Soton Rosanwo, the founder and CEO of Centinel, is trying to reimagine the insurance industry by providing claims-free coverage for risks that are hard to insure.
And now she is getting backing from one of the nation's largest traditional insurance companies.
Centinel has been selected to participate in Northwestern Mutual’s “Black Founder Accelerator” fall cohort.
The national accelerator gives each startup a $100,000 investment, 12 weeks of business training, access to venture capital partners, and coaching from insurance and finance professionals.
Centinel provides coverage for hard-to-insure risks such as infectious diseases, power outages, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and event cancellations. Instead of requiring a claim to be filed, the company monitors real-time databases to assess whether risks covered have occurred.
"The common risks you me and all of us face increasingly every day are difficult to cover using standard insurance means," Rosanwo said.
A study commissioned by Centinel found that 70% of people would be interested in buying coverage for some of the risks listed above. The study included 400 people.
“Let's say you've got a guy named Bob and he wants coverage for a flight. He wants a $500 payout if his flight is either canceled or more than three hours delayed. We would say 'okay, Bob, we've got you.' We're monitoring databases in real time and can see if his flight is canceled or more than three hours delayed. Should it be, we're just going to automatically send you that $500 check, no need to file a claim or anything like that,” Rosanwo told Chicago Inno.
"Given the proliferation of data and access to data ... why can't we use data to make those hard to ensure risks more coverable?" she asked.
The accelerator program wants to give Black entrepreneurs greater access to venture capital and resources.
“Many of us [Black founders] may not necessarily have the same depth of network that will allow us to build out teams as quickly — find optimal co-founders as quickly — and so a program like this accelerator helps to address both of those issues,” Rosanwo said. “One, it's providing capital. Two, it’s helping us prepare to have those conversations with investors so that we can go on to have successful fundraising rounds in the future."
Northwestern Mutual is based in Milwaukee.
