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HARTFORD, Conn., Jan. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Covr Financial Technologies announced that Jim Gothers has been appointed as Head of National Sales for its financial institution business, supporting banks, brokerage firms, wealth management firms and RIA partner firms. Reporting to Jim will be Covr’s insurance sales consultant team, advanced insurance division, policy analytics team, and key account directors.
Jim brings unquestioned innovation, insurance, financial planning and sales leadership experience to the role. He spent fourteen years with Merrill Lynch and Bank of America leading insurance distribution nationally. Jim led thirty specialists from the insurance, trust, long-term care, and annuity areas as National Sales Manager for Merrill’s insurance group. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Jim was one of Hartford Life’s leading account executives supporting brokerage firms, banks, independent broker dealers, and independent agents. He began his career with Cigna’s life insurance group. Jim is a sought-after presenter and is passionate about engaging advisors and clients in making insurance part of their financial planning and wellness efforts.
“Jim brings an amazing breadth of skills to the role. He has a track record of driving innovation through strategic sales leadership,” said Mike Kalen, CEO of Covr Financial Technologies. “We are excited to have Jim in this role as Covr continues to innovate and simplify insurance for financial advisors. Adding Jim’s experience to Covr’s leadership team will accelerate our growth.”
Covr’s three products offer a full suite of digital life insurance platforms, tools and planning services for financial institutions, including: Covr Advisor for financial advisors, Covr Consumer for banks, credit unions and other financial institutions offering insurance products directly to their customers, and Covr Insights for inforce policy management.
About Covr Financial Technologies Inc.
Covr partners with financial institutions to provide life insurance solutions to their customers in an efficient, easy way that streamlines the process of selling and buying policies. Covr offers a choice of trusted life insurance products from leading insurance carriers, advanced insurance planning solutions, an easy way to compare rates, and the ability to purchase policies within minutes. Through its white-label solutions, Covr helps financial institutions deliver a great experience under an existing brand their customers already trust. Covr currently serves over 24,000 financial advisors and 10 million customers across 30 financial institutions.
Covr’s investors include seven leading venture capital firms: Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Allianz Life Ventures, Connectivity Capital Partners, Contour Venture Partners, Connecticut Innovations and Fairview Capital. Covr’s Advisory Board includes financial services leaders, including Chairman Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse; Gregg Fleming of Rockefeller Capital and Bob Kerzner, formerly CEO of LIMRA.
For more information, please visit www.covrtech.com and follow @covrtech
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SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — A new partnership with Covr Financial Technologies fills out the RetireOne platform of insurance solutions for Registered Investment Advisors (“RIAs”). RIAs may work through RetireOne’s desk of insurance experts to get quotes, analysis, recommendations and coverage for clients in need of insurance protections. Included in the offering are term, whole life, variable universal life, long-term care, and disability insurance from multiple highly-rated carriers.
“Without insurance licenses, fee-only fiduciaries have had to either ignore the insurance component of client financial plans, or outsource it to insurance agents,” said RetireOne founder and CEO David Stone. “It can be risky to send clients to someone who may not have their best interests in mind. RetireOne’s desk of experts work directly with the advisors to find solutions that fit their clients’ plans as they design them. And as financial advice grows more automated and commoditized, advisors need to add differentiating capabilities. Insurance planning helps them keep an eye on the whole client and provides tangible advantages over those who don’t offer it.”
IARs of RIAs with insurance licenses may also leverage this turnkey RetireOne insurance solution with the added depth of Envestnet MoneyGuide. Covr’s robust integration with Envestnet MoneyGuide brings that software’s latest insurance planning features to bear, allowing subscribers to create projections, model the impact of insurance on client financial plans, and apply online.
“Life insurance protection is a critical component of a comprehensive financial plan,” said Covr CEO Mike Kalen. “As financial planning evolves and demand grows for financial advice from fiduciaries, we want to nurture that growth by working with the RetireOne team to support and educate these advisors as they work to successfully integrate insurance into their practices and into client plans.”
Covr and RetireOne will team up to produce ongoing educational webinars, create content, and provide support for RIAs wishing to grow their practices with insurance protections for their clients. “As insurance and annuity back office for over 900 RIAs, we have evolved our platform to meet their growing needs,” said David Stone. “Covr technologies help us create optimal advisor and client experiences, and we’re excited to have them on board to help grow and improve our platform capabilities.”
