The pace of innovation in the insurance industry is accelerating rapidly. Insurers of all sizes are increasingly being challenged to introduce new products and better experiences to meet the customer expectations formed by large technology firms in other industries. These demands are ushering in a new age of fierce competition.
Yet many incumbent insurers are still dealing with the complications created by legacy technology and outdated policy administration systems, which slow their ability to innovate, introduce new products, and seize new opportunities.
Socotra’s mission is to modernize the insurance industry, and on May 19, we demonstrated our commitment to this mission by announcing the acquisition of Avolanta, now known as Socotra Unified Portal, which for the first time combined a modern unified portal with a modern policy core. Together, we now offer the insurance industry’s most open and agile platform from front to back, accelerating innovation and unlocking new opportunities for insurers.
But don’t just take our word for it. Industry media has also recognized the significance of this acquisition. With the support of PR firm, Bospar, the announcement was published in 15 articles and syndications in outlets with more than 73 million combined unique visitors per month. Here are some examples of what journalists had to say:
Accelerating innovation with Socotra’s flexible policy core
Insurance Business America wrote, “Socotra, launched in 2014, offers a cloud-based platform that helps insurers bring innovative products to market. It relies on open APIs and publicly available documentation so insurers and their ‘implementation partners’ can quickly and efficiently develop products.”
Creating modern user experiences with Avolanta
Insurance Journal added, “Avolanta enables insurers to deliver a digital experience by connecting agents, brokers and customers with its unified portal. The portal reduces the need for paper applications and the manual input of customer data into web portals. Agents can collaborate with customers through shared online applications and insurers can automate data capture and analytics. The cloud-native platform also promises to help insurers more quickly deploy new products.”
How Socotra and Avolanta help insurers gain business agility
Insurtech Insights quoted Stuart Rose, Strategic Advisor for Aite-Novarica, “Insurers rank agility and speed-to-market as their top priorities…. Today we see microservices-based platforms, such as Socotra and Avolanta, that allow insurers to deploy a flexible set of components and always stay up to date. Open ecosystem approaches are providing insurers with the agility they need to create modern products that can satisfy the demands of today’s customers.”
Socotra’s acquisition of Avolanta acquisition fueled by a successful Series C funding round
WSJ Pro Venture Capital, a premium service of the Wall Street Journal, reported, “Socotra purchased fellow insurance technology company Avolanta for an undisclosed amount. San Francisco-based Socotra recently closed a $50 million Series C round from Insight Partners, 8VC, Portage Ventures, Brewer Lane Ventures, MS&AD Ventures and Nationwide Ventures.”
Bringing together the first front-to-back platform for insurers
Insurance Innovation Reporter quoted Avolanta CEO, Chuck Wilson, “Joining Socotra is an exciting next chapter for Avolanta…. Avolanta’s front-end technology focused on the user experience is the perfect extension to Socotra’s backend policy core. The combined platform will help insurers quickly develop new insurance products with more convenient buying experiences for any distribution channel—whether it’s agent, embedded, or direct-to-consumer. We can’t wait to see how insurers will leverage Socotra to innovate.”
Coverager quoted Socotra CEO, Dan Woods, “The acquisition of Avolanta is a perfect complement to Socotra’s industry-leading policy core…. Socotra and Avolanta share a mission to modernize the insurance industry with open APIs, true cloud, and off-the-shelf capabilities that accelerate innovation and speed-to-market. Together, we now offer the complete front-to-back platform that moves the insurance industry forward.”
Moving the insurance industry forward
The insurance industry has taken note of Socotra’s acquisition of Avolanta and recognized the benefit of a proven and truly modern front-to-back platform for quickly launching and iterating insurance products. Together, our combined platform empowers insurers and MGAs to gain business agility, accelerate innovation, and reduce costs.