Zurich Innovation Championship 2022:
12 winning initiatives

However, according to founder Ofer Tziperman, who was recognized as a Technology Pioneer at Davos by the World Economic Forum in 2001, this wasn’t the problem he was trying to fix when he began. “We started our journey trying to fix the problem of on-street parking and ended up solving the significantly bigger problem of allowing personalization and privacy to co-exist for engagement solutions,” he says.

What’s the solution?

“When we started offering our original parking solution, we noticed the growing concern about privacy, data collection and the then approaching GDPR EU privacy regulations. We realized that if we solved this problem, it could have enormous impact on almost all industries that maintain a mobile app. The new patented reverse architecture was then conceived: instead of the cloud knowing everything about each individual and then pushing relevant messages to them, our Edge AI technology allows each individual phone to discretely learn about its owner, and then pulls messages anonymously. We were excited. This innovative migration from ‘push’ to ‘pull’ solved the privacy problem and opened a huge opportunity for us.

We want to make it totally unnecessary to have to give our most private ‘secrets’ to large corporates who will use (and sometime abuse) them to gain profits. Personal data belongs to the personal individual. We allow brands to serve you in a personal and contextual way without knowing who you are. That’s a huge revolution!”

What has been the biggest challenge?

“When we thought that we had the solution, we had an opportunity to meet one of the world’s largest retailers, just to learn yet again the big gap between having a good idea and knowing how to tell the story in the right way. It took us another session to get them to say ‘okay, we’re convinced that you’re not part of the problem but rather the solution’. It was simply the wrong storytelling that we initially applied.”

What would he change?

“We would focus on faster implementation of an alpha version with friendly customers. Getting out of the lab to real customers is an eye-opening experience that needs to be done sooner rather than later.”

Words of advice to other entrepreneurs?

“Talking with as many potential customers as soon as possible is the key to getting the right product-market fit. The sooner you have it, the better.”

His passions outside work?

“I am passionate about hiking with my dog, sailing and reading.”

Anagog is one of our winners in the Simplicity category, selected by Zurich Portugal and Zurich Germany.

How does it work?

“Climate change is a topic often filled with blaming, shaming, guilt and pain. Our SaaS (Software as a Service) solution integrates into company platforms and help them to engage their staff or customers to take positive actions (Deeds) to combat climate change. It includes a personal carbon footprint calculator, personalized suggestions to live more sustainably and gamification elements such as quizzes and rewards to drive learning and engagement. In the process, it generates data that can be used to further evolve the business in a climate smarter direction.”

What has been the biggest challenge?

“Ha-ha – you can ask me that question a couple of times the same day and get different answers each time! The market is taking off right now but starting Deedster was a struggle. We worked without salaries for the first year and had to convince some of our clients that we were not a charity but needed to charge for our service in order to fund the development of our platform. Today I’d say that our biggest challenge is to stay focused. We need to grow the business and still focus on our core product. At the same time, there are so many interesting ideas and tracks to explore. We also have an ambition to substantially grow our team in near time, which will require us to work on company culture. Have fun and stay focused I guess is the recipe I’m after here.”

What would he change?

“We spent the first two years trying to build a consumer product. We learnt a lot about user behavior during that time, but we also lost some time that we could have focused on our corporate offering, which proved to be the right track in the end. In retrospect, it would have been awesome to use money and time spent through a shortcut to where we are today.”

Words of advice to other entrepreneurs?

“Fail fast. Don’t get too sentimental or in love with your own ideas. Don’t think that you can do everything yourself. It will cost too much time and money. Partner up with others that can strengthen your offering and take you to market or scale your product much faster.”

Where does Deedster go from here?

“The immediate plan is to keep growing the company and increasing the impact we have. We receive feedback from our clients, employees and customers on a daily basis telling us definitively that we’re on the right track. If I could dream, I would like Deedster to develop a financial arm (but please don’t say anything to my three co-founders – I have not told them about this yet). A neo-bank with green products where we as a provider can build climate engagement and also help our users to allocate spending and resources in directions where they have maximum impact.”

His passions outside work?

“I love to hang out with my two teenage sons (yes, they still allow me to). I like to socialize and would never say no to a good party. But I also like nature and think I was a logger in my previous life. Training is also a passion that enriches my life, and I have licensed as a PT. After living in Switzerland for a couple of years I am a descent snowboarder! I have a nice guitar collection but am a lousy guitar player. On the other hand, I’m an okay squash player but own only one racquet. I guess the moral of that is that I was lucky to find a good racquet but have yet to find a guitar that plays itself!”

Deedster is one of our winners in the Sustainability category, selected by Zurich Integrated Benefit Solutions (ZIBS).

His dream

“The dream is to create a global ecosystem which allows partners to create and boost their own innovation with the help of CARUSO.”

Where did the idea for CARUSO come from?

“The idea - or better said the challenge - was to find an answer to the trend that modern vehicles with their capability to create valuable data are able to disrupt the entire value chain in different industries. So, there are incredible chances for the ones who will actively accept the challenge and huge risks for the one who have chosen to ignore it.”

The biggest challenge so far?

“Convincing the important players in the market that the potential to collaborate is by far bigger than any competitive situation.”

What would he change?

“Honestly – nothing! All the up and downs we have gone through were helpful and have pushed us along further.”

Words of advice to other entrepreneurs?

“Have patience and challenge your strategy permanently. Accept that new markets are often not mature and might change quickly. So be prepared to act whenever it is needed.

Always strive for win-win scenarios between partners, this is the only way to gain long term success. Resist short term optimization activities, they are often not sustainable and will soon be forgotten. Be sure that you clearly and deeply understand potential customer pain points.

And the most important thing – only surround yourself with people who share the same vision.”

His passions outside work?

“Family and friends first – I try to spend as much time as possible with them. I also love the game of basketball as a former player and coach. That’s a perfect example of the power of team spirit that can easily move mountains. Speaking of which, I love mountains and skiing, it’s the best way for me to relax quickly and refuel.”

CARUSO GmbH is one of our winners in the Insurance Reimagined category, selected by the German Business Unit.

Where did the idea for Adapt Ready come from?

“During the Thailand floods of 2011, I started exploring how climate change could usher in a new era of emerging risks. My experience taught me that no matter how great the modelling tools are, it is only as good as the data underneath. The lack of data is the most significant problem when it comes to supply chain.

I identified areas where cutting-edge technology offers solutions, then approached Sandeep, who had recently won a United Nations Hackathon award in the micro-insurance space. He brought his programming expertise and shared my enthusiasm for solving the severe lack of data and analytics to derive insights from a risk-first perspective.

We built a highly sophisticated risk intelligence platform that quantifies and aggregates risk from trillions of data points to address the data-gap problem. It enables underwriters and risk engineers to answer complex queries about the global supply chain, optimise risk selection and pricing, and solve accumulation and reinsurance challenges in their portfolios.”

The biggest challenge so far?

“The long sales cycle and the slow pace of digital transformation among some insurers and risk managers in the industry affects the growth of startups that adopt a customer-first approach. Then, we have the perfect