QBE and SafetyCulture announce joint venture aimed at disrupting the SME insurance market
QBE Insurance Australia (QBE) has joined forces with workplace safety technology platform, SafetyCulture, to launch a new insurance market entrant, Mitti, aimed at reimagining the traditional relationship between businesses and insurance.
This new venture demonstrates the insurer’s intent to become a more digitally enabled business, with offerings designed to provide tailored solutions for customers to better manage current and emerging risks.
Mitti is a technology-first insurance company aiming to challenge the traditional insurance model for small to medium businesses (SMEs), with a key focus on risk mitigation to reduce the likelihood of needing to make a claim.
Bringing together the expertise of two leading organisations, Mitti leverages SafetyCulture’s market-leading risk mitigation technology to identify and then alleviate potential business risks, with QBE providing the industry insights and underlying security of an international insurance company.
Mitti joins the portfolio of companies sitting within QBE Ventures, which exists to enable the insurer to partner, build and invest in new technologies, and work with start-ups to better service the evolving needs of customers.
QBE Ventures CEO, James Orchard, said that the ways in which customers interact with technology have evolved considerably, which presents a big opportunity for the insurance industry.
“QBE’s joint venture with SafetyCulture has created a unique and compelling proposition that responds to the needs and ambitions of small and medium businesses in Australia. By leveraging big data, AI and machine learning, we can deliver more tailored solutions that don’t just assess risk, but help customers avoid risks altogether and the losses that come with these. Importantly, by supporting more businesses to manage their risks, Mitti will help create safer workplaces for their customers and employees.
“The launch of Mitti is a great example of how we’re making deliberate changes to how we work within QBE, to adopt new ways of thinking, create more innovative products and services, remove barriers to productivity, and partner with innovative players to ultimately reinvent insurance.”
Founded by Luke Anear, a former investigator for workplace incidents, SafetyCulture is the world’s leading platform for workplace safety, quality and efficiency and in April became Australia’s latest unicorn with a valuation of $1.3 billion.
Luke Anear said: “Everyday SafetyCulture helps thousands of businesses across the globe build their immunity to risk. Since inception, we've been encouraging our customers to proactively lean into challenges and take ownership of their risk. Our partnership with Mitti propels our mission to empower businesses to build a genuine safety culture in their workplace. We're eager to help more Australian companies improve their risk management and reap the rewards.
“Mitti customers will gain access to our iAuditor platform; the world’s largest safety checklist app. This technology enables customers to conduct workplace inspections, extract insights and build a holistic picture of safety, compliance and risk.”
QBE’s Danial Cummins has been appointed to lead the growth and development of Mitti, bringing 15-years’ experience within QBE’s commercial lines division to the new challenger brand.
This exciting partnership merges two Australian business success stories, with both QBE and SafetyCulture founded in Townsville, Queensland in 1886 and 2004, respectively, before launching internationally.
Mitti will be acting under a Binder as an Authorised Representative of QBE Insurance (Australia) Ltd.
About QBE Ventures
QBE Ventures is the venture development and investment arm of QBE Insurance Group. QBE Ventures develops and invests in technology solutions that have the potential to transform QBE and the international markets in which the Group operates.
About SafetyCulture
SafetyCulture is a global technology company which supports businesses to do their best work every day. Its adaptive, mobile-first products help to streamline operations and foster high performing, safer workplaces. Its flagship product, iAuditor, is used by more than 26,000 organisations in nearly every industry to optimise processes and performance. The technology empowers teams to perform checks, report issues, collect on-the-ground data and communicate fluidly. In 2020, iAuditor was named winner of Best SaaS for Health and Safety or Risk Management at the SaaS Awards.
About Mitti
Mitti was created by QBE, an international insurer and SafetyCulture, the creator of iAuditor inspection app used by 26,000 businesses worldwide, to merge risk mitigation tech and insurance. Mitti brings the knowledge and expertise of an international insurer and the power of an inspection software provider to help businesses mitigate their risks and stop incidents from happening in the first place.
For more information:
Sarah Bond
Senior External Communications Specialist
QBE Australia Pacific
Phone: +61 466 028 302
Email: sarah.bond@qbe.com
QBE Australia
Head Office: Level 5, 2 Park St, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
PO Box 82, GPO Sydney NSW 2001 Australia
telephone +61 2 9375 4444 - facsimile +61 2 9231 6104