Hong Kong-based Galileo Platforms is building a B2B insurance policy administration system on a blockchain. Today it announced a US$2 million Series A funding led by Greenlight Re.
The company was founded by two Australians with deep insurance experience in Asia. Chairperson Annette King is a qualified Actuary who was with Manulife for more than five years including as CEO of the Singapore subsidiary. Before that, she was with Axa in Singapore and Mercer in Australia.
CEO Mark Wales spent the 13 years before Galileo with Deloitte, Capgemini, ABN AMRO, and ING mainly in Hong Kong. He’s one of the most articulate executives that Ledger Insights has interviewed.
When Mark spoke to Ledger Insights back in February, he laid out the massive opportunity in Asia where hundreds of millions of new customers will come online in the next few years. He envisions a future where insurance is digital rather than going via agents and banks.
Galileo’s target market is broad, whether its disruptors or incumbents, and insurers, distributors, or reinsurers.
Unlike other startups which focus on p2p insurance or niches, Galileo is going up against major legacy policy administration systems. As companies venture into new jurisdictions, Wales is betting on them trying new systems.
“Blockchain is a fundamental technology that will lead the much-needed change in the insurance sector,” said Wales. “Our platform takes much of the functionality typically found in legacy policy administration systems and encodes it in smart contracts in a blockchain. This mutualises the policy administration function, reducing costs and creating new opportunities for insurance.“
The system is built using JP Morgan’s Quorum which is an enterprise version of Ethereum.
Greenlight Re CEO Simon Burton spoke about the investment: “The management team of Galileo has a unique combination of insurance leadership experience and expertise in applying distributed ledger technology to real world insurance applications. We are excited about this partnership and the opportunity to build a business of the future with Annette and Mark, as this aligns with our growth strategy which has technology and innovation at the heart of our business.”
