Hackzone Scale Up Acceleration Program | Raising Awareness for Insurtech

May 12, 2021

For Hackquarters, last year, it was a super exciting experience launching HackZone Open Insurance Program in partnership with Allianz Turkey. During a 1-month PoC focused program, we have received 80 startup applications, with 21 startups in the pipeline. Eighteen startups were accepted to the program, where they had a chance to access Allianz APIs to work on new products with Allianz and create new customer experiences. 100+ hours of mentorship and design thinking workshop modules gave startups a significant opportunity to benefit from the experiences and know-how of Allianz professionals. To boost more partnerships and facilitate the growth of startups, Allianz and Hackquarters teams come with a new Hackzone Scale Up Acceleration Program. 


During the 6-month accelerator program, startups will receive ₺40.000 grants from Allianz Turkey, intensive training and mentorship support from field experts, and 1-1 mentorship sessions with Allianz employees who have more profound knowledge and experience in the sector. PoC opportunities and product development processes in this year's program might be the most valuable program parts. Selected startups will also be introduced to Allianz's global investment muscle AllianzX and investors in the Hackquarters network. Applications are open until 24 May 2021, and the program accepts the startups in;


  • Gamification
  • Digital health, and 
  • Business models aiming to enhance customer loyalty and user experience. 


You can check more details from the website.


To raise more awareness for the InsurTech and Hackzone Scale Up Acceleration Program in the Turkish ecosystem, we organized an Online Meetup on 5 May. The event started with last year's insights by Hackquarters CEO Kaan Akın and Allianz Turkey Innovation Office Manager Hümeyra Boztunç. "6-month program designed with Hackquarters is to allow startups to grow globally. The difference of this program is that it is open for the growth and scale up startups who have already started to make revenue." Hümeyra Boztunç said. 


The meetup continued with Allianz Turkey CEO Tolga Gürkan's speech. He emphasized that Allianz Turkey has been prioritizing customer satisfaction, and they put it into the center. To improve customer experience, they need to rely on data more and more. Startups have a significant role in transforming the services and create next-generation customer experiences. He highlighted how satisfied Allianz Turkey is with last year's track record and results.


The fireside between Allianz Turkey CMO & Head of Digital Onur Kırcı and 500 Istanbul Partner Arın Özkula was also exciting. They focused on how insurance startups disrupt both B2B and B2C processes in the insurance sector, having a history of more than a century. Arın Özkula mentioned the current advantages of embedded systems and open APIs in financial services and how they can constitute examples for the insurance sector. Also, Onur Kırcı said the fund side of insurance. Pension funds are now one of the most significant funds globally, and the use of technology is more required day by day while financial markets are getting more and more complicated. 


The last panel was between Allianz Turkiye Head of IT Ceyhan Demir, Innovation Office Manager Hümeyra Boztunç and last year’s alumni B2Metric CEO Murat Hacıoğlu. It was worth listening to; Murat Hacıoğlu shared his experiences on how a startup in this program can benefit from the opportunities provided by Allianz Turkey and develop new business models integrated with Allianz Turkey's Teams. 


You can learn more about the Hackquarters and Hackzone Scale Up Acceleration Program at the website. If you are working on the relevant vertical, don't miss a chance to apply until 24 May.

Yasir Tok
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