There is no playbook: Rethinking insurance technology investment

In this episode of The Underwriting Intelligence Podcast, Amrit sits down with James Orchard, CEO of QBE Ventures, to explore how insurance investments in technology can really work, and why most approaches fall short.

Drawing on his journey from private equity into corporate strategy and ultimately leading the venture arm of one of the world’s leading insurers, James shares a candid perspective on what it really takes to build meaningful partnerships between insurers and startups. At the heart of the conversation is alignment; how successful innovation isn’t driven by investment alone, but by deeply understanding business problems and working backwards from them.

In this episode, Amrit and James dive into: Why there is no “playbook” for insurance technology investing and why copying other industries doesn’t work The importance of emotional intelligence over traditional credentials when building investment teams How QBE Ventures avoids “spray and pray” investing in favour of fewer, deeper strategic partnerships Why most insurers struggle to scale technology and how to remove friction from experimentation How to align startups and underwriters by building trust, empathy, and shared incentives What the rise of AI means for insurance transformation and why traditional approaches may no longer apply

Whether you’re an underwriter, founder, investor, or insurance leader, this episode offers a practical and refreshingly honest look at how innovation actually happens and how to make it work in a complex, evolving market.