Insurance companies have an abundance of data at their fingertips; however, the process of preparing data and transforming it into actionable insights is time-consuming and a tedious process. Quantemplate is one of the breakout platforms that helps the insurance/(re)insurance industry analyse data faster than ever. Through an intuitive data integration process that’s entirely self-service, users can receive actionable insights that can easily be manipulated into data visualizations or multi-page reports. The platform is powered by a sophisticated technology stack that leverages machine learning and smart mapping, but it’s user-friendly for nontechnical users.
London Tech Watch sat down with David Lundgren and Scott Quiana to learn more about creating a product to revolutionize the insurtech industry, the company’s expansion plans, and latest round of funding. Quantemplate has now raised a total of $25.6M across six rounds.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
In this recent funding round, we closed on $12M. The funding round was led by Route Sixty-Six Ventures and Transamerica Ventures, with participation from Anthemis Group, Allianz X, and Insight Catastrophe Group.
Tell us about the product or service Quantemplate offers.
Quantemplate provides self-service, cloud-based automated data solutions that were designed specifically for the (re)insurance industry where we bring together data preparation, storage, and business intelligence all in one simplified, consolidated platform.
We brought together the skills of (re)insurance and technology experts to utilize machine learning and newer technologies to solve the data challenges industry struggles to solve.
We are focused on enabling companies to grow, reduce costs, increase their speed to market and create a competitive advantage by enabling faster insights through automated data preparation.
Customers that write commercial and specialty commercial property insurance, program and delegated authority business, as well as specialty and casualty reinsurance, have been driving the recent engagements. Other sectors we have been also been successful include life insurance, construction insurance and MGA’s.
What inspired the start of Quantemplate?
We understand the data challenges (re)insurance companies face. Being an industry that is data-rich and information poor was something we felt we could solve. We wanted to make a substantial impact by helping companies to gain faster insights and enable them to make more informed decisions, identify growth opportunities, increase speed to market, improve data quality and enhance risk and pricing. With the right platform, we also felt we could also create a network and ecosystem especially as it relates to how data and information are shared across organizations.
How is Quantemplate different?
There are plenty of technologies that prepare and store data and or provide analytics for many different industries. What differentiates Quantemplate from the other solutions available on the market today is that it is the only integrated platform that includes data preparation, storage and business intelligence designed specifically for the (re)insurance industry. There are things unique to the (re)insurance industry that we explicitly address; we have designed and built the platform so anyone in a company, not just skilled experts can use the platform and understand the data.
What market is Quantemplate targeting and how big is it?
We are focused on the North American and European (re)insurance markets, with a current focus on customers that write commercial and specialty commercial property insurance, program and delegated authority business as well as specialty and casualty reinsurance. These are the markets that have been driving recent engagements.
Who do you consider to be your primary competitors?
The consolidated offering of data preparation, storage, and business intelligence is so unique that no other company on the market is offering all three in one SaaS solution that caters to the unique demands of (re)insurers.
Large companies may build out their own in-house solutions, but this is costly and highly dependent on skilled labor to understand the data. Other technologies exist individually for analysis or storage, but no current commercial offering addresses these three key areas as the Quantemplate platform does.
What’s your business model?
We provide SaaS Services to the customer in the form of a licensed platform. This is a completely self-service platform that (re)insurers can utilize and deploy all on their own. Customers can also leverage Quantemplate’s implementation services to quickly introduce a new, customized solution for specific use cases.
What was the funding process like?
The keys to successfully navigating the funding process are to do your homework prior to engaging firms to identify ones with a track record in your space and developing an investor deck that captures the main “check off” criteria your target firms are using to evaluate your business. Support during the fund-raising process is essential as well as good project management skills.
In the UK most firms screen opportunities by following strict financial benchmarks. Early-stage companies seeking funding usually have difficulty clearing these financial hurdles. So, introductions to a firm by a trusted advisor are important. UK firms are usually interested in investing in local companies provided the value proposition is strong and financials meet their screens. The process to funding usually takes 6 to 9 months to complete.
In the UK most firms screen opportunities by following strict financial benchmarks. Early-stage companies seeking funding usually have difficulty clearing these financial hurdles. So, introductions to a firm by a trusted advisor are important. UK firms are usually interested in investing in local companies provided the value proposition is strong and financials meet their screens. The process to funding usually takes 6 to 9 months to complete.
The format consisted of an initial phone call, product demo, one or two face to face meetings, term sheet, due diligence, legal contacting/negotiating and finally funding. In the initial call, it is as important that you ask questions about the firm to evaluate fit with your business and board.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Time was the biggest challenge. More than 60% of my time was allocated to the funding process which shifted operational duties to my management team. Communication was important but challenging throughout the process. There are periods of increased workloads put on the entire company that are difficult to spread among employees especially if you are a small organization. Business initiates are constantly being pushed or reprioritized which can impact product deadlines and or customers.
One additional challenge Quantemplate faced during the raise was that we decided to re-domicile the company to the U.S. as part of our strategic growth plan for the company.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
The insurtech industry has seen a tremendous amount of growth over the last few years and has demanded solutions that can better handle data from new risk sources and categories. Most solutions and innovations have stuck to consumer acquisition and new insurance products, veering away from data preparation on the back end due to its complexity. Many investors chose Quantemplate because of both its short term ability to solve real industry challenges and its long term strategic vision and strategy.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Over the next six months, we’re looking to expand our sales and marketing teams, establish strategic partnerships, build faster and grow our international presence as the leading (re)insurance data management platform.
What advice can you offer companies in London that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
All startups must preserve capital. So, carefully manage your expenses and monitor your cash burn. Use your board to help you open venture and private equity doors. Don’t just spray and pray …do your homework by identifying firms your business is most aligned with. Have a good financial person and legal resource as well as a process for tracking status with firms you’ve engaged. Be prepared to say No to a firm if they don’t match your culture or you don’t think they can help grow your business going forward.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Near term, we will be looking to achieve a few things. We are looking to expand into the U.S and European markets and will achieve this through the expansion of our sales and customer success part of the organization, building products faster that continue to align with our customers and markets’ needs and partnering with companies that align with our strategic goals and objectives.
We have seen tremendous success in a number of segments through our initial product offering. We want to continue to build on these successes and then expand into other segments and markets as we identify each of their unique challenges that align with our solution.
What is your favorite restaurant in London?
The go-to restaurant, when in London, is a Punjabi restaurant in Whitechapel called Tayyabs.
