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China Pacific Insurance Company (CPIC), a major Chinese insurance company, has made an undisclosed investment in blockchain insurance startup B3i.
B3i is a collaborative effort of a number of insurance and reinsurance companies to explore and test the potential of blockchain. Founding members include Aegon, Allianz, Munich Re, Swiss Re and Zurich, which were later joined by Achmea, Ageas, Generali, Hannover Re, Liberty Mutual, SCOR, Tokyo Marine Holdings, and others.
In April 2018, the founding entities incorporated B3i Services AG in Zurich, Switzerland as an independent company.
Earlier this year, B3i raised around $16 million in a funding round. In April, the company announced the expansion of the group of investors in the ongoing funding round, followed by the addition of SBI Group to the investor cohort.
CPIC is now joining the initiative as a new shareholder and Li Hao, deputy general manager at CPIC, will join as a member of the Board of B3i. The Chinese firm provides risk protection solutions, wealth planning and asset management services to more than 126 million customers. It has been listed among Fortune Global 500 for 9 consecutive years, ranking 199 in 2019.
Commenting on the investment, GU Yue, Chairman of China Pacific Property Insurance Co., the General Insurance arm of CPIC Group, said:
“We hope that the strategic cooperation with B3i will give us more insight in the leading practice in blockchain technology standards, protocol design and network building. Together with other important market players, we will actively employ the implementation of blockchain technology in the insurance industry to help upgrade market practice and reducing cost, and further enhance insurance services to our clients.”
Last month, John Carolin, who joined B3i as Chief Financial Officer in March 2018, took the helm of the company as the CEO after serving as interim CEO since March 2019. This was followed by the launch of B3i’s first product, the v1.0 of its Property Catastrophe Excess of Loss Reinsurance product, on R3’s Corda blockchain platform.
