PRESS RELEASE

QBE Ventures’ strategic cyber-tech partnerships in the new age of cyber risk

16 Dec 2024

a hand pointing to a lock icon - cyber security

At QBE, we recognise the intrinsic link between technology, insurance, and risk management, investing in early-stage technology companies to build world-class cybersecurity solutions.
James Orchard, QBE Ventures CEO, emphasises the strategic focus on strengthening QBE's cyber-tech portfolio to support a resilience-focused cyber services offering, while also empowering startups to build on their capabilities.
QBE Ventures links QBE's global cyber team with cyber-tech startups, fostering strategic alignment and supporting the development of new cybersecurity technologies.

Cybercrime is one of the biggest threats facing businesses across the world today, and by 2025, it’s forecast to cost global organisations US$10.5 trillion annually¹. According to 2024 figures from the World Economic Forum, 29% of organisations had been materially affected by a cyber incident in the past 12 months².

When considering the reputational harm, potential IP loss, operational disruptions, and legal repercussions of a cyber-attack, the full effects become evident. As does the need for a full suite of cyber defence tactics that includes both tech and insurance.

This risk is not just a concern for IT departments but is recognised as a company-wide operational risk. It’s important for all executives to understand and address these risks as part of their broader business strategy and defend against cyber threats.

The ever-changing cyber risk landscape

At QBE, we recognise the intrinsic link between technology, insurance and risk management. And through our venture investment arm QBE Ventures, we invest in and build alongside early-stage technology companies that we believe have the potential to shape the insurance industry – including a focus on building world-class cybersecurity solutions.

James Orchard, QBE Ventures CEO says the strategic focus on strengthening QBE's cyber-tech portfolio is to support our global cyber team to deliver an integrated, resilience-focused cyber services offering and enable startups to build their cybersecurity technology capabilities.

Orchard notes, “Cyber insurance is a product with a constantly changing risk landscape and we see a critical role for startups to partner with insurers to keep iterating and building for the future.”

The strategic importance of cyber technology

Just as the cyber risk space is fast moving, so too is cyber technology, and QBE Ventures is critical in terms of engaging with the external ecosystems to seek out potential partners or vendors who can assist in resolving these challenges, or capitalising on the opportunity.

“QBE Ventures provides a conduit between the QBE cyber team and start-up companies, providing real strategic alignment with what the global cyber team is trying to build,” says Serene Davis, Global Head of Cyber at QBE.

“They have been a critical partner to our team, supporting the development of the cyber product line by exploring emerging deep tech start-ups to support an entirely new way of doing business.”

QBE’s presence as a global insurer offers a unique ability to pilot new technology solutions in different regions - allowing us to test, learn, and refine technology before rolling out at a larger scale.

“Part of the opportunity at QBE for cyber insurance right now is that we have the capability to pilot technology in selected parts of the world to see if it’s scalable,” explains Davis.

“For example, in geographies where we're introducing cyber insurance for the first time, we have a little more flexibility to test and learn, rather than doing this in the regions where we have established business.”

Building QBE’s cyber value, globally

By its very nature, cyber is a global threat, and for QBE, cyber insurance offers the first meaningful opportunity across international divisions on a single product line.

“There’s various opportunities to look at how we best integrate risk management, and various other emerging technologies into the value proposition,” says Orchard

“From a QBE Ventures perspective, we’re helping to craft that vision, and Serene’s team helps us enormously by bringing real-world perspectives about what will scale and what might not.”

Our aim is to support our customers’ operational resilience, which of course, includes cyber risk management. Following the launch of our cyber risk coverage in North America, Europe, and Asia, we've now extended our offering to Australia.

QBE cyber insurance

Our ambition as a cyber insurer relies on the very best technology to help before, during, and after an event takes place. In addition to the technology already enhancing our cyber proposition through QBE Ventures, we have a number of potential investments we’re currently working on, which will strengthen our position even further.

Orchard continues, “It’s important that collectively, QBE and QBE Ventures continue to shape and move towards that longer-term vision. We need a relentless focus on the needs of the customer, how those needs change, and how we can use emerging technologies to address those changes – and that is going to really help differentiate QBE’s cyber offer over time.”

For cyber insurance to be truly effective, it must be woven into existing business risk, protection, and response frameworks. And for QBE, there is value in merging our expertise in specialised risks with a start up's proficiency in cyber preparedness such as early detection, rapid response, and current controls.

How technology is influencing our approach to cyber insurance

QBE Ventures’ investment in tech companies provides valuable insights for both QBE internally, and our cyber insurance clients.

For example, a cyber risk underwriting tool can scan a business’s internal and external network for vulnerabilities, eradicating the complex and time-consuming task of manually understanding what a company has in place for backups, passwords, firewalls, and a whole host of other factors that need to be assessed.

A tool within our cyber insurance solution helps to provide organisations with the ability to predict emerging threats to their businesses. This not only supports our clients, but also helps redefine our role in the value chain – moving from risk transfer to risk detection and prevention.

Meanwhile, if and when an event does occur, we can help manage communication on our platform. This allows everyone involved in remediation – for example, PR, forensic cyber, legal, broker and insurer – to communicate securely, and maintain operations.

QBE has formed a number of strategic partnerships with companies including CYGNVS, illuminr and Converge, each with unique capabilities to help predict, prevent, and respond to cyber incidents effectively.

Looking ahead – continuing to evolve QBE’s cyber presence

For QBE’s global cyber offering, Davis believes 2025 will be a year of growth.

“We can be predictable and consistent around the world. We can confidently say we are meeting our customers and our brokers needs, regardless of where they are in the world. If they’re in Spain, Los Angeles or in Sydney they’ll know who QBE is – they’ll know what we stand for in cyber, and how we operate.”

“Looking ahead, we aim to expand our cyber business through innovative partnerships, ensuring sustainable growth in this evolving space.”

And key to that is the continued work of QBE Ventures in the cyber space, with a constant search for new and innovative cyber risk tools to support our customers' ever-changing needs.

Connect with us

QBE Ventures is the venture development and investment arm of QBE Insurance Group. To learn more about our work, explore our website or connect with our team on LinkedIn.

_{^{1) Why we need global rules to crack down on cybercrime | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)}^{2) WEF_Global_Cybersecurity_Outlook_2024.pdf (weforum.org)}}

_{Disclaimer

This content is brought to you by QBE Insurance (Australia) Limited (ABN 78 003 191 035, AFSL 239545) (QBE). QBE makes no warranty or guarantee about the validity, currency, accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the content. Readers relying on any content do so at their own risk. It is the responsibility of the reader to evaluate the quality and accuracy of the content. Reference in this content (if any) to any specific product, process, or service, and links from this content to third party websites, do not constitute or imply an endorsement or recommendation by QBE and shall not be used for advertising or service/product endorsement purposes.}

Press release Ventures