About RetireOne
Serving over 900 RIAs and fee-based advisors since 2011, Aria Retirement Solutions’ RetireOne® is the leading, independent platform for fee-based insurance solutions. With offerings from multiple “A” rated companies, RIAs may access this fiduciary marketplace at no additional cost to them or their clients. Currently nearing $1 billion of retirement savings and income investments, RetireOne continues to grow in its mission to provide advisors and their clients valuable retirement solutions that are simple to use, easy to understand, and delivered with outstanding service. Learn more at RetireOne.com and follow us on Twitter @RetireOne.
About COVR Financial Technologies Inc.
Covr partners with financial institutions to provide life insurance solutions to their customers in an efficient, easy way that streamlines the process of selling and buying policies. Covr offers a choice of trusted life insurance products from leading insurance carriers, advanced insurance planning solutions, an easy way to compare rates, and the ability to purchase policies within minutes. Through its white-label solutions, Covr helps financial institutions deliver a great experience under an existing brand their customers already trust. Covr currently serves 24,000 financial advisors and 10 million customers across 30 financial institutions.
Covr’s investors include five leading venture capital firms: Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Allianz Life Ventures, Connectivity Capital Partners and Contour Venture Partners. Covr’s Advisory Board includes financial services industry leaders, including Chairman Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; and Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse.
For more information, please visit www.covrtech.com and follow @covrtech
Read More...Covr Financial Technologies Announces the Next Generation of its Technology-Enabled Life Insurance Platform
HARTFORD, Conn., Sept. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Covr Financial Technologies announces an expansion of its market-leading, technology-enabled life insurance services for financial institutions to include enhanced sales support, advanced insurance advice for permanent life insurance, and a new series of digitally-enabled platform tools.
Covr’s solutions for financial advisors now include expanded advanced insurance planning capabilities for permanent life insurance solutions and more complex needs, such as estate planning and charitable giving. Covr has added Doug Brisco, SVP of Estate and Business Insurance Planning, to its team to lead Covr’s efforts to provide technology-enabled insurance planning for high-net-worth clients. With vast life insurance industry experience and a background in both finance and law, Doug brings a wealth of experience in advanced insurance strategies. This adds to Covr’s centralized and digitally-enabled team of insurance consultants and policy analysts serving financial advisors.
Additionally, Covr has extended its suite of real-time life insurance quoting tools to include more permanent life insurance solutions and greater transparency into insurance carriers offering faster underwriting. Covr’s client services have also expanded to include intelligent underwriting solutions for high-net-worth and difficult-to-place clients.
“Covr leads the market as the simplest way for financial advisors to sell life insurance. Our technology-enabled advice, sales support, and real-time tools continue to transform the way life insurance is bought and sold, ultimately making it possible for more people to obtain the proper coverage to protect their families,” said Mike Kalen, CEO of Covr.
In addition to Covr’s offerings for financial advisors, it also offers a white-label, direct-to-consumer digital life insurance platform for financial institutions and other industry verticals. Covr also provides analytical tools to manage and grow in-force life insurance books of business.
About Covr Financial Technologies Inc.
Covr partners with financial institutions to provide life insurance solutions to their customers in an efficient, easy way that streamlines the process of selling and buying policies. Covr offers a choice of trusted life insurance products from leading insurance carriers, advanced insurance planning solutions, an easy way to compare rates, and the ability to purchase policies within minutes. Through its white-label solutions, Covr helps financial institutions deliver a great experience under an existing brand their customers already trust. Covr currently serves 24,000 financial advisors and 10 million customers across 30 financial institutions.
Covr’s investors include five leading venture capital firms: Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Allianz Life Ventures, Connectivity Capital Partners and Contour Venture Partners. Covr’s Advisory Board includes financial services industry leaders, including Chairman Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; and Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse.
