed by networking drinks on their underwriting floor. The successful cohort members would become a part of the Lloyd’s Labs 10-week accelerator program. Giving them exclusive access to learning materials, mentorship and coaching programs, delivered by the Lloyd’s of London pros.
We began our trip by meeting with ten stakeholders the day prior to pitch day. Although it was a busy day, it was great to put real faces to names and get to know some of our U.K. based stakeholders live and in person.
We had the pleasure of meeting with David Berg, Chief Operating Officer, Energy and Power for Marsh Specialty, as well as Chelsea Thibodeau from Royal Claims Services an associate we knew from Calgary who had relocated to London. We were grateful to have the opportunity to meet with these and many other influential insurance executives.
With pitch day happening in the evening, we thought we would make use of our time, and do some touring of Spitalfields market. Maybe take in some sights, do a little shopping and have a meal. While it is an engaging and exciting place to be, our hearts weren’t in it. We were too excited for pitch day to enjoy our time at the market, so we headed to the financial district to spend the rest of the day meeting all the other great companies in the lab in the green room and take in the iconic Lloyd’s building.
A few of these Insurtech companies caught our eye and made us take notice. The first was Gigaforce, a start up that helps improve loss ratios in P/C insurance with intelligent automation, built on decades of experience. The second was Cover Your AI. They offer AI risk protection plans, that cover your business against unexpected costs associated with deploying new AI use cases. We were in good company with this group of founders. You can find out about the other businesses who joined us here.
The Lloyd’s building is home to the original insurance institution, Lloyd’s of London, of course. Among a variety of engaging exhibits lives the Lloyd’s showstopper; the historic Lutine bell, which stands proudly at its centre, a well-known symbol of the insurance industries story.
After a ship Lloyd’s had insured, which was carrying a large amount of silver and gold sunk, all they were able to recover, was the Lutine bell. It was eventually hung in Lloyd’s underwriting room and rung twice to alert underwriters of overdue ships they’d insured coming into safety, or once, if the ship was lost. It very much felt like a right of passage in our insurance industry journey, for us to visit the Lutine bell and explore the Lloyd’s of London building.
It turned out to be a great idea to head on down to Lloyd’s early, as not only were able to take in the Lutine bell, but we were also able to experience the frenetic energy of the building and take part in a tour. You could feel the electricity, witness collaboration and business transacting in real time.
Finally, it was time for us to take part in pitch day. We headed from the green room where we had been meeting the other founders, to the banqueting area to present our pitch and were thrilled to find a full audience present.
Ross delivered a compelling and vibrant pitch. Discussing how with EcoClaims end-to-end solution, insurers can measure, verify and reduce greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions throughout their supply chains. He went on to explain how our three main service areas of training and certification, GhG management software and carbon exchange, help insurers and their vendors become climate leaders.
Jodi replied with ease and finesse to Mike Jones, the former CEO of Crawford U.K. and Tom Allebone-Webb, the head of strategy and innovation for Lloyd’s, questions, among others. The crowd was excited to hear about our services and the potential they have to make a real impact on climate change in our world. to participate in Lloyd’s Labs Cohort 12 pitch day for their 10-week accelerator program. Despite giving it the full Monty and generating a tonne of interest, we were not the chosen ones to take part in this years accelerator. However, we made great connections, solidified stakeholder relationships, and got EcoClaim on the Lloyd’s of London’s radar. We will be back in London in May to speak at the RICS conference. And you can bet your bottom dollar, you’ll see us back at Lloyd’s in the near future!