Expect more stages, more people and more one-on-one connections at the upcoming OnRamp Insurance Conference.
The third annual OnRamp Conference is expected to draw over 1,000 insurance professionals, from insurance tech startup founders to executives from notable insurance corporations. Featuring speakers from Northwestern Mutual, Allstate, Nationwide and other established insurance companies, the conference aims to connect InsureTech startups with potential corporate and venture capital investors and address various InsureTech topics including cybersecurity, blockchain, and artificial intelligence.
Given Chicago’s budding startup scene and the concentration of legacy insurance companies in the Midwest, Chicago was a logical city for hosting the conference, said gener8tor co-founder Troy Vosseller. Gener8tor is hosting this year’s one-day conference, as it has in previous years, at Soldier Field on April 12.
“The benefit of a conference like OnRamp is that hopefully, these startups are meeting lots of potential corporate customers. And once they have one, the sales process for corporation two, three, and four becomes that much easier,” Vosseller said.
New to this year’s conference are new three stages where attendees can listen to speakers, up from the one stage the conference had in years past. This year’s 1,000 attendees is an increase from the 400 attendees in its first year and 700 during its second year, Vosseller said.
“It’s a great platform for startups to learn about who the decision makers are and who the corporate players on the corporate side of the insurance industry,” Vosseller said. “The hope is that from this conference they come away with great leads that hopefully lead to a pilot, a customer-vendor relationship or maybe even a direct investment.”
Thanks to the addition of the Brella app and VC Office hours, this year’s attendees will have more time to network with one another. During VC Office Hours, venture capitalists will meet with InsureTech startups. Using the Brella app, attendees indicate who they’re interested in meeting as well as search for, chat and schedule meetings with other attendees.
Milwaukee-based accelerator network gener8tor organizes the OnRamp Conference series, which also features events for the retail and manufacturing industries. After noticing insurance companies like Jewelers Mutual, Church Mutual Insurance, Northwestern Mutual and Assurant becoming increasingly more interested in the InsureTech startup world, gener8tor decided to start the insurance conference to give a space for traditional insurance investors, insurance companies, and insurance startups to come together, Vosseller said.
“You have new things like autonomous vehicles or artificial intelligence, which all raise the question of what impact do those new technologies have on insurance,” Vosseller said. “The most progressive insurance companies are thinking, ‘What’s over the hill? And how can we be proactive in terms of defining the future of our industry?’”