For more information, please visit www.covrtech.com and follow @covrtech
SOURCE Covr Financial Technologies
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– LGA’s OPTerm series and term riders will be available to financial advisors and their customers through Covr’s online platform
– Partnership provides simplified, online solution tailored to the individual needs of the consumer
FREDERICK, Md., Sept. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Legal & General America (LGA), a top ten U.S. life insurer, will expand its partnership with Covr Financial Technologies, a digital life insurance platform, to offer financial advisors and their customers additional term life insurance options, via a stacking approach, as part of the broader financial planning process.
“Given the importance of financial planning, especially when it comes to saving for retirement, it’s crucial that financial advisors consider each customer’s full financial picture,” said Steve Robinson, vice president of Partnerships for LGA. “A financial plan isn’t complete without life insurance, which is more affordable and easier to obtain than people might expect. Together with Covr, we’re making it easier for families to obtain the right amount of coverage based on their financial lifecycle without overspending.”
Through Covr’s platform, powered by Envestnet MoneyGuide, advisors have direct access to LGA’s OPTerm series and term riders. Adding 10, 15 or 20 years of term coverage on top of a base policy can offer significant savings making it an efficient way for consumers to purchase term life insurance. This additional coverage, or term riders, provide additional security to help protect families from an outstanding mortgage or student loan payments. Advisors will be able to review the estimated costs of term policies with term riders compared to other life insurance products and make recommendations to best fit customer needs.
“Covr is thrilled to collaborate with LGA and Envestnet MoneyGuide to help make it easier for financial advisors to integrate life insurance into a financial plan that considers clients’ needs over time,” said Todd Ruplinger, founder and chief innovation officer of Covr. “This new solution isn’t only easier for the customer, it’s also cost-effective when compared to single policy purchasing and provides the critical coverage many families need.”
With the goal of simplifying the customer experience and delivering affordable options for life insurance coverage, the incorporation of LGA’s term laddering strategy into Covr’s digital offering reaffirms LGA’s commitment to customizing financial journeys based on individual needs.
About Legal & General America
Legal & General America (LGA) is part of the worldwide Legal & General Group. For over 70 years, the Legal & General America companies have been in the business of providing financial protection through life insurance for American families. The Legal & General America companies are Banner Life Insurance Company and William Penn Life Insurance Company of New York. With more than $58 billion in new coverage issued in 2018, LGA is ranked in the top ten of U.S. life insurers and ended 2018 with in excess of $734 billion of coverage in force with 1.3 million U.S. customers. LGA shares Legal & General’s independent financial strength ratings: A+ Superior from A. M. Best and AA- Very Strong from Standard and Poor’s and Fitch. For more information, please visit www.lgamerica.com.
About Covr Financial Technologies
Covr is a digital life insurance platform that simplifies, grows, and manages the life insurance business. Covr partners with financial institutions to provide life insurance solutions to their customers in an efficient way that streamlines the process of selling and buying policies. Covr offers a choice of trusted life insurance products from leading insurance carriers, an easy way to compare rates, and the ability to purchase policies within minutes. Through its white label solutions, Covr helps financial institutions deliver a great experience under an existing brand their customers already trust. Covr is the only digitally enabled brokerage general agency (BGA) that can provide a full, turn key solution for life, long-term care and disability insurance for financial institutions, their advisors and their customers.
Covr’s investors include four leading venture capital firms: Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Connectivity Capital Partners and Contour Venture Partners. The Covr Advisory Board includes several well-recognized leaders in financial services and insurance, including Chairman Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; and Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse. Covr has offices in Boise, ID and Hartford, CT. For more information, please visit www.covrtech.com.
Follow us on Twitter: @landg_usa, @CovrTech
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The newest version of MoneyGuide integrated into Covr’s digital insurance platform provides the ability for financial advisors to dynamically plan for clients’ changing life insurance needs over time.
Boise, ID, August 27, 2019 (PRNewswire)- Covr Financial Technologies and Envestnet MoneyGuide announced the launch of Covr’s digital platform integration within the MoneyGuideElite financial planning software product and the lifetime insurance block within the MyBlocks digital, client engagement financial wellness solution. This partnership combines the power of Covr’s digital insurance platform with the industry’s leading financial planning software to allow financial advisors to better meet their clients’ changing life insurance needs over time. Life insurance protection is a critical component of a comprehensive financial plan.
