Allstate Corporation, the largest publicly traded home and auto insurer in the U.S., plans to spend $1 billion in India within the next four years, to strengthen its offering in technology and operations.
Having started India operations in 2012, Allstate Solutions Private Ltd. currently has over 4,500 technical experts in Bangalore and Pune, working either directly or indirectly through various service companies such as Infosys. “I want our products to stand out. From an innovations standpoint, there is a convergence of telematics, data analytics, [and] mobile technology. Those are the three areas of focus going forward,” says Suren Gupta, executive vice-president of technology and operations at ASPL.
The company added that it may open an accelerator in the near future and that it had met with a few start-ups that look at analyzing driving behavior, training, and insurance analytics. If it does go through, the accelerator program will be a first for Allstate in the world.
Allstate has also announced that the Internet of Things will be one of its core focus areas as it brings in tremendous disruption in the insurance space, and that its vast investment portfolio of about $85 billion, which is currently directed at real estate and other asset classes, could be directed at India’s start-up ecosystem too.
“It could be setting up an accelerator, taking a stake in a company, partnering with the company, it could take different forms — we can also become part of a fund that looks at start-ups,” said Gupta, a graduate of Harvard Business School, who was on the advisory board of InTech50, a start-up event organized by software product think-tank iSpirt.
