Insurtech in Germany

Insurtech is software and data used to design, sell, price or settle insurance. In Germany the word covers three quite different kinds of firm. The first is a licensed insurer that runs on new technology. Under section 8 of the Versicherungsaufsichtsgesetz (VAG), an insurance undertaking based in Germany needs the permission of the supervisory authority, BaFin, before it starts business, with the capital and governance duties that come with it.

The second kind is a digital broker, agent or comparison site. The digital broker, agent or comparison site never carries the risk itself. Section 34d of the Gewerbeordnung requires a permit from the local chamber of commerce (IHK) for anyone who arranges insurance contracts, and the law counts online comparison services as intermediation. An insurance consultant (Versicherungsberater) needs a separate permit, may take pay only from the client, and cannot be an intermediary at the same time. The third kind sells software to insurers: claims handling, fraud checks, pricing models and policy administration. That firm needs no license of its own, but its customer's supervisor reads its contract closely.

Insurtech in Germany grew around the insurers, and the insurers sit mostly in Munich and Cologne. In Munich, Allianz and Munich Re have their headquarters, and InsurTech Hub Munich, launched in 2017 in the German government's Digital Hub Initiative and backed by Allianz, Generali and Munich Re, works with startups on fraud detection, claims automation and new products. The fintech in Munich page goes into that city in more detail.

Cologne has InsurLab Germany, an association that the City of Cologne, IHK Cologne, the University of Cologne, TH Köln and a group of insurers and startups founded in the same year. InsurLab Germany represents the insurtech field in the Digital Hub Initiative and, by its own count, has 102 members, from established insurers and scale-ups to technology providers and universities, who meet at hackathons, pitch days and reverse pitch days. Berlin and Hamburg host insurtechs as well: in Hamburg, KI Exchange put insurtech on its agenda next to agentic banking and fraud detection. In Frankfurt, CommerzVentures invests in fintech and insurtech companies from its funds.

Embedded insurance means a policy sold inside another purchase: travel coverage with a plane ticket, device coverage with a phone, or a policy offered in a banking app. EIOPA, the EU insurance supervisor with its seat in Frankfurt, surveyed the market and found that this kind of cross-selling mostly concerns non-life products, and that insurers see bancassurance, e-commerce and mobility as the most relevant channels. The same report found digital readiness varies widely between insurers and that digital-only distribution still lags well behind physical and hybrid channels.

For an insurtech in Germany, embedded insurance usually means a partnership: the platform brings customers, a licensed insurer carries the risk, and whoever arranges the contract checks whether it needs the section 34d permit. Companies should clarify these responsibilities before presenting their embedded insurance product.

Two EU laws reach insurtech software directly. The EU AI Act lists AI that assesses risk and sets prices in life and health insurance as a high-risk use, with documentation, testing and human oversight duties for the insurer that deploys it and the vendor that supplies it. AI in the claims process, from first notice of loss to fraud detection, is where most insurers in Germany start, because the data already sits in their systems.

The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) covers insurers as well as banks. An insurer that buys a claims or pricing platform from an insurtech enters an ICT service contract, adds it to its register of information and plans an exit. On the supervisory side, EIOPA's own suptech strategy shapes how insurers report.

Finance Loop is the meeting place for people from insurers, banks and technology firms who work on AI, data and risk in finance. Finance Loop connects the finance, IT and AI communities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with events in Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg.

Insurtech came up at KI Exchange 2026 (KEX26) in Hamburg, a conference by Payment & Banking on AI as infrastructure for banks and fintechs, with sessions on DORA compliance, fraud detection and insurtech. Pricing and claims models are regulated AI under the EU AI Act, so the AI in finance in Germany page and the fraud prevention in Germany page cover topics that insurance teams share with banks.

Insurtech is technology used to sell, price, underwrite or settle insurance. Examples in Germany range from digital brokers and comparison apps under a section 34d permit, through licensed digital insurers under the VAG, to software firms that sell claims automation or fraud detection to established insurers.

Embedded insurance is coverage sold at the point of another purchase, such as travel insurance with a flight or device insurance with a phone. EIOPA found it mostly concerns non-life products, sold through bancassurance, e-commerce and mobility partners.

BaFin supervises insurance undertakings, which need its permission under section 8 VAG. Intermediaries, including online comparison services, need an IHK permit under section 34d GewO. Insurers also fall under DORA, and AI for life and health insurance pricing is high-risk under the EU AI Act.

Germany has two: InsurTech Hub Munich, backed by Allianz, Generali and Munich Re, and InsurLab Germany in Cologne, an association with insurers, startups, technology providers and universities as members. Both belong to the government's Digital Hub Initiative.