With Envestnet MoneyGuide’s most recent update, the lifetime view functionality allows financial advisors to see how life insurance affects their clients’ financial plans, now and throughout the course of their life. Advisors can make projections and see recommendations within MoneyGuide, and then complete the application process online via Covr’s industry-leading digital platform.
“Life insurance protection is a vital part of any comprehensive financial plan, and Covr and Envestnet MoneyGuide are thrilled to be teaming up to make this easier and less time-consuming for financial advisors,” said Todd Ruplinger, founder and Chief Innovation Office at Covr. “Our mission is to make sure as many families are protected as possible, and this is a big step toward that goal.”
“We are thrilled to be able to offer this enhanced lifetime protection as a natural outcome of a financial plan in both MoneyGuideElite and MyBlocks,”said Tony Leal, President of Envestnet MoneyGuide. “Our continuing partnership and integration with Covr enhances this capability even more by allowing advisors to easily complete recommended life insurance applications online. It’s a perfect match.”
This integration between two financial technology leaders gives financial advisors the ability to easily analyze their clients’ life insurance needs, track those needs over the course of their lifetime, view solutions and coverage options, and submit the application quickly and easily through Covr’s digital platform.
AboutCovr Financial Technologies Inc.
Covr partners with financial institutions to provide life insurance solutions to their customers in an efficient, easy way that streamlines the process of selling and buying policies. Covr offers a choice of trusted life insurance products from leading insurance carriers, an easy way to compare rates, and the ability to purchase policies within minutes. Through its white label solutions, Covr helps financial institutions deliver a great experience under an existing brand their customers already trust. Covr currently serves 24,000 financial advisors and 10 million customers across 30 financial institutions.
Covr’s investors include four leading venture capital firms: Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Connectivity Capital Partners and Contour Venture Partners. The Covr Advisory Board includes several well-recognized leaders in financial services and insurance, including Chairman Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; and Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse. Covr has offices in Boise, ID and Hartford, CT.
For more information, please visit www.covrtech.comand follow @covrtech
About Envestnet
Envestnet, Inc. (NYSE: ENV) is a leading provider of intelligent systems for wealth management and financial wellness. Envestnet’s unified technology empowers enterprises and advisors to more fully understand their clients and deliver actionable intelligence that drives better outcomes and improves lives.
Envestnet Wealth Solutions enables enterprises and advisors to better manage client outcomes and strengthen their practices through its leading Wealth Management Operating System and advanced portfolio solutions. Envestnet | Tamarac provides portfolio management, reporting, trading, rebalancing and client portal solutions for registered independent advisors (“RIAs”). Envestnet | MoneyGuide provides goals-based financial planning applications. Envestnet Data & Analytics enables innovation and insights through its Envestnet | Yodlee data aggregation platform.
More than 99,000 advisors and more than 4,100 companies including: 17 of the 20 largest U.S. banks, 43 of the 50 largest wealth management and brokerage firms, over 500 of the largest RIAs and hundreds of internet services companies, leverage Envestnet technology and services. Envestnet solutions enhance knowledge of the client, accelerate client on-boarding, improve client digital experiences and help drive better outcomes for enterprises, advisors and their clients.For more information on Envestnet MoneyGuide, visit www.moneyguidepro.com and follow @ENVMoneyGuide.
Read More...Covr Financial Technologies may be new to Hartford, but its chief executive has long been a fixture of downtown’s growing insurance-technology ecosystem.
In January, the digital life insurance software developer, previously based in Idaho, launched its new corporate headquarters in downtown’s iconic Boat Building at 1 American Row, where it houses about 15 employees.
While new staffers during a recent evening were still getting familiar with their fifth-floor space, CEO Mike Kalen found himself in familiar territory spearheading Hartford’s next insurtech hopeful.
Kalen, a former president of U.S. individual life operations at The Hartford and former CEO of its Hartford Life Europe operations, was part of a five-member advisory board in 2017 that recruited London-based Startupbootcamp to develop and operate the Hartford InsurTech Hub accelerator in downtown’s Stilts Building.
That initiative has drawn more than 20 insurtech startups to Hartford focused on technologies that aim to help or reshape the health, property and casualty, and life insurance sectors. Each participated in a months-long accelerator to hone their technology and business strategy.
