The insurtech startup based in the Munich area is winner of the “most innovative blockchain startup award”. Etherisc promises new types of insurance for millions of customers while democratizing access to the reinsurance market. The startup’s mission is to “reinvent insurance” by building a platform and open protocol for decentralized insurance applications, making the purchase and sale of insurance more efficient, enable lower operational costs, provide greater transparency into the industry of insurance compared to traditional operations and democratize access to the reinsurance market.Flight Delay Dapp
Etherisc’s winning submission for the completion of the most innovative blockchain startup award focused on writing individual policies for flight delays. The Flight Delay DApp is described as “a parametric insurance application for consumers” and is built on the Ethereum blockchain. The DApp enabled users to share the risks of delayed or canceled flights on the Ethereum blockchain.
Powered by one of the most complex contracts on the chain, the FlightDelay DApp manages autonomously the whole business process from application for a policy, underwriting and acceptance, automatic detection of delayed flights and subsequent automatic payout minutes after the arrival. The app shows the power and expressiveness of solidity smart contracts as well as the interaction between different solutions on the blockchain.
Basically it was an experiment to show what can be done on the ethereum blockchain. Etherisc provided some funds to ensure that all claims can actually be paid out, but they do not want to make profit (at least at the moment). Therefore, all surplus from the operation of this limited contract is dedicated to the Ethereum Foundation.
The strategy provides both flexibility and scale for decentralized insurance risk pools, enables new types of insurance products, makes the product extremely safe for customers, and democratizes access to reinsurance investments.

Crop Insurance
Etherisc also offers an crop insurance. With the Crop Insurance Application, users can select their crop product and the location of their field and apply for a policy by sending Ether to a DAPP (aka “smart contract”). In case of a drought or flood, they get an automated, instant payout.
The blockchain technology triggers a fully automated claim and payment process. Algorithms automatically check GPS and weather station data based on the location of the farmer’s fields, allowing Etherisc to cost-effectively calculate risk and contract terms initially, and manage claims over time. Eliminating what was a labor-intensive process saves the insurer time and money, and not only because it’s faster. Automation mitigates the risk of human error. This has the potential to reduce fraud while streamlining claim payments.

Advantages of decentralized insurance

• Efficiency and automation – Smart contract technology enables end-to-end automation of payments, efficient risk model estimation, and semi-automated claims processing, thus substantially lowering operating costs.
• Access for insurance customers – Lower costs enable insurance solutions for developing markets, low-income businesses, and new product verticals which have been previously unable to obtain insurance. For example, crop insurance for rural farmers in developing countries is an underserved market and a good candidate for further exploration.
• Access of insurance investors – Digital assets on blockchains create opportunities to structure exposure to insurance products for a much broader range of investors.
• Transparency – On most blockchains, transparency is a platform-level feature. All data in a smart contract based system is publicly auditable and can be freely analyzed by third parties. Etherisc will also provide a user friendly, comprehensive frontend displaying the key performance indicators of the system.

In an alpha test, it provided flight delay insurance to attendees of an Ethereum developer conference.  Etherisc’s decentralized insurance market will use cryptographic tokens to create highly customized economics. Their goal is to tokenize reinsurance risks and make them available on a global open access marketplace. This strategy provides both flexibility and scale for decentralized insurance risk pools, enables new types of insurance products, makes the product extremely safe for customers, and democratizes access to reinsurance investments.

Why we selected Etherisc for DIA Munich
Etherisc is a promising startup that aims to make the purchase and sale of insurance more efficient, enable lower operational costs, provide greater transparency to the insurance industry, and democratize access to reinsurance investments by building a platform and open protocol for decentralized insurance applications.

With their experiment they showed what can be done on the ethereum blockchain: to disrupt and transform a large part of the global insurance industry for millions of travelers. Offering a variety of new products and services to customers, while leveraging blockchain technology to achieve new levels of transparency and kick off a new era of policy securitization.

Who is Etherisc?
Founded by Stephan Karpischek and Christoph Mussenbrock. The company co-founders have deep backgrounds in mathematics, research, the banking and finance sectors, and enterprise IT.

Website: www.etherisc.com

Presenter 1: Cristoph Mussenbrock
Presenter 2: Stephan Karpischek

Contact info: Stephan Karpischek
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +43 664 1918046