By: InsuranceEdgeEditor
Insurtech is the buzzword in the insurance industry right now, with dozens of UK start-ups all trying out new ideas and often hungry for investment cash. But what can they do to increase their chances of getting off the launch pad? Is there anything companies can do to get more government help?
Definitely, says Luke Hamm, CEO of GovGrant
It’s taken a while but it seems that the UK insurance industry has well and truly caught the Insurtech bug. For years, analysts, the media and consultants have been championing the benefits of innovation to drive the change necessary to deliver the products and services that the modern consumer demands.
And it appears that those messages have been taken on board with the money following quickly behind. According to Accenture, the first half of 2017 saw £218m invested in UK Insurtech which was a huge leap on the measly £7.3m the year before with deal making increasing by 75% in the same period.
Companies such as Brolly, Cuvva and Nimbla are good examples of successful UK startups, embracing the Insurtech spirit. But as investment continues to pour in, so the number of startups focused on the disruption of the UK market will increase.
To date, it is this external investment that has grabbed the headlines and understandably so, for the best ideas in the world will get nowhere without the necessary capital to make it a reality. But what many existing and nascent organisations may not be aware of is that there are Government incentives to get businesses like theirs off the ground and growing.
Back in 2000, the Government introduced Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credits to encourage greater R&D spending, in turn leading to greater investment in innovation. They work by either reducing a company’s liability to corporation tax or by making a payment to the company if it is loss-making.
According to Government statistics from 2015-16, nearly £3bn has been claimed back by UK companies and while it appears knowledge of the scheme is growing (a 20% increase on the previous year), the scale of adoption is till not what the Government would like.
Indeed, in his 2017 Spring Budget speech, Chancellor Philip Hammond bemoaned the lack of take-up of the scheme and my experience of working in this space, backs that sentiment up. At GovGrant, we assist businesses, including InsurTech, to maximise the funding opportunities through innovation tax incentives when they are investing in R&D and Intellectual Property. We come across too many companies that are completely unaware of what is available and even when they are aware, they may think it doesn’t apply to them or that it’s just too difficult to secure.
Read More >> https://insurance-edge.net/2018/07/15/opinion-insurtech-start-ups-can-do-more-to-win-government-cash/