Kalen, a West Hartford resident, is now looking to tap Hartford’s growing insurtech pool he helped push forward.
“We needed to go to a place where there were new skills and traditional skills,” says Kalen, who was appointed Covr’s CEO in March 2018. “For us, Hartford was one of the top markets to do that.”
Kalen says Covr expanded in Hartford primarily because the region offers a larger, more skills-ready talent pool compared to Idaho, where the insurtech’s founder and current chief innovation officer, Todd Ruplinger, hails from. Connecticut’s workforce is also more affordable than other tech markets like New York City and Silicon Valley — where Covr also considered moving its corporate headquarters.
Covr’s software provides a centralized portal for financial advisors to compare the benefits of certain life, long-term care and disability insurance plans and find the most affordable coverage for their customers. Its applications are aimed at simplifying how people buy insurance by standardizing the way insurance products are quoted.
Covr currently houses all of its technology jobs in Boise, Idaho, but has plans to hire additional technologists in Hartford as the company’s software gains new customers.
“We definitely see utilizing this as a growth footprint for future jobs as the company expands,” Kalen said of Covr’s 2,800-square-foot Hartford office, which shares floor space with Nassau Re’s newly minted insurtech incubator program. “In Boise, we generally had to train workers. In Hartford, we hire people that already have the skills.”
Kalen also sees major capital-raising opportunities for the seven-year-old company in Hartford.
After all, financing for insurtechs in the U.S. soared from $126 million in 2010 to $4.4 billion in 2018, according to investment banking firm Financial Technology Partners. That number is projected to climb another 40 percent to $6.1 billion by year-end 2019.
Covr has been a beneficiary of that boom, announcing last fall it raised $10 million in Series A funding from its venture-capital partners, including Nyca Partners, Allianz Life Ventures and others. That money is being used almost entirely on expanding Covr’s salesforce and furthering its investments in technology. Remaining dollars were leveraged to setup in Hartford.
Covr has now raised more than $20 million, which has propelled the company into CB Insights’ list of top 60 brands in insurance technology.
Kalen expects Covr’s fundraising to continue to climb with the company’s new Hartford presence. The startups that have gone through the Hartford insurtech accelerator have raised $39 million over the last two years, which shows there is an appetite for investment here, he said.
“It was very easily recognized by our venture-capital backers that Hartford was a great location to start a sales and marketing office for a digitally enabled technology company,” he said. “It all happened quite naturally.”
While Covr, founded in 2012 as 1 Click Coverage, has built a large client base of its own, the insurtech significantly grew its footprint over the last year as it began partnering with the industry’s largest financial planning software used by advisors.
Covr software is currently used by 24,000 financial advisors, and now helps support a portion of the 100,000 advisors being served by MoneyGuidePro, which was built by software company PIETech.
Covr developed the first life insurance application that was fully integrated with the MoneyGuidePro financial software in April 2018.
In March, MoneyGuidePro was acquired by financial services giant Envestnet Inc. for $500 million, giving Covr an even wider net to cast from.
“Not many financial advisors talk about protecting assets with life insurance, long-term care or disability income products,” he said. “Now that we are in a partnership with MoneyGuidePro, we help facilitate those conversations for advisors and clients to get the advice they need to protect their retirement plan.”
Why Hartford?
For Kalen, Covr’s expansion in Hartford gives the company more footing to stand out in the highly competitive, fast-growing insurtech industry.
Kalen, who raises capital for Covr, said the company may have appeared as an outsider if it had landed in New York or Silicon Valley, which are already crowded global hubs of technology and innovation.
Hartford also provides Covr a top industry workforce to pull from, he said, listing off life insurance giants like The Hartford, Prudential, Voya, MetLife and others that have given the city an insurance-centered identity.
Plus, when you add in the recent debuts of IT giant Infosys, Stanley Black & Decker’s new innovation hub and other initiatives, Kalen sees momentum he’d like to leverage.
“It’s energizing to see all this innovation that is coming back into the city,” Kalen said. “The talent is good today, and the talent over the next three years is going to be even better.”
www.hartfordbusiness.com
Read More...Nearly three dozen startups, including two based in downtown Hartford, have been selected as semifinalists for Connecticut Innovations’ (CI) $5 million VentureClash 2019 challenge, the quasi-public agency said.
