OUR ACCELERATOR PROGRAM
Calling all founders, disrupters and
problem solvers
We provide seed funding, networking with our mentors, 100-days of ongoing support and a final presentation to a large audience of insurance carriers, investors and professionals.
Click below to apply for the 2027 100-Day Program!
What our investors are looking for
We are looking for founders and startups exploring the themes below. If that sounds like you, we’d love to hear your story. However, innovation doesn’t always fit neatly into a category, so we encourage all promising startups to apply.
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Artificial Intelligence
Agents in claims and underwriting workflows
Agents in investment & retirement portfolio analytics
Error and Omissions risk review agents
Orchestration and triage across diverse AI platforms, APIs and agents
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Data Intelligence
Using public and non-public data sets to inform claims processing
Using related data (e.g. weather, fertilizer) to inform risk and pricing
Legacy conversion and intelligent data sourcing
Compliant data sharing
Real-time platforms for providers and insurers (e.g. Drs. & patients)
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Customer Interaction
Engaging customers with their benefits beyond annual election
Activating customer benefit engagement using claims and service intelligence
Activating and improving customer adherence to care through engagement platforms
Pricing and impact simulators for benefits plans
Payment handling & optimization
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Risk
Approaches to risk pricing and selection vs. risk avoidance
Collaborative risk mitigation practices
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New List Item
AI Literacy & education beyond using LLMs
Unique solutions for capturing and using organizational memory
WHAT MAKES OUR PROGRAM UNIQUE
The place to be
if you are in insurtech
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We live, eat and breathe insurance and innovation.
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Proven and curated ecosystem of insurance professionals, insurtech leaders and global organizations. Your bench just got very deep.
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We invest in you and work side-by-side to validate product market fit and prepare you for growth. We find the best and make them even better.
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Did you know we are considered the insurance Capital of the U.S. and a top-rated startup community? Iowa nice is a real thing.
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Their teams provide essential customer insight, clarity of needs, pilot programs and ongoing opportunities. And they love bold founders.
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We provide full-lifecycle support with dedicated resources for our alumni’s ongoing success
Dan Kelly — Adjust Square
“Our first customers came directly from their network which has played a major role in our success.”
Lana Fox — Clinic Note
“The GIA is still imperative to our success, growth and stability as a business.”
Lex Tan — Motions Cloud
“We are extremely grateful to be part of the GIA family and receive ongoing support whenever required”
Program
Details
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The GIA Fund, backed by insurance company investors, will make an equity-based investment of $50,000, converting to 5% of the company in the form of a post-money SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity).
Each selected company will receive the same standard investment terms and amount.
Final key investment terms will be communicated to all applicants prior to accepting an interview with the selection committee.
Terms are not negotiable.
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You know when you (insurtech startup) get asked, “what’s your secret sauce?” Well, the GIA’s mentor program is our secret sauce and we pride ourselves on this. It’s been proven for eight straight years in a row that one of the single most important aspects of the success of our portfolio companies is the mentoring and connections they will receive from the experts in the insurance industry.
Mentors are involved in almost every activity and session we provide to our founders. Mentors raise their hands to help lead or co-lead workshops and panels, they step in to help shape pitch presentations for the founders, and also work closely with each founder on their business needs.
The insurtech companies will meet 1:1 with an average of 75 mentors during a three-week window at the beginning of the program. The mentor will schedule their meetings to be done either in person at the GIA office or over Zoom. This fosters an intense influx of new connections, ideas, and sometimes adjustments on the fly.
Each insurtech company will form a small roster of mentors covering a range of expertise and backgrounds with whom they will work 1:1 for the remainder of the program.
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We structure the nearly 15-week accelerator program in three phases to mindfully support the acceleration of your startup during that time. The phases are summarized below.
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The first 3.5 weeks of the program are conducted in person in Des Moines.
The remaining 9 weeks are held remotely.
The final 3 weeks are conducted again in person in Des Moines.
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Early-stage insurtech company (Pre-seed to seed stage)
Insurance industry focused solution
US insurance industry is where you will start or expand your customer focus
1-2 founders who will roll up their sleeves in the immersive program
PROGRAM PHASES
100-day breakdown
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Phase 1 — 3.5 weeks
Onboarding
Mentor Speed Meetings
Roundtable discussion with investors and sponsors
Welcome Reception
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PHASE 2 — 9 weeks
Mentor Matching
1:1 Mentor Meetings
Educations workshops and panels
GIA Alumni workshops
Pitch Practices
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PHASE 3 — 3 weeks
Pitch sessions
1:1 Mentor Meetings
Educational workshops and panels
Roundtable discussion with investors and sponsors
Final Presentations
MENTORS
A group of experts eager to work
with you
Founders are supported with an unmatched group of experienced mentors in order to move their company forward. Our mentors are experts in the insurance industry, prospective clients, investors and even regulators.
Program FAQs
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We run a hybrid program which consists of three phases. The first phase which revolves around mentor matching is done in Des Moines, IA for the first 3-4 weeks of the program.
The second phase is done virtually and contains workshops, guest speakers, mentor meetings, and cohort activities aimed at growing your business.
Finally, the last 3 weeks of the program again returns to Des Moines, where you’ll finalize your pitch, meet potential customers and carriers, and present on the main stage at the Global Insurance Symposium.
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YES! We take the “Global” in GIA seriously and have had five continents represented in our cohorts over the past nine years! We’re looking for firms that have a potential or current US operations on their roadmap but you can come to us from anywhere!
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Our application period runs from late July until the end of September. Once we receive all applications, we run a three-stage selection process which consists of interviews with GIA staff, board members, and ultimate selection made by Insurance Carrier Investors.
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During the in-person portions of the program, you can expect to be in meetings and activities full-time.
We’ll have you meeting with mentors, investors, experts, and participating in workshops to help grow your business.
The virtual portions of the program will consist of approximately eight hours of content a week (in addition to your scheduled mentor meetings) but there is considerable flexibility to allow you to work on and grow your business.
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Please use the “Apply Now/Contact Us” form and we’ll be in touch shortly!
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