Insurance group Britam has launched a new insurance innovation and acceleration programme that targets to nurture budding insurtech and fintech startups.
The initiative dubbed Beta Lab incorporates a corporate acceleration programme aimed at exploring acquisitions and collaborations with technology-driven startups and innovators solving challenges within the legacy insurance industry.
“The Beta Lab sandbox reaffirms Britam’s commitment to innovation and partnerships in technology. Technology partnerships will help Britam scale up, conquer new markets, and prepare for the future,” said Mr Tom Gitogo, group managing director and chief executive of Britam Holdings.
Beta Lab will also offer an internship programme of up to six months, providing an environment for incubation and co-creation by both startups and established global tech firms such as Visa and Amazon Web Services.
The company said innovators will be able to turn their ideas into successful businesses through support in capital investment and product and business development. Viable ventures will be scaled up through equity ownership or joint ventures.
“Beta Lab has already made significant strides. It has developed a weblink that enables Britam to receive motor insurance leads from Auto Express and a portal that will hold these leads data, track engagements and conversions through the telesales team, and give visibility to the Auto Express team,” said Britam.
The company said two internship cohorts have been mentored at the Beta Lab, between April 2023 and Jan 2024, and have transitioned to other companies as data scientists and full-stack app developers.
The Beta Lab has also facilitated the growth of several startups. These include Motisure, which developed a trip insurance distribution platform through a WhatsApp Chatbot called Sure +, offering affordable personal accident coverage for public transport users.