CI on Monday announced that the first round of the global venture challenge, now in its fourth year, drew almost 300 applications from more than 20 countries.
A total of 34 companies advanced to the semifinals, including Hartford’s Covr Financial Technologies, a digital life insurance software developer, and peer-to-peer insurance app Pineapple, which participates in Nassau Re’s newly minted incubator program. Both companies have headquarters on the fifth floor of Hartford’s iconic Boat Building.
Other startups named to the next round include New York-based sports technology company Physimax Technologies, biotech company Acorn Biolabs and cloud automation technology company MedStack, both based in Toronto, and Israeli energy-saving platform EcoPlant. The other startups can be found here.
VentureClash allows early stage digital health, insurance technology, fintech and internet-of-things companies to compete for opportunities to receive investments, grants, mentoring and other services.
Several area corporations support or provide prizes for VentureClash, including Stanley Black & Decker, AIG, Travelers Cos. and Webster Bank.
The finals event will be held Oct. 17 at the Yale University “West Campus” in Orange.
In 2018, nine startups were selected to the third annual cohort. An israeli developer of speech recognition technology, Voiceitt, won last year’s $1.5 million prize.
www.hartfordbusiness.com
Read More...Boise, ID—March 14, 2019—Covr Financial Technologies, a digital life insurance platform for financial institutions, today announced the launch of an industry-leading Covr LTC Estimator for financial advisors, the first digitally enabled asset-based long-term care multi-carrier comparison tool. Long-term care insurance protects the assets of the senior population in the case of a serious medical condition and covers services not covered by health insurance. Unlike traditional long-term care insurance, asset-based long-term care insurance provides flexibility by offering long-term care coverage that is linked to a life insurance policy.
The Covr LTC Estimator provides financial advisors the ability to digitally compare leading asset-based long-term care products and customize quotes based on options such as inflation and elimination period lengths. The tool highlights product differences based on client need and offers an e-signature option to expedite the submission process.
“Covr’s new LTC Estimator a truly game-changing offering in the marketplace” said Covr CEO Michael Kalen. “The tool is the first of its kind to offer immediate side-by-side comparisons of the industry’s leading asset-based long-term care insurance products. Financial advisors increasingly view asset-based long-term care as a key component of a robust financial plan.”
Nationwide’s CareMatters long-term care coverage and Pacific Life’s PremierCare long-term care coverage are two insurance carriers offering asset-based long-term care insurance through Covr’s platform.
“Nationwide is thrilled to offer our CareMatters product through Covr’s LTC Estimator tool,” said Troy Anderson, Vice President Life Sales at Nationwide. “Our asset-based long-term care offering is focused on providing control and flexibility and Covr’s LTC Estimator tool provides financial advisors with the ability to find the optimal asset-based long-term care coverage to plan for their client’s unique needs. This is an exciting addition to Covr’s other life insurance offerings like integration with MoneyGuidePro’s financial planning platform and inforce policy management tools”
“Pacific Life’s PremierCare long-term care offering is based on the idea of choice and the Covr LTC Estimator offers an easier way for financial advisors to help clients understand how asset-based long-term care offers choices to help confidently plan for their financial future, said Mark Pelicano, Vice President Financial Advisory Network at Pacific Life.
The Covr LTC Estimator is part of the Covr Advisor platform connecting life insurance, long-term care, and disability products from over 30 major insurers to financial institutions and financial advisors, enabling them to offer life insurance protection that is simple, straightforward, cost-effective and transparent to their clients. Covr also offers a Covr Consumerplatform, a web-based platform allowing banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions to offer a direct insurance purchase experience to their customers.
ABOUT COVR FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGIES
Covr is a digital life insurance platform that simplifies, grows, and manages the life insurance business. Covr partners with financial institutions that share the belief that life insurance should be both simple and transparent. Through Covr’s technology, financial advisors and their clients can research and purchase affordable life insurance from well-known insurance companies without the hassles of the traditional process – all within a matter of minutes. Covr’s investors include four leading venture capital firms: Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Connectivity Capital Partners and Contour Venture Partners. The Covr Advisory Board includes several well-recognized leaders in financial services and insurance, including Chairman Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Robert Kerzner, President and CEO of LIMRA, LOMA and LL Global and former executive vice president, life division of Hartford Life; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse. Covr has offices in Boise, ID and Hartford, CT.
