Third taxonomy · 2026 research cycle
Evolution insights
What became of the catalogued innovations by 2026: company survival, acquisitions, business-model shifts, and technology, set against the 2016 and 2017 taxonomies they were originally classified under.
Research coverage: 324 of 398 innovations (81%)
Every figure below counts only researched innovations (researching, reviewed, or completed). They describe this catalog sample, not the InsurTech market, and shift as research coverage grows.
- Not started: 0
- Researching (unreviewed): 0
- Reviewed: 81
- Completed: 243
- Blocked: 74
Company survival and strategy
- Independent124 · 38%
- Acquired103 · 32%
- Merged2 · 1%
- Corporate initiative44 · 14%
- Discontinued44 · 14%
- Unclear7 · 2%
- Original model retained87 · 27%
- Expanded81 · 25%
- Repositioned33 · 10%
- Fundamentally pivoted6 · 2%
- Absorbed50 · 15%
- Wound down46 · 14%
- Unclear21 · 6%
Business models
- B2C direct111 · 34%
- B2B commercial lines33 · 10%
- B2B SaaS / software127 · 39%
- B2B2C / white-label38 · 12%
- Embedded insurance38 · 12%
- Infrastructure / platform41 · 13%
- Marketplace / aggregator46 · 14%
- Service-based31 · 10%
- Risk transfer / capacity41 · 13%
- Consumer to enterprise16 · 19%
- Enterprise to consumer4 · 5%
- Toward embedded / partner distribution23 · 27%
- Took on risk3 · 3%
- Shed risk3 · 3%
- Toward services3 · 3%
- New insurance lines28 · 33%
- Geographic expansion24 · 28%
- Geographic retreat6 · 7%
- AI repositioning12 · 14%
Technology, value chain, and positioning
- AI-native17 · 5%
- AI-enhanced48 · 15%
- API-driven54 · 17%
- Automation-led76 · 24%
- Data-driven79 · 25%
- IoT & telematics39 · 12%
- Blockchain / DLT12 · 4%
- Digital channel154 · 49%
- Product development64 · 20%
- Distribution & sales202 · 63%
- Underwriting & pricing112 · 35%
- Policy administration94 · 29%
- Claims109 · 34%
- Risk prevention53 · 17%
- Customer engagement94 · 29%
- Risk capital & reinsurance13 · 4%
- Insurer / carrier68 · 21%
- MGA / program administrator19 · 6%
- Broker / agent72 · 23%
- Technology provider134 · 42%
- Ecosystem enabler43 · 13%
- Service provider17 · 5%
- Non-insurance business23 · 7%
Maturity and relevance
- Experimental7 · 2%
- Scaling34 · 10%
- Established166 · 51%
- Integrated51 · 16%
- Discontinued53 · 16%
- Unclear13 · 4%
- High34 · 10%
- Moderate110 · 34%
- Limited106 · 33%
- Historical significance74 · 23%
Across the three taxonomies
Rows are the original classifications; an innovation classified under several original categories or roles is counted in each row. Cell shading is relative to the row total.
| Original classification | Independent | Acquired | Merged | Corporate initiative | Discontinued | Unclear | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales & Distribution | 45 | 34 | 1 | 11 | 19 | 3 | 113 |
| Customer Relationship | 24 | 31 | 17 | 12 | 4 | 88 | |
| Product Development | 23 | 25 | 2 | 9 | 18 | 4 | 81 |
| Underwriting & Risk Management | 17 | 23 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 54 | |
| Claims Management | 21 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 53 | ||
| Marketing | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| Original classification | Original model retained | Expanded | Repositioned | Fundamentally pivoted | Absorbed | Wound down | Unclear | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital Infrastructure Operations | 64 | 50 | 22 | 5 | 35 | 24 | 13 | 213 |
| Customer Network Promotion | 54 | 38 | 22 | 4 | 28 | 27 | 11 | 184 |
| Digital Service Provisioning | 55 | 45 | 14 | 5 | 20 | 20 | 9 | 168 |
| Insurance Service Development | 31 | 31 | 15 | 5 | 23 | 24 | 13 | 142 |
| Data-Driven Infrastructure Operations | 21 | 29 | 7 | 3 | 17 | 8 | 8 | 93 |
| Partner Network Promotion | 4 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 22 |
| Original classification | Independent | Acquired | Merged | Corporate initiative | Discontinued | Unclear | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start-up | 109 | 91 | 2 | 15 | 27 | 7 | 251 |
| Service Provider | 50 | 39 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 100 | |
| Traditional Insurance Company | 2 | 2 | 31 | 13 | 48 | ||
| Discontinued | 5 | 14 | 19 | ||||
| Collaboration | 4 | 5 | 6 | 15 | |||
| Risk Carrier | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
Acquisition and consolidation patterns
- Applied Systems2 · 2%
- Cambridge Mobile Telematics2 · 2%
- The Allstate Corporation2 · 2%
- A-Plan Holdings (A-Plan Group, part of Howden)1 · 1%
- Aareal Bank Group1 · 1%
- Acorn Group1 · 1%
- Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Company of Europe (MS&AD Insurance Group)1 · 1%
- Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Europe (MS&AD Insurance Group), via Box Innovation Group1 · 1%
- AKKO1 · 1%
- Alera Group, Inc. (reportedly; d/b/a Lumity)1 · 1%
- Allianz (via Allianz X; simplesurance GmbH); schutzklick.de: JODEXNIS Versicherungsmakler GmbH1 · 1%
- Allianz Direct Versicherungs-AG (Allianz Group)1 · 1%
- AMTD Digital (AMTD Group)1 · 1%
- Arch Insurance (Arch Capital Group)1 · 1%
- Arun Balakrishnan (75%+ per Companies House since October 2023; he is also a director since 2017 and appears to be the Xceedance group CEO); Xceedance Consulting Ltd held 75%+ from 2018 to 20231 · 1%
| Year | Acquisitions | Mergers | Rebrands | Pivots | Closures |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 1 | ||||
| 2010 | 1 | ||||
| 2011 | 1 | ||||
| 2012 | 1 | ||||
| 2013 | 1 | ||||
| 2014 | 4 | 2 | |||
| 2015 | 6 | 1 | |||
| 2016 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |
| 2017 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2018 | 13 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |
| 2019 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 5 | |
| 2020 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| 2021 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 3 | |
| 2022 | 17 | 5 | 1 | 2 | |
| 2023 | 15 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| 2024 | 21 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 2025 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 8 | |
| 2026 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
Methodology, taxonomy definitions, and the per-record coverage report are in docs/research/insurtech-evolution-2026/. Browse the taxonomy in the taxonomy explorer.