Insurtech Live 2025 showcased Australia’s growing influence on the global insurtech stage. The event brought together leading voices to discuss the future of insurance, investment trends, and how technology is shaping the industry. Across keynote speeches, panel discussions, and a competitive pitch event, the key themes centred on adapting to economic pressures, leveraging AI for efficiency, and fostering strategic partnerships.
Opening Keynote: Insurance in Crisis? Rethinking Risk, Pricing & Product
Bryan Falchuk, author of The Future of Insurance and CEO of PLRB, kicked off the event with a sobering assessment of the industry’s economic challenges. Climate change, supply chain disruptions, and inflation are straining traditional business models. Raising rates, cutting costs, and retrenching—once reliable tactics—are now proving insufficient.
Focusing on the three key pillars for sustainability, Falchuk outlined:
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Risk: Smarter risk selection and proactive risk management to prevent losses before they occur.
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Pricing: Agile, data-driven pricing models that can adjust in real time to evolving risks.
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Product: Policies that align with modern exposures rather than outdated industry norms.
His core message? The industry must move beyond reactionary tactics and shift towards predictive, preventative strategies that make insurance more resilient in an unpredictable world.
Insurtech PitchLIVE: Spotlight on Emerging Innovations
The excitement continued with Insurtech PitchLIVE, a competition designed to highlight game-changing insurtech solutions. Five finalists showcased innovations designed to address some of the industry’s most pressing issues, from claims automation to parametric insurance.
The standout winner, myVal, tackled a critical gap in home contents insurance—underinsurance. Many homeowners underestimate the value of their belongings or lack proper documentation, leaving them exposed in the event of a claim. MyVal’s AI-powered platform provides:
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Real-time asset valuations to ensure policyholders have accurate coverage.
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Automated record-keeping to streamline claims processes.
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Identification of high-value items that may require additional coverage.
By bridging the information gap between insurers and policyholders, myVal is bringing much-needed transformation to personal insurance. Its success reflects a broader industry shift towards using AI to enhance customer protection and streamline operations.
The AI Dilemma: Why Tech Adoption Takes Time
In a thought-provoking session, Stephen Barnham, Global Chief Digital & Information Officer at Dai-ichi Life, explored why emerging technology often takes longer than expected to deliver value. Comparing AI’s trajectory to the slow adoption of electricity in the Industrial Age, he argued that the issue isn’t the technology itself—it’s how businesses measure its value.
At Dai-ichi Life, AI is already making a significant impact across multiple functions:
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Automated underwriting to accelerate policy approvals and improve accuracy.
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KYC (Know Your Customer) processes that enhance compliance and reduce fraud.
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Fraud detection tools that analyze patterns in real-time.
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AI-powered administrative support for internal efficiencies and training.
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Digital Buddy technology to assess conversations in claims processing, ensuring interactions remain constructive and empathetic.
Despite these advancements, Barnham acknowledged a lack of consensus on AI’s true role in insurance. Should it primarily enhance customer service or reduce friction in the buying process? The answer, he suggested, lies in an insurer’s ability to integrate AI into broader digital strategies, balancing efficiency gains with human-centric service.
CIO Roundtable: Buy vs. Build – What Insurers Want from Insurtechs
A panel of leading CIOs—Sonya Crosby (QBE), Sahil Tulsiani (Envest), and Graeme Wilson (Hollard)—closed out the event with an in-depth discussion on technology investment strategies.
Key Takeaways on Insurer Priorities:
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Speed: Quick implementation is critical—insurers don’t have years to wait for results.
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Problem-solving: Insurtechs must clearly articulate and solve specific pain points, not general inefficiencies.
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Scalability: Solutions must be flexible and capable of growing with insurers’ needs.
2025 Priorities for Insurers:
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Seamless quote and bind experiences to enhance customer retention and reduce friction.
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Reliable, real-time data sources to improve underwriting accuracy and pricing agility.
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Regulatory compliance (NIST, CIS, ISO, and CPS certifications) to maintain operational integrity.
Challenges for Startups Partnering with Insurers:
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Time Constraints: CIOs juggle extensive BAU (business-as-usual) responsibilities, limiting availability.
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Personal Risk: Choosing a tech partner carries significant professional stakes for decision-makers.
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Procurement & Budgets: Lengthy approval cycles and financial restrictions can slow down adoption.
Building Trust & Sustainable Partnerships:
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Augment, don’t replace: Insurtechs should enhance existing insurer capabilities rather than attempt to disrupt core functions.
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Proven scalability: Insurers need reassurance that solutions will perform at enterprise scale.
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Referrals over sales pitches: CIOs trust recommendations from industry peers more than vendor marketing.
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Stay laser-focused: Insurtechs that try to solve too many problems often dilute their value proposition.
Final Thoughts
Insurtech Live 2025 reaffirmed that the insurance industry is at a turning point. As economic pressures mount, traditional business models are being challenged, and insurers are looking to AI and digital transformation for solutions. However, success will depend on more than just adopting new technology—scalability, security, and trust will determine which insurtechs thrive.
For Kanopi, these insights validate our strategic direction. By continuing to refine our AI-powered underwriting and pricing solutions, enhancing customer experiences, and ensuring robust compliance, we are well-positioned to support insurers as they navigate this evolving landscape.
The future of insurance isn’t just about innovation—it’s about delivering real, tangible value. And at Kanopi, we’re committed to being at the forefront of this transformation.
About Kanopi
Kanopi is the modular full-stack insurance platform for insurers, MGAs and brokers to rapidly launch and scale insurance products into new channels within a fraction of the time and cost. Kanopi’s platform supports accelerated quote journeys, intuitive end-to-end policy management, and streamlined distribution, eliminating the need to juggle multiple systems or vendors. A one-stop shop, Kanopi simplifies operations and drastically cuts down on the time and resources typically required for product development and distribution.
Take the first step to kickstart your digital transformation journey, download Kanopi’s FREE guide to building a future-focused insurance platform.