Covr PR Contact:
Noreen Pfadenhauer
Vice President, Marketing
208-350-7959
[email protected]
Written by: Jonathan Shieber
The once sleepy world of insurance has become the hot ticket for venture investors.
Insurance technology companies have raised multiple billions of dollars in the past four years as venture capitalists finance industry disruptors and enabling technologies for established players to fend off new technology-based challengers.
In the month since tech-enabled car insurance startup Root Insurance joined the billion dollar club after its $100 million investment round, new investments in startups serving insurers in categories like life insurance, liability insurance, and — most notably — in insurance assessment and analysis services illustrate both the pace of dealmaking in the category and the breadth of technologies being developed for the industry.
In the second quarter of 2018, insurance technology investments totaled $527 million in 71 deals, according to a quarterly survey by Willis Tower Watson Securities. While that total amount committed was actually down significantly from the $985 million across 64 transactions in the second quarter of 2017, the total number of deals — at 71 — actually went up.
No investment better illustrates the opportunity for investors to play both sides of the insurance industry against each other than the recent $20 million extension Slice Labs raised to an original $11.6 million Series A round which closed in October of 2017. It’s not normal. But abnormal is the new normal for insurance technology investing.
Strategic investor The Co-operators, a $3.6 billion collective of Canadian insurance cooperatives, led the extension with participation from the company’s previous investors, XL Innovate, Horizons Fund, and Munich Re/HSB Ventures, and SOMPO, and additional new investors Vero Norte, the investment arm of Grupo Sura and JetBlue Technology Ventures.
Slice now offers what it calls “insurance cloud services”, which basically takes the insurance modeling and approval methodologies that other companies have raised significant money to create standalone businesses with, and white labels them for established insurance providers.
It’s a bit of a pivot for Slice, which initially launched with the thesis of providing an on-demand insurance policy and coverage for anything anyone wanted insured.
If Slice is trying to give insurers the ability to build their own tools in-house and fight back against a deluge of startups, Covr Financial Technologies is trying to give those insurers new channels to sell through as they confront the dwindling of their direct sales channels.
That company raised $10 million in a Series A round of its own — bringing the company’s total financing to $20 million. Joining previous investors Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Contour Venture Partners and Connectivity Capital Partners was the strategic investor Allianz Life Ventures — the investment arm of the insurance giant Allianz.
“Financial institutions see protection as an important component of the financial planning discussions they have with their customers – and Covr is in a unique position to tap modern technology to solve this challenge,” said Emily Reitan, vice president of Strategy and Business Development for Allianz Life.
Big banks like Morgan Stanley, US Bank and SunTrust all use either Covr’s digital advisor or consumer facing platforms to make life insurance sales part of a broader package of wealth management services. The idea is that the banks provide an additional service, and life insurers get another way to pitch to a customer while Covr gets a cut.
“Covr is helping us solve an important financial need for our clients” said Michael Finnegan, Head of Insurance Platforms at Morgan Stanley in a statement. “They have allowed us to fundamentally change our insurance process to a technology-enabled solution that delivers a positive experience for both the financial advisor and our clients.”
Finally, there’s Jones, a startup that’s pitching liability insurance backed by Chubb for independent contractors and the building owners and managers that hire them. The company raised $2.8 million in a seed round from Hetz Ventures, JLL Spark, MetaProp Ventures, GroundUp Ventures and 500 Startups.
The company’s technology marries pay-as-you-go insurance for contractors to obtain a certificate of insurance with a back-end management system for building managers and construction companies to ensure their compliance and oversight requirements are being met.
The company is in beta with construction companies and real estate management firms like ARCO Construction and JLL, but if its services gain ground, it would mean a huge windfall for Chubb Insurance, which is the company’s sole underwriter for the insurance policies it’s pitching.
Slice, Covr, and Jones all represent one type of startup business that’s attracting venture dollars — the enabling technologies or channels for existing insurers to experiment with or sell through to reach new consumers.
