A growing number of global startups are noticing Hartford InsurTech Hub’s annual accelerator program.
Organizers of the third annual accelerator that begins in February say they received 32 percent more applications this year compared to a year ago.
In total, the accelerator has narrowed down a pool of 355 applicants, from 56 countries, to about 20 scheduled to participate in its Selection Days event at Upward Hartford, 20 Church St., from Nov. 12 to Nov. 13.
London-based Startupbootcamp runs the insurtech accelerator known as Hartford InsurTech Hub, which is designed as a three-month program to lure new talent and technology to the Capital City with hopes they establish a permanent presence in the state.
Startups will pitch their business plans during the Selection Days events prior to roundtable discussions and meetings with program partners and mentors.
Partners of the program — Aetna, Capgemini, Cigna, The Hartford,Travelers, USAA, White Mountains, Conning, LKP Global Law, Locke Lord LLP, InsurBot and CTNext — will then name 10 startups on Nov. 13 to the accelerator. Those startups will receive support, resources and industry and investor connections.
“Part of the goal is to have [the startups] reside here at the end of the program,” said Mary Crean, growth and partnership lead at Hartford InsurtechHub. “I think people see that as an economic-development component.”
Crean and Dawn LeBlanc, managing director of Hartford Insurtech Hub, met with nearly 300 startups in seven countries in recent months before choosing just over 20 finalists.
Applicants ranged from as far away as Russia and New Zealand. Others hailed from the U.S., Argentina, Egypt, Lithuania, Taiwan, Poland, Pakistan, Spain and Turkey, among others.
Several startups selected in previous accelerators have already established a presence in Greater Hartford, LeBlanc said.
Aureus Analytics, founded in India, participated in the accelerator’s first cohort, and has since opened an office in Hartford with five employees.
South Africa-based peer-to-peer insurance app Pineapple, a participant last year, has also established an office downtown at Nassau Re’s new insurtech incubator.
The Hartford InsurTech accelerator is funded by grants from CTNext, the state’s quasi-public entrepreneurship booster.
