Aon likes insurtech, now prowling for major M&A drive

Aon is increasingly tempted by the talent and capabilities that could be swept up with a major M&A drive through the insurtech space and “a ton of conversations” are now ongoing, top company officials have indicated.

“The whole insurtech space is extremely attractive,” chief digital officer James Platt told participants in an equity market conference hosted by JP Morgan. “There are masses of fabulous capabilities out there … a huge amount of talent in this market place.”

A myriad of talks is apparently underway. “The M&A pipeline is very attractive, particularly in tech and digital,” CFO Christa Davies added.

Talks have apparently “accelerated recently” and Aon is even working a full calendar at the ITC insurtech event underway through tomorrow (Thursday, September 22) in Las Vegas.

Valuations show signs, albeit uneven, of retreating from “slightly insane” levels known from recent years, leaving “a funny market at the moment.”

Aon is not opposed to bottom feeding in its insurtech pursuits. Aon need not acquire proven success as it believes it already has the tools on board to overcome the most common insurtech shortcomings. The broker is chiefly seeking talent.

“We look at these firms and they have a lot of learnings, learnings that we like,” Platt said. “Sometimes failing, but it’s learning.”

Insurtech failures predominantly stem from shortcomings in distribution of shortcomings in product differentiation and Platt believes Aon is well positioned to onboard talent without inheriting any of those shortcomings.

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