Meanwhile, there’s another category of startup — and one that’s attracted massive valuations by running directly at incumbent players with an eye toward dislodging them from their perches atop the industry.
It’s this category that has attracted the most money and the largest valuations in property and casualty, health, and auto insurance.
Root Insurance is only the most recent example of this type of company. In health insurance Oscar Health is also valued at $1 billion for its attempts to try and unseat incumbents in health insurance. Lemonade raised $120 million from SoftBank (in what might be that firm’s only intelligent real estate-related deal) and is likely approaching or surpassing that billion-dollar valuation threshold itself.
As Rafal Walkiewicz, the chief executive of Willis Tower Watson noted in his report on the industry in the first quarter, “Investors are clearly willing to make increased bets on InsurTech and funding rounds are becoming larger.” But the bulk of the biggest investments were being made by pure-play venture capital firms rather than industry incumbents with more experience in insurance. “Perhaps the stakes are becoming too high for insurers,” Walkiwicz writes. “Especially if they are mostly investing in order to learn how to improve their existing processes.”
Read More...Covr continues to expand roster of financial institution partners and simplified insurance offerings.
Boise, ID—September 26, 2018—Covr Financial Technologies, a digital, multi-carrier life insurance platform for financial institutions, today announced it has raised $10 million in Series A funding. In addition to Covr’s existing individual and family investors that made additional investments during this funding round, Covr’s current venture partners all participated including Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Countour Venture Partners and Connectivity Capital Partners and were joined by new investor Allianz Life Ventures. This most recent round brings Covr’s total fundraising to more than $20MM.
“Covr brings a new and innovative technology to the table that has the ability to create positive change in the life insurance industry,” said Emily Reitan, vice president of Strategy and Business Development for Allianz Life. “Financial institutions see protection as an important component of the financial planning discussions they have with their customers – and Covr is in a unique position to tap modern technology to solve this challenge.”
Founded in 2012 by Todd Ruplinger, an innovative insurance veteran, Covr has been experiencing rapid growth. Since January 2016, the company has doubled its’ financial institution customer base, representing 20,000 financial advisors and over eight million consumers. The Covr roster now includes brokerage firm, Morgan Stanley, along with leading consumer banks US Bank and SunTrust – all of which leverage either one or both of Covr’s digital advisor or consumer platforms.
“Covr is helping us solve an important financial need for our clients” said Michael Finnegan, Head of Insurance Platforms at Morgan Stanley. “They have allowed us to fundamentally change our insurance process to a technology-enabled solution that delivers a positive experience for both the financial advisor and our clients.”
“We continue to be pleased with the progress we are making with our financial institution partners to solve the growing underinsurance gap in our country by helping financial advisors include insurance as part of a financial plan,” said Mike Kalen, Covr’s CEO. “We are thrilled with our continued relationship with our investors and this latest funding will allow us to continue to innovate and support our expanding base of clients.”
ABOUT COVR FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGIES
Covr is a digital life insurance platform that makes it easy to protect what matters most: you and your family. Covr partners with financial institutions that share the belief that life insurance should be both simple and transparent. Through Covr’s technology, financial advisors and their customers can research and purchase affordable life insurance from well-known insurance companies without the hassles of the traditional process – all within a matter of minutes. Covr’s investors include four leading venture capital firms: Nyca Partners, Commerce Ventures, Connectivity Capital Partners and Contour Venture Partners. Offices: Boise and Hartford.
The Covr Advisory Board includes Chairman Brian Finn, former president of Credit Suisse First Boston; Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest as well as senior executive roles at Bank of America, Citigroup and Smith Barney; Hans Morris, managing partner, Nyca Partners, chairman of Lending Club, formerly president of Visa; Brady Dougan, former CEO of Credit Suisse; Gary W. Parr, senior managing director at Apollo Global Management; Neal Wolin, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury and former executive vice president and general for The Hartford Financial Services Group; Robert Kerzner, President and CEO of LIMRA, LOMA and LL Global and former executive vice president, life division of Hartford Life, and Matt Muta, vice president, IT Innovation and Commercial Technology, Delta Air Lines, formerly Microsoft’s global managing director for Hospitality and Travel.
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