Forbes discusses the ways NYC has differentiated itself as a hub for insurance technology. Key advantages include the city being home to a significant number of Fortune 500 insurance companies (AIG, MetLife, Marsh, New York Life, Guardian, and many others). With the emergence of NYC based startups such as Oscar and Lemonade, there is increasing evidence of a rapidly developing ecosystem in recent years.
Launching in NY maybe harder than most of the states, as the regulatory environment is considered tough, however, some of the entrepreneurs who operates in NY, see this as an advantage “We purposely chose New York as Lemonade’s first state. Beyond it being a financial capital, we wanted to work hand in glove with NY regulators and state legal system, as it’s known to be one of the most exacting in the world. We wanted to push ourselves to get licensed in such a ‘strict’ state so that we would be able to replicate the licensing process in other states nationwide. So although we can attest that the NY regulatory environment is ‘tough’- I think it’s more fair to say they were exacting, yet fair and open to the game-changing innovation” said Daniel Schreiber, CEO and cofounder, of Lemonade.