As insurtech innovation becomes increasingly critical to P&C insurers worldwide, the Guidewire Insurtech Vanguards pitch competition continues to expand to new cities around the globe, with the year’s first InsurPitch event held June 26 in London.

In fact, I’m writing these words just hours after the conclusion of the event at Blueprint London, where nearly 100 senior industry executives from across the UK and beyond came to witness something that felt less like a pitch event and more like a strategic briefing on the future of our industry.

Which is, of course, the whole point of InsurPitch. While it may take the shape of a pitch competition, it’s also a high-signal, low-noise platform designed to help Guidewire’s global carrier community discover insurtechs that deliver measurable value. Now in its fourth year, it’s a competition built around business needs, not buzzwords. At a moment when the stakes for carriers have never been higher, that’s a distinction that matters.

London Calling: InsurPitch Expands Its Global Reach

London is the fourth city to host InsurPitch, following events in Sydney, Australia; Dublin, Ireland; and Las Vegas, Nevada in the US. Given its vibrant $339 million insurtech community, it was only a matter of time before we brought the series to the UK.

Because of its status as a global insurance powerhouse—home to Lloyd’s, the world’s largest insurance market—and the UK’s position as the second-largest insurtech cluster, London has long been a place where risk meets capital and innovation. It’s also a market where pressures are mounting fast.

Today, UK carriers face a surge in claims severity, rising reinsurance costs, and complex risks reshaping property and specialty portfolios. Globally, claims costs are up by as much as 30% year-over-year. And if dynamics in the UK are anything like those in the US, declining customer satisfaction will likely have a material impact on balance sheets this year.

According to J.D. Power’s latest Property Claims Satisfaction Survey, premium increases and longer repair cycle times have contributed to lower customer satisfaction over the past 12 months. Meanwhile, the firm’s June 2025 Auto Insurance Study finds that even high-value, multiline policyholders who have traditionally been the least likely to switch carriers are now contemplating doing so.

In addition to a renewed focus on customer retention, increased competition and aggressive growth targets have UK-based insurers racing to harness technologies that can give them an edge. As Bain & Company points out, innovation leaders in P&C grow premium revenues nearly twice as fast as competitors and have expense ratios 15.6% lower.

A Pitch Competition at Insurtech’s Cutting Edge

As carriers modernize their core systems and migrate to the cloud, they require modular innovations that plug easily into their existing infrastructure—not sit adjacent to it.

Using Guidewire as an example, our Insurtech Vanguards incubator program identifies promising insurtechs and educates our carriers about emerging solutions that can seamlessly integrate to Guidewire, solve real business needs, and rapidly generate a return on investment.

Our international competitions give carriers a firsthand look at some of today’s most powerful new insurtech value propositions as we scout for additions to our industry-leading PartnerConnect program.

The insurtechs competing in InsurPitch London were selected based on public voting after they submitted 90-second pitch videos explaining their solutions and the business challenges they address. Tonight, they delivered live, five-minute presentations to regional industry leaders, who cast votes for a Grand Prize-winning insurtech to be showcased at Guidewire’s annual conference, attended by more than 3,000 top industry executives, investors, and the press.

What These Competitors Reveal About the Industry’s Direction

One of the most exciting aspects of our InsurPitch competitions is the window they open into the trends and technologies shaping the industry. At InsurPitch London 2025, three meta-trends emerged loud and clear:

AI has moved from R&D to ROI: Artificial intelligence—predictive, generative, agentic, and otherwise—enables better underwriting, smoother first-notice-of-loss, scalable digital distribution, and intelligent accommodation placements. In production, not just in theory.

Sustainability isn’t just aspirational—it’s operational: Multiple finalists tackle Scope 3 emissions, green repair decisioning, and carbon-aware claims management—not just as check-the-box ESG and regulatory compliance factors but also as compelling business differentiators.

Customer experience is a powerful growth lever: Whether offering better temporary housing to displaced claimants or streamlining digital buyers’ journeys, these startups are helping insurers deepen loyalty and boost lifetime value.

Five Finalists, One Extraordinary Opportunity

Our five finalists, in alphabetical order, were:

EcoClaim

With instant carbon reports, Scope 3 tracking, and lower-emissions repair recommendations, EcoClaim helps carriers and suppliers take concrete steps toward Net Zero, turning claims processes into climate action.

Eco Repair Score

As regulations tighten across the UK, Eco Repair Score provides claims teams with science-based tools to measure, report, and lower emissions while minimizing the environmental impact of vehicle repairs.

nettle

nettle’s AI-powered risk assessment engine brings speed and precision to commercial property underwriting, utilizing internal and third-party data to accomplish in minutes what can otherwise take days or weeks.

OpenDialog

Conversational AI is proving to be a revenue multiplier for carriers. OpenDialog’s intelligent sales agents deliver 25%+ boosts in online conversions and lift average policy value by more than 10%.

Sinistar

This home-sharing platform connects claims teams with fully furnished temporary housing for displaced policyholders in their communities, lowering claims costs while boosting customer satisfaction close to home.

And the Winner Is…

nettle

In the end, nettle was selected by a live vote from the audience of insurance leaders to receive the InsurPitch London Grand Prize. Their solution stood out not only for its technological sophistication but also for its ability to deliver meaningful value by enabling carriers to conduct detailed risk assessments—whether remote or on-site—in just minutes.

Why It Matters–And What Comes Next

Nights like this prove that when the right innovations are presented to the right stakeholders—carriers seeking relevance, efficiency, and differentiation—the pace of change accelerates. That’s what InsurPitch exists to do. It’s also why we’ll continue our 2025 competition series in Toronto later this year, along with our fourth annual US event in Las Vegas during ITC. If you think you’ve got what it takes to become a Guidewire Insurtech Vanguard, you can learn more and apply here.

A Word of Thanks

No competition of this caliber happens without collaboration. It’s impossible to adequately convey my gratitude to teams Guidewire and PwC (including our longtime partner and London 2025 judge-from-afar Imran Ilyas), as well as our panel of judges. These included Melissa Collett, CEO of Insurtech UK; Christian Kitchen, CIO of Travelers Europe; Matthew Wolff, Principal, Technology & Transformation at PwC; as well as Guidewire’s Tony Cronin, Director of Product of Management; and Eric Apse, Senior Alliance Director. And a special shoutout to Laura Browne and Susan Joyce, members of the Guidewire mentorship program, for their contributions to this event. You all embody everything the InsurPitch program is meant to be: smart, bold, and ready to move the industry forward. Thank you!

Enjoy some of the sights and sounds of InsurPitch London 2025 in this short video: