HITS: Catalyzing startups and corporate innovation

As a pivotal component within Generali's innovation ecosystem, the House of Insurtech Switzerland (HITS) was established in 2019 with the aim of sculpting the future of insurance through dynamic collaborations with startups to engineer solutions tailor-made for Generali. The Innovation Garage, a 600m2 Corp Up Studio located at Generali offices in Zurich provides the possibility for startups to develop Pilots with Generali Group, more specifically for the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and accelerate their growth through joint projects with other startups in the network and corporates. Furthermore, startups receive free office and meeting space, access to events and exclusive masterclasses on corporate innovation, investor-in-residence and more. Exchange with successful founders who share their stories on fundraising, international expansion, recruiting, tech, and legal further enriches the startups’ know-how.

“With the opening of the Innovation Garage, we created a space where startups find a place to work, get in contact with corporates and potential investors and, most importantly, thanks to the physical proximity with the operation of Generali, created the perfect environment to co-create innovative solutions together with startups. We call it Corp-Up”, said Pietro Carnevale, CEO of HITS.

“Innovation through collaboration between corporates and startups is not always straightforward. As with any partnership, it requires trust and a clear alignment of objectives. In addition, connectivity to the innovation ecosystem and the ability to navigate organisational asymmetries are key to success, and this is what we focus on at HITS,” said Ruth Armalé, HITS Chief Innovation Officer.

New entrants join the HITS Garage

Currently, 20 startups, each with 5 to 40 employees, are residing at the garage and are working on customer-centric and digital solutions that could revolutionize the insurance industry. Three new startups have recently joined the garage:

1. Emilian is a Zurich-based startup that empowers insurers and brokers to streamline the underwriting process for complex and SME insurance, resulting in convenient broker UX and more profitable small businesses through automated quoting, referral and binding at the point of sales across multiple digital channels.
2. Finfinder is Switzerland’s first data-driven and independent matchmaking platform for pre-vetted financial advisors.
3. Trihow AG from Rotkreuz (Lucerne) provides a digital product visualisation solution that combines haptic elements with digital content to make physical products easier and faster to understand. Generali’s Corporate startup, Lings, the first community asset-based on-demand insurance in Europe, is also part of the Innovation Garage.

Since establishment in 2019, the HITS direct network has continued to grow – it currently comprises +50 startups in Insurtech, Fintech, (Gen)AI and blockchain with active collaborations. HITS also partners with startups in the entire Insurtech ecosystem to work on particular cases. So far, it has joined forces with Art Recognition, which offers an AI authentication system to art lovers; Clara, a Berlin based startup providing fintech options through AI and digitises map visualisations; EnterpriseBot, which helps reinvent customer and employee support with a Conversational AI Bot powered by ChatGPT that works with the company’s data; Imburse, which helps enhance and deploy any changes to users’ payment offering; vlot, which helps identify and close income and savings gaps and Zoundream, a portable device to translate newborn cries into baby needs. You can read more about the cooperation with vlot in another article. 

Becoming part of the community
The Innovation Garage is open to innovative solutions that can become one of Generali’s offers for its customers. Startups interested in becoming members should fill out the HITS Innovation Garage form here, any time of the year. The HITS team will review the entry and contact the candidate.

Insurtech map feature 200+ insurtechs
In addition to supporting startups and bringing them closer to Generali, HITS is dedicated to opening up the Insurtech space and creating visibility. Together with Swisscom, Clara and Hochschule Luzern, it launched the first interactive Insurtech Map, highlighting startup entries and relevant, innovative solutions across the insurance value chain. With over 200 startups from Germany, Switzerland and Austria, the map is a guide for corporations and investors to find innovative startups to collaborate with.

(RAN)