Swiss InsurTech Hub: strong finalists, clear agenda, fresh impetus

At the General Assembly of the Swiss InsurTech Hub on October 28, the award ceremony on November 11 at Google headquarters in Zurich was highlighted. Among the ten finalists, the best start-ups will be selected, new partner formats will be presented and concrete innovation paths from agent-based AI to fraud detection and the monetization of prevention in the healthcare sector will be highlighted.

Ten finalists have emerged from over 60 nominations: the jury has conducted an intensive review and the announcement will be made via LinkedIn. On November 11 from 3 p.m., the top 10 will be presented live at Google’s Zurich headquarters, accompanied by an opening speech by Paolo Mantero, Head of Strategy at Zurich Insurance. Gregor Kaelin, Head of Financial Services at Google Cloud, will moderate a discussion on innovation in the insurance industry.

Georgina Sala Gasol, Global Head of Digital Customer Experience at Nespresso, shares digital experience lessons from the Nespresso world with “One Click, One Sip”, and Raphael Troitzsch, Managing Partner at Boston Consulting Group, leads a conversation on implementing digital excellence in customer experience.

Partner events and cooperations: Pitching, London tickets, new delegation

The pitch event of network partner InsurAngels Suisse in Zurich will follow on November 17, primarily for start-ups in the early phase before the first round of financing. An advantage contingent for young companies is available for the ITC London in January. At the same time, the Swiss InsurTech Hub is negotiating a package for InsurTech Insights in March 2026. The plan is to once again expand the open presence in a central location, which already attracted a large number of visitors last year.

CSS: From insurer to orchestrator of prevention

Nicolas Loeillot, a former tech entrepreneur with a computer vision start-up that was sold to Amazon in 2017 and has been with CSS since 2021, categorized the innovation work along the company’s strategic goals and spoke of basic and supplementary insurance, as well as the ambition to establish prevention as an independent, economically viable value. While efficiency gains dominate the core business, the fourth goal in particular – “more than insurance” – opens the way to data-driven prevention, which is not created in the logic of clinics, but by new players and models.

The innovation paths are broadly based. Since 2015, CSS has been cooperating with ETH and HSG in the so-called Health Lab, financing research and start-ups. Swiss Health Ventures followed in 2021 as a 50 million fund with a focus on series A financing and around a dozen investments to date, which are intended to have a measurable impact on the Swiss healthcare system. An increase is planned.

Since 2022, the Future of Health Grant program, together with the EPFL Innovation Park, has been connecting around twenty start-ups per year with pilot projects every year that not only demonstrate clinical evidence, but above all economic viability and scaling potential. In the “pilot factory”, projects are therefore evaluated along three axes: financial benefit for the system, clinical validity and scalability. The aim is to create a comparable, investor-friendly evaluation matrix for digital healthcare solutions. In the long term, CSS is thinking in the direction of a digital health foundation that organizes validation systematically and on a large scale.

Start-up spotlight: Five solutions, five perspectives

Cleanpact links insurance capital with renewable infrastructure and creates a branded trading platform where projects can be securitized via a Swiss ISIN and their impact reported in real time. An exclusive letter of intent for USD 100 million for solar projects in Latin America underlines the ambition, while investors from the DACH region and project pipelines in Portugal, Spain and Italy are being targeted. Founded in Zurich and Zug in 2025, the company is seeking insurers and reinsurers, technology-driven partners and corporate sponsors to combine return, resilience and impact.

Hedi addresses the new wave of AI-driven forgeries with a multimodal fraud detection system that applies over 80 forensic and technical checks to images, documents and texts and provides comprehensible reasons for the results. The solution can be operated locally in your own data center, integrated via a programming interface in just a few days and typically goes live within a month, including fine-tuning to historical data. The cloud-based subscription model is based on unlimited use to enable fraud checks along the entire process. There is a 20 percent discount for members of the Swiss InsurTech Hub. The team from Paris is already operational in Romania, Tunisia and Qatar.

Issured shifts the focus from recognition to a secure chain of evidence. With MeaFuse, images, videos and audio are provided with a blockchain-based chain of custody as soon as they are captured, making authenticity traceable throughout. MeaConnectus supplements this with forgery-proof video interviews with real-time detection of AI forgeries, live translations in 144 languages and transcribed time codes. This set-up creates the basis for faster and more secure claims processes, not least against the backdrop of spectacular social engineering cases.

AI Swiss Knife takes a radically pragmatic approach for Swiss non-life insurers: lean AI agents automate the initial notification check, the cover check, customer communication and compliance with regulatory requirements. This significantly reduces processing time while increasing the proportion of dark processing. The one-person company, tested as a finalist in a Zurich Hackathon, promises implementations in under 30 days. The offer is particularly attractive for medium-sized companies.

Finally, Motoro Security counters mechanized car theft with an inconspicuous capsule that detects attacks in real time and neutralizes the devices used via radio defence measures. The vehicle remains inoperable despite glass damage or key theft, without the need for complex fixed installations. The power supply is designed to last for two to three years. Initial pilot projects are underway in Israel and Canada.

Three trends that are here to stay

Agentic AI is moving from theory to the operational design of loss, fraud and customer experience. Trust technologies with forensics, chain of custody and deepfake defense are moving from an additional benefit to a regulatory relevant stability factor. Insurers are becoming active capital allocators in digital health through evidence-based prevention and in climate infrastructure through direct engagement in renewable assets.

For decision makers

Pilots should be set up from the outset with evaluation matrices that combine clinical evidence, cost-effectiveness and scalability. Fraud detection and evidence preservation work best in combination with preventive detection, technical forensics and clean process integration. And those who think strategically about capital can combine sustainability impact with stable cash flows. This is a playing field in which insurers are redefining their role.

Binci Heeb

Read also: Agentic AI, satellites & start-ups: how innovation is changing the world of insurance