For the last 10 years, we have seen a remarkable improvement in the operational capabilities and the robust growth of the private insurance sector in the country. At the same time, the commercial insurance segment still operates in an old manner where the internal insuring process is still manual. Here, Alwrite comes into the picture and simplifies the quote placement (the step before policy issuance) process which is done on excel sheets and emails and it takes an estimated 30 efforts by intermediaries and insurance companies for a single policy for a commercial entity. We spoke with Mr. Aditya Dadia, Founder, Alwrite to know more about his vision for his innovative venture.
Tell us how Alwrite was started? How did you conceptualize and develop into what it is today?
Alwrite was conceptualized during the pandemic. I was working as a corporate lawyer at Trilegal, primarily working on PE/VC and M&A deals and corporate advisory. I got to work with some of the most revolutionary startups globally, many of them in the fintech space that were solving genuine market problems. That’s when the entrepreneurship bug bit.
The problem: The commercial insurance space was working completely manually. The last 10 years witnessed a fintech revolution that took the banking and financial services space by storm. On the retail side of insurance (life insurance, health insurance, motor insurance, etc.), the ripples created by the insurtech wave were felt by all. The commercial lines of insurance (property, employee benefits, liability, marine) have been operating manually over excel sheets and emails.
There was a dire need for digitization of this space. There was a lot of scope for error, huge turnaround time, heavy costs and a lot of duplication of work. The commercial lines being more technical than the retail segment, had a lot of nuances to insuring a risk, and cracking the algorithm was a task.
Tell us about your product range and its USP
We offer digitized solutions to both insurance intermediaries and insurance companies. The insurance intermediaries use the software to generate quotes for a risk and the insurance companies use the software to underwrite the risk. Both of these arms work seamlessly together to create a quick insurance transaction that brings the turnaround time for policy issuance down from a couple of weeks to a couple of minutes. The software also maintains thorough audit trails, versioning of quote slips and allows for query management to make the interaction absolutely seamless and significantly reduces the risk of professional indemnity of both the intermediary and the insurer. We are a one of a kind solution in the industry for the commercial lines of business and are well positioned as software providers to both insurance brokers and insurance companies.
How has the market responded to Alwrite?
The market feedback has been phenomenal. The product is the need of the hour.
Who is your target consumer and why do you think your brand has been popular amongst this segment?
Target consumers – Intermediaries (12,00,000+ agents, 600+ insurance brokers, 700+ corporate agents, banks that sell insurance)
Insurers (All the general insurance companies)
How has the growth journey been for the brand in terms of market expansion and revenue?
We expect to go live early next year. We already have commitments from a swarm of brokers and a few insurers on using the platform.
What is your vision for the brand?
Since Alwrite is B2B within the insurance industry, the goal is to be associated with ease, seamlessness and digitization of the sector. The name Alwrite should resonate with convenience in insurance. With further developments, we aim to become the one stop shop for anything commercial insurance for any intermediary or insurance company.
With the vision of the IRDAI and the government, new age startups and legacy players are working tirelessly to increase the insurance penetration in the country. In the last few years, the country has made significant strides and is on a path to becoming the largest economy in the world. The largest economy would need to protect its assets, and the protection of those assets would require a tech driven systematic solution. We hope to be a small cog in the growth story of India.
Insurance in general and commercial insurance in particular is the last leg of the BFSI sector to be struck by the fintech wave. I believe the last ten years belonged to fintech, but the next 10 years belong to insurtech. The idea was not to create a problem and solve it, but rather solve a genuine problem faced by the market players. Ayrton Senna, the Brazilian racing legend once said “If you no longer go for a gap that exists, you’re no longer a racing driver”. At Alwrite, we saw the gap, and went for it.
