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The silhouette of the downtown Des Moines skyline is seen as the sun sets in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
Bloomberg Creative Photos/Bloomberg
The Des Moines, Iowa, Global Insurance Accelerator is starting up its next cohort on January 15. The fifth iteration of the insurtech development program features 10 early-stage companies that will participate in the 100-day program. Over the course of that time, startups will work with insurance company mentors from a range of sponsors to move their product to the demonstration stage, which will take place April 24 at the Global Insurance Symposium, also in Des Moines. “Today, employees of insurance companies, like those representing our investors as GIA program mentors, are more equipped to ‘speak’ startup, and that accelerates opportunities for both sides," says Brian Hemesath, managing director of the GIA. Read on to meet this year's companies.

BriteBee

BriteBee makes a platform to help consumers get more targeted and relevant insurance offers, from live agents, after online quotes.

Cowbell

Cowbell helps business obtain accurate cyber insurance coverage by mapping insurable threats to the type of exposures.

ebbie

Helps life and health insurance companies develop automation to help underwrite from online applications.

everyday life

A platform using AI to provide advisor services and personalized recommendations to life insurance buyers.

Friendly

Document digitization service to help insurers automate date entry and organization.

Liscena

AI platform focused on streamlining the claims process.

Micruity

Platform looking to help add more addition of financial-focused insurance products, such as deferred annuities, to pension plans.

Predictive Health Partners

Mobile platform for predictive analytics that aims to help users manage healthcare.

Prosper eDNA

Uses epigenetics (the study of how genes and cells interact) to help life insurance and long-term care companies make accurate lifespan predictions.

The Sentence Data Refinery

Reads and interprets data in sentence form from claim and underwriting files.