Top 38 Insurtech Predictions to Expect in 2022

With 2021 quickly coming to an end, it’s the time of year when people begin to reflect on the past and make way for the future. So many people are pondering what’s on the horizon for the insurance industry. What’s the next big thing in 2022? What’s going to be the defining moment or defining technology of the next year? What’s going to reshape the insurtech space over the course of the next 12 months?

With our wide-ranging customer base, from carriers to insurtechs and agents to platforms, we are uniquely positioned to get a glimpse into the many moving pieces of the insurance industry — and are always happy to share a window into these insights. That’s why we asked founders, investors, and industry experts what they believe is going to be the biggest fintech trend of 2022. Here’s what they said:

What will win customers in 2022?

“Fully integrated insurance experience. Advice, quoting, binding, payments, claims filings, in one location for all of their commercial policies.” — Philip Naples, CEO & Co-Founder at Layr

“We will see one of the ‘risk sharing’ insurtechs break out that offer similar financial protection to insurance does WITHOUT being classified as such (quasi-insurance)” — Rob Galbraith, Author, and Partner at Insurance Nerds

“Default insurance on large purchases.” — Greg Tobias, Head of Business Operations at Assurely

“Simple, DTC purchase processes” — Bryan Falchuk, Founder & Managing Partner at Insurance Evolution Partners

“Digital-first solutions that make people’s lives easier.” — Andrew Clarkson, Operations Manager at Hippo

“Seamless onboarding experiences that are embedded into the platforms people are already using (WhatsApp, discord, Airbnb, TikTok, candy crush, etc…)” — Nik Milanović, Head of BD & Strategy at Google Pay

“Aligned incentives between customer behaviors and insurance cost.” — Justin Levine, CEO at Shepherd

“Mutually recognized synergies between insurers and the insured (i.e. trust & value).” — Innovation Manager at a Major Carrier

“Customer experience and product clarity!” — Devin Bostick, CEO & Founder at LuckyTruck

“Frictionless onboarding and policy decision” — Hanna Wu, CEO & Co-Founder at Amplify

“Humanizing digital experiences and not having to go completely virtual and robo/Ai (seamless integrations, especially for GenZ)” — Ramona Fellmy, Partner at Dapp Detroit

“Many insurance agencies are now able to offer their prospective clients a digital quote. I believe winning clients in 2022 will require the ability to not only quote but also digitally bind coverage.” — Andrew Ryan, VP at Hertvik Insurance Group

“Quote to Bind to Payment in a single flow” — Sourabh Khan, CEO & Founder at Vaartani

“Improving the end to end ease of transaction” — Daniela Acosta-Levin, Agency Owner at The Levin Insurance Group

What’s the biggest challenge for 2022?

“Data movement from the various parties (insureds, brokerages, carriers, AMS platforms, insurtechs)” — Phillip Naples, CEO & Co-Founder at Layr

“Growing cat risk and volatility” — Steve Roberts, Managing Partner at ESO Venture Fund

“In FL, the market availability/carriers writing business/constant rewrite/requoting due to rate/exposure management changes.” — Daniela Acosta-Levin, Agency Owner at The Levin Insurance Group

“Change management for legacy players who have the appetite to evolve but need to manage that process closely.” — Adam Blumencranz, VP at NFP Ventures

“Inflation remains stubbornly high and supply chain woes extend to all of 2022.” — Rob Galbraith, Author, and Partner at Insurance Nerds

“Prioritizing high-value initiatives and working to digitize the highest ROI components of the insurance process.” — Praveen Chekuri, Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Ascend

“Getting capacity (insurance/paper) — carriers are becoming more hesitant due to older insurtech’s poor loss ratios and production results.” — Anna Beach, Co-Founder & Chief Insurance Officer at Anzen

“Another year in which technology and society’s cultural propensity to adopt new technology is far outpacing the insurance industry’s ability to insure this dynamic exposure.” — Nick Lamparelli, Board Member at reThought Insurance

“Startups live up to their overinflated valuations.” — David Gritz, Co-Founder at Insurtech NY

“For many, it will be focusing on customers, not VC returns. For just as many it will be solving big problems with regulators, not just selling insurance.” — Billy Van Jura, Owner at Birchyard, LLC

“Connectivity on the agent side, reinsurance costs.” — Bradley Flowers, Founder at Portal Insurance

“Independent agents are able to build a much more capable technology stack than what was possible even a year ago. Creating a stack that can operate seamlessly, passing data between the various applications will be a major challenge.” — Andrew Ryan, VP at Hertvik Insurance Group

What will be 2022’s most surprising turn for our industry?

“Adoption of embedded solutions.” — Innovation Manager at a Major Carrier

“Several large mature non-insurance unicorns will push into insurance with partners.” — Steve Roberts, Managing Partner at ESO Venture Fund

“We’ll start to see the first large wave of defaults, and risk apertures will tighten significantly.” — Nik Milanović, Founder of This Week in Fintech

“A rising fintech’s significant organic or acquisition-based entry into insurance.” — Ryan Falvey, Managing Partner at Financial Venture Studio

“Post-IPO insurtechs as a class will outperform the broader market (S&P 500) after mixed results to date.” — Rob Galbraith, Author, and Partner at Insurance Nerds

“‘Legacy’ carriers will surpass insurtechs in some surprising way (eg. customer experience) as more tools become available to the legacy folks to use and compete.” — Andrew Wynn, Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Ascend

“More women in senior leadership!” — Anna Beach, Co-Founder & Chief Insurance Officer at Anzen

“IPOs in the sector.” — Erika Cramer, Managing Member & GP at How Women Invest

“The rise of full-stack insurtech carriers that create an embedded insurtech ecosystem. Blockchain and insurtech innovation.” — Hanna Wu, CEO & Co-Founder at Amplify

“Crypto and alternative finance will begin to find some use cases within insurance from which to build a beachhead to further experiment.” — Nick Lamparelli, Board Member at reThought Insurance

“Carriers will begin to accept digital currencies.” — Andrew Ryan, VP at Hertvik Insurance Group

“More carriers/vendors who refuse to integrate are getting left behind.” — Bradley Flowers, Founder at Portal Insurance

From digital payments to embedded technology, there is, without a doubt, a never-before-seen transformation on the rise in the insurtech industry. And if there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that the potential for innovation, revolution, and modernization is still driving this industry, and we’re excited to see where that leads.