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IWD: Rhea See, Co-founder and Co-CEO, She Loves Tech

Robin Merttens steps in as host to find out more about Sotera Heritage from co-founder Elizabeth Marston.

Sotera is using AI and machine learning to create irrevocable digital identities for ancient antiquities, helping insurers to accurately verify objects and provide tools for law enforcement agencies in the fight against the illicit sale of stolen artefacts.

Talking points include:

Digital fingerprints for antiquities
Creating patterns through image recognition
Tracking high-value objects in real-time
Building a solution for insurers
Crowdsourcing data through partnerships

The conversation also covers a shared love of wine as they discuss Elizabeth’s role at the Marston Family Vineyard in Napa Valley and the impact of last year’s devastating California wildfires.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use, or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewjggrant/

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Continuing Professional Development – Learning Objectives

InsTech London is accredited by The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening to an InsTech London podcast, or reading the accompanying transcript, you can claim up to 0.5 CPD hours towards the CII member CPD scheme.

Claim 0.5 hours for listening to Episode 141 of the InsTech London Podcast here – https://www.instech.london/podcast/elizabeth-marston-sotera-heritage-old-meets-new-using-latest-technology-insure-antiquities

Matt Jones, Principal at financial technology (fintech), insurance or reinsurance technology (insurtech) venture capital investment firm Anthemis joined us for our latest video interview.

Jones talked about the venture investing thesis at Anthemis, the sectors of fintech and insurtech that excite the company, as well as his views on the insurtech wave that has spread across insurance and reinsurance markets in recent years.

“If I think about the investment thesis we’ve got… within the insurance industry everything is in scope, at least at this point. We still feel that there are sufficient opportunities across pretty much all lines of business, whether it’s P &C, life and health, primary or reinsurance and across the entire value-chain,” Jones explained.

“We’re also investing in a series of other spaces that we call adjacencies. These are where there are opportunities to embed financial products, or insurance products, into other industries and where you can see other businesses being built that could have a knock-on impact on the insurance industry further down the line,” he continued.

He discussed trends in insurtech, both before and now through the lens of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as where Anthemis sees opportunities going forwards.

On the potential for the capital markets and insurance-linked securities (ILS) funds to work alongside insurtech start-ups, Jones sees companies looking to efficiency, in terms of capital and reinsurance capacity.

Jones said, “One of the things we see our start-ups spending a lot of time thinking through, is what is the most efficient form of capital that I should be working with, or the best form of capital.

“Is it the reciprocal model, is it traditional reinsurance, is it having their own carrier. You know, is it doing something using derivatives in Bermuda, for example. For each start-up there’s going to be an ideal answer, I think.”