Published:
Nov 23, 2024
Author:
Sarah Parsons Wolter
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Insurance claims have always been difficult and complex to adjudicate. In the age of AI, fraudulent claims have increased, and insurance companies are investing behind claims technology to better gauge a payable event versus a forged one - but AI isn’t the only means of embodying malintent. Recently, a human in a bear suit defrauding insurance companies in Los Angeles made headline news.
According to the New York Times, several videos showing brown bears entering and damaging luxury vehicles were submitted as part of insurance claims that totaled over $140,000 in total payouts. Upon investigation, authorities determined that it was actually a human in a bear suit with meat claws. The California Department of Insurance noted that this type of fraudulent scheme is not alone.
In the art world, insurance is equally if not more tricky. A collector sued several insurance providers in 2018 for not paying out on five paintings following a fire in his home, according to the FT. The collector claimed that this accident resulted in said paintings losing their “oomph.” More broadly, climate change, activist attacks and idiosyncratic selfie-taking accidents all contribute to rising risk for art insurers. As the algorithm for calculating premiums and updating market value continues to become more complex, insurers need to find more efficient and accurate pricing processes. We’ll sit tight and wait for that equation on “oomph”.
Portfolio News
In Mexico’s tense job market, Minu’s take on employee benefits includes financial wellness - Congratulations to portfolio company minu on the announcement of their $30m Series B financing led by QED, with participation from new investors, including Endeavor Catalyst and Next Billion Capital Partners and existing investors including FinTech Collective, Redwood Ventures, Salkantay, Nazca. Read more
RI treasurer announces new retirement savings program - His office said it’s partnering with Connecticut for the new “RISavers” program, which will create a Roth individual retirement account (IRA) for those who don’t have a retirement savings plan from their employer. The program, which will be administered with Vestwell State Savings, starts as a pilot in spring 2025 before the full rollout. Read more
Coinshift announces launch of csUSDL amid strategic partnerships - Coinshift, a key player in on-chain treasury management, has unveiled csUSDL, a liquid lending token (LLT) crafted to enhance reward opportunities, security, and transparency for individual and institutional investors. The recent announcement comes on the heels of the launch of Coinshift Business. This groundbreaking platform seamlessly combines payment and accounting solutions and is free for DAOs and on-chain enterprises. Read more
Disputed Claims
Human in bear suit was used to defraud insurance companies, officials say - A video that was submitted as part of an insurance claim in January appeared to capture a disturbing scene: a brown bear ransacking a Rolls-Royce that was parked in a Southern California driveway. Similar videos involving other luxury cars were submitted to two additional insurers, and the three companies collectively paid out more than $140,000. But something about the footage seemed off. Read more
Art-insurance disputes do not make for a pretty picture - The art world has been unusually gripped by the insurance industry since the businessman collector Ronald Perelman sued a constellation of providers for not paying out on five paintings following a 2018 fire in his East Hamptons home. The ongoing dispute raises questions about the limits of art insurance — not least whether “oomph” is quantifiable. Read more
Industry News
Brazilian fintech Nubank considers domicile move to UK - Nubank — whose holding company is currently based in the Cayman Islands and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange — recently became the most valuable bank in all of Latin America. While its corporate headquarters would remain in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the change in legal domicile to the UK would be seen as a big achievement in efforts by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government to attract more technology firms and investment to the country. Read more
When IR met AI: how the technology is shaping earnings-day prep - Public companies frequently mention generative AI on earnings calls, citing its positive effect on the bottom line or promising results in tests. But there’s one application they leave unspoken: the technology’s role in those very calls. Investor relations departments at many companies have begun using generative AI to help prepare their earnings commentary, and some have used it to predict the questions analysts might ask, for example, and to ready the best answers. Read more
Robinhood to acquire RIA custodian TradePMR for $300m - The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025 and marks the online brokerage's first attempt to win the business of financial advisors. Read more
Nasdaq poised to list spot-bitcoin ETF options as crypto assets rally - The move will allow investors to use derivatives to bet on or against the world’s largest digital asset. Having options on an ETF expands the trading possibilities, says Eric Balchunas at Bloomberg Intelligence, and will ultimately drive volumes and assets into the product. Read more
Morgan Stanley courts employees of near-IPO companies for wealth management - Morgan Stanley is looking to add employees of startup companies as wealth management clients as U.S. investment banks prepare for a revival of initial public offerings. Last week, the bank signed an agreement with Carta, a shareholder management company for startups backed by private equity and venture capital firms. Carta estimates about 2,000 of its 40,000 clients are headed toward an IPO. Read more
SEC Chair Gary Gensler will step down Jan. 20, make way for Trump replacement - Gensler took over the SEC in 2021, and under his leadership the commission has taken an ambitious but controversial approach to several regulatory issues, including cryptocurrencies. Trump has not announced his pick to lead the SEC, but the expectation is that the next chair will be friendlier to Wall Street and crypto. Read more
Final CFPB rule expands oversight of big tech’s payments ambitions - The finalized rule, issued this week, will essentially treat the tech firms — with digital offerings such as Google Pay, Apple Wallet, Venmo and a broad range of apps — as banks. The CFPB noted in its announcement that taken all together, the apps and wallets process 13b consumer transactions each year. Read more
Goldman readies plans to spin-out its digital assets platform - Goldman is speaking with potential partners as it plans to spin out its digital-assets platform into a new company for large financial firms to create, trade and settle financial instruments via blockchain technology. Plans for the new company are in the early stages, but the long term goal is to execute the spin-out within the next 12 to 18 months. Read more
Wall Street teams with BlackRock to provide bond price data - It’s another step toward transparency in a market where hyper-competitive banks have historically hoarded pricing information. The banks will contribute data to Aladdin via BondCliQ Inc., which describes itself as “creator and operator of the first and only consolidated quote system for US corporate bonds.” Read more
Revolut to expand trading products after receiving UK license - The receipt of this license makes Revolut Trading an authorized investment firm, allowing it to improve the user experience and introduce U.K. and European Union stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The announcement comes about three months after Revolut landed a British banking license with restrictions from the U.K.’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). Read more
Perplexity introduces a shopping feature for Pro users in the US - AI-powered search engine Perplexity is venturing into e-commerce. On Monday, the company debuted a new shopping feature for its paid customers in the U.S. which offers shopping recommendations within Perplexity’s search results as well as the ability to place an order without going to a retailer’s website. With the move, Perplexity is taking on Google and Amazon, intending to capture a portion of shopping search results. Read more
Select Financings
Calvin Risk - Zurich based AI risk management platform raised $4m in Seed funding led by JoinCapital. Read more
Cardo AI - New York based private credit tech startup raised $15m in Series A funding led by Blackstone Innovations Investments. Read more
CellPoint Digital - London based travel payment solutions provider raised $30m in growth funding led by Toscafund. Read more
Federato - San Francisco based insurance underwriting platform raised $40m in Series C funding led by StepStone Group. Read more
Flipturn - New York based fleet management platform raised $11m in Series A funding led by CRV. Read more
Goodstack - London based corporate giving platform raised $28m in Series A funding led by General Catalyst. Read more
Kalder - New York based rewards program startup raised $7m in Seed funding led by Javelin Venture Partners. Read more
Kintsugi AI - San Francisco based sales tax automation platform raised $10m in Series A funding led by Airwallex. Read more
Noble - Toronto based asset issuance platform for stablecoins raised $15m in Series A funding led by Paradigm. Read more
QPLIX - Germany based asset management operating system raised €25m in growth funding led by Partech. Read more
Revv - New York based AI powered auto repair platform raised $20m in new funding led by Left Lane Capital. Read more
Rise - New York based payments infrastructure startup raised $6.3m in Series A funding led by Draper Associates. Read more
Rosie AI - San Francisco based AI agent startup for Excel raised $1.5m in pre-Seed funding led by NOMO Ventures. Read more
Solvento - Mexico City based freight payments startup raised $12.5m in Series A funding led by Cometa. Read more
Valantis Labs - Los Angeles based decentralized exchange protocol developer raised $4m in Seed funding led by SevenX Ventures. Read more
Wyden - Zurich based digital asset trading infrastructure platform raised $16.9m in Series B funding led by Truffle Capital. Read more
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