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Addenda, a DIFC-based InsurTech firm has made an important headway by signing with five regional insurance players to its new blockchain platform.
Aman Insurance, Al Wathba Insurance, National Takaful Company (Watania), Noor Takaful and Oriental Insurance are the first companies to adopt Addenda’s technology, demonstrating the first use-case for a blockchain transaction in the regional insurance industry, a statement from DIFC said.
As the InsurTech market revenue grows at a rate of 16 per cent globally, enterprises in DIFC are upping their game by disrupting the way regional insurance sector operates as well as transforming the sector.
According to DIFC, the global InsurTech market revenue was valued at $533 million in 2018 and expected to reach over $1 billion by 2023, prompting many UAE and Middle East-based insurance firms to recognize the potential this fast-growing sector has to offer.
“When DIFC set out to develop its comprehensive FinTech ecosystem, of which InsurTech is a key component, our mission was to establish a space where the world’s leading financial institutions could engage with innovative entrepreneurs developing cutting-edge technologies," Peyman Al Awadhi, Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications, DIFC Authority, said.
Addenda graduated from the second cohort of DIFC’s FinTech Hive accelerator programme in 2018 and could leverage on partnerships while being part of the Centre’s community of over 24,000 professionals working across more than 2,100 firms.
"The accelerator program last year was an acceleration towards achieving a pivotal product and gaining new flagship clients, many of which are in the insurance sector. Our relationship with DIFC provided a pathway to securing overall support from the region's financial institutions," Karim Davis Dib, COO of Addenda said in a statement.
Rajesh Sethi, chief executive officer at Noor Takaful commented: “The new Blockchain technology is a first for the region and will enable institutions in the MENA region to collaborate more efficiently, eliminate intermediaries and speed up claims.”
“It also has the potential to solve legacy challenges and to become the blueprint for the digital insurance technology of the future,” Sethi added.
“We believe that blockchain technology will shape the connected future of tomorrow's insurance ecosystem," Martin Sebastian, Head of Information Technology, National Takaful Company (Watania) said.
In 2017, DIFC launched Fintech Hive, the region’s first FinTech accelerator, hosting FinTech, InsurTech, RegTech and Islamic FinTech startups.
(Reporting by Gerard Aoun, editing by Seban Scaria)
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