Two North American startups win gold and silver awards in first ever Zurich Innovation World Championship

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Jan 31, 2019, 08:07 ET

Chisel AI took the top spot, and zesty.ai came in second. Two other companies tied for the bronze award.

SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Jan. 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Zurich Insurance Group today announced that Chisel AI is the Gold winner in the first Zurich Innovation World Championship for its work that aims to improve processing of unstructured data sources using artificial intelligence technology. Zesty.ai was named the Silver winner for its work that aims to improve accuracy of property analysis using artificial intelligence technology. LifeNome and Soldier.ly jointly won the Bronze award.

"Congratulations to all the participants and particularly to the two North American winners, Chisel AI and zesty.ai," said Zurich North America CEO Kathleen Savio. "Our work with these startups and other insurtech companies can complement and augment the innovation capabilities we have here at Zurich. When we bring these things together, it gets to the heart of our strategy around innovation and enables us to be more customer focused in the products and the services that we deliver."

The companies were honored during an awards ceremony at Zurich's headquarters in Switzerland. Each winner now has the opportunity to develop pilot programs in the local businesses to make their products and services available to the Groups' customers in selected countries and regions.

"Chisel AI and zesty.ai represent the spirit of innovation that we continue to foster as we look for new ways to better serve our customers," said Anurag Batta, head of Strategy, Innovation and Business Development for Zurich North America. "We look forward to working with both winners to bring innovative solutions to the market."

Chisel AI has developed a natural language, AI processing tool that allows commercial insurers and brokers to extract, identify and classify unstructured data sources, such as insurance documents, 400 times faster and much more accurately than a human, the company claims.

Zesty.ai has developed an AI-based solution that can provide insurers and other users with detailed and accurate property evaluations to improve underwriting, pricing and post-event response. Using satellite and drone imagery, combined with information collected by aircraft and weather data, zesty.ai has analyzed more than 115 billion data points on 140 million structures.

LifeNome has created an XHealth platform that combines precision health and wellness underwriting with the aim of making customers healthier and saving money for insurers. 70% of the company's staff holds PhDs.

Soldier.ly has developed the world's first smartwatch stress detection app that provides users with real-time assistance. Soldier.ly's FDA-approved app detects stress and intervenes when stress signs are detected. Worldwide, mental health problems now affect an estimated 700 million people.

Group Chief Executive Officer Mario Greco said: "The Zurich Innovation World Championship underlines our quest to attract and retain the best and most innovative talent across the globe. We received applications from Argentina to Australia, demonstrating the breadth of talent, ideas and people who recognize the opportunity to work with and learn from Zurich. We are very excited to be working with our winners to develop new products, ideas and innovations that will help us better meet the evolving needs of our customers globally."

The global round of the Zurich Innovation World Championship was judged by Zurich's executive committee, who together decided on the four winners.

Group Chief Strategy, Innovation and Business Development Officer Giovanni Giuliani said: "We are pleased that Chisel, zesty.ai, LifeNome and Soldier.ly are the winners of the first Zurich Innovation World Championship. Each of these insurtech startups demonstrated they can fully support Zurich and its customers with pioneering ideas and products. We are committed to drive transformation and innovation in the insurance industry and I am excited to see what our winners' pilot programs will deliver for Zurich and the industry."

The Zurich Innovation World Championship, Zurich's first global insurtech competition, attracted more than 450 startups from around the globe. During the past five months, they competed in five categories: Smart Homes and Buildings, Digital Health, Financial Planning, Mobility and a Wildcard option. The eight global round finalists were: Chisel AI, Habit Analytics, LifeNome, Nubihome, Shayp, Soldier.ly, Vymo and zesty.ai. In previous rounds, 22 local winners were selected and Zurich will also start working with many of these companies on a local basis and share their expertise globally.

Further information
Additional information on the Zurich Innovation World Championship, including profiles of the eight finalists and a recording of the awards ceremony is available at: https://www.zurich.com/en/campaigns/ziwc.

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SOURCE Zurich North America