from the left: Kobi Bendelak, Adv. Sigal Schlimoff and the late Jonathan Gross
InsurTech Israel, together with the law firm Gross, Orad & Schlimoff and Lloyd’s Israel, recently held a competition to select the startup that will represent Israel in the international InsurTech accelerator program. Dozens of Israeli startups operating at the intersection of insurance, artificial intelligence, and advanced technologies registered for the competition. From this group, several companies were selected to present their solutions before a senior panel of judges from the insurance and investment industries.
The competition aimed to select the company that will represent Israel in the upcoming cycle of the international accelerator program. The competition was held in memory of the late Adv. Jonathan Gross, who served as Lloyd’s representative in Israel between 1997 and 2010 and played a central role in strengthening the connection between the Israeli insurance market and the international insurance ecosystem.
The judging panel included senior representatives from across the industry, among them: Adv. Sigal Schlimoff, Lloyd’s representative in Israel and partner at Gross, Orad & Schlimoff; Tally Kaplan-Porat, Eli Azoulay, and Michael Rafic from Sapiens; Eric Gewirtzman and Ari Katz from B.E.A Ventures; Diana Barzin from Aon; Lior Catalan from PassportCard; Tal Langevitz-Abraham from Migdal; Heli Mirel and Bar Hadad from Direct Insurance; Ofir Shalom from AIG; Yael Benvenishti and Kobi Bendelak from InsurTech Israel; as well as Shelly and Ronit Gross, Jonathan Gross’s daughter and wife.
At the opening of the event, Adv. Sigal Schlimoff addressed the participants and spoke about the importance of the scholarship in commemorating Jonathan Gross’s legacy through support for innovation and the promotion of Israeli InsurTech startups within the international community. The scholarship reflects Jonathan’s personality and spirit—an entrepreneur at heart, a top-tier professional, a recognized insurance expert, and an exceptional individual.
Following the evaluation process and presentations before the judges, the startup Hear.ai was selected to represent Israel in the upcoming international accelerator program. The company has developed an AI-based solution for analyzing service and sales conversations within organizations, enabling businesses to extract real-time insights from customer interactions and improve service processes, sales performance, and customer experience.
According to Kobi Bendelak, CEO of InsurTech Israel, “The level of companies that applied this year was exceptionally high, and the selection process was challenging given the impressive list of innovative startups that competed. Hear.ai’s participation in the accelerator program is expected to help the company expand its international activity and create collaborations with insurance companies and leading organizations across the global insurance industry.”
