AIP News RoundUp – EP 62 – Theresa Blissing and Michael Waitze – Finally,  Fewer Capital Raises and More Getting Stuff Done

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Michael Waitze worked in Global Finance for more than 20 years, employed by firms like Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, primarily in Tokyo.  Michael lived and worked in Tokyo from February 1990 until December 2011.  Michael always maintained a particular focus on how technology could be used to make businesses more efficient and to drive P/L growth. Michael is a leader in the digital media space, building one of the biggest and fastest-growing podcast listener bases in the region.  His AsiaTechPodcast.com show has listeners in more than 170 countries and his company, Michael Waitze Media produces some of Asia’s most popular podcasts.

Theresa is the founder of the Asia InsurTech Podcast and a Thought Leader on innovation in insurance in Asia. She has worked for ten years for leading multinational insurers in Europe and Asia before turning to management consulting and venture building with the goal of transforming the insurance industry and helping shape its future in the region.

Welcome to 2023! The AIP News Roundup team is excited about the new year and new InsurTech developments. Will we see a new wave of M&A in a changed investment climate? A stronger focus on product innovation and less hype around record-breaking funding rounds? 

Well, despite the predictions of an InsurTech winter, we are starting the year with funding news from Thai InsurTech Eazy Digital. The startup helps Southeast Asia’s small insurers digitize their operations. We had founder and serial entrepreneur Harprem Doowa on the show a couple of times. Listen to the episodes here

Raising funding is not the only way to get new cash. Chinese Cheche Technology has been listed on the Nasdaq through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company. In Singapore, AIA’s Amplify Health acquired machine learning firm Aida. Is this only the start of a new M&A wave of InsurTechs?

In Indonesia, startup Aigis has pivoted its focus to provide project management solutions after the company saw unsatisfactory growth in the InsurTech industry. On the other hand, PasarPolis has become Indonesia’s first official full-stack InsurTech ecosystem. 

In the Philippines, Igloo is planning to bring the first blockchain-based Weather Index Insurance to the market. The Igloo brand was once known for smartphone protection but has expanded into new areas. We certainly see fierce competition in the device protection space. Bolttech has just secured a new partnership with Thai telco AIS after having worked with Thai DTAC for quite some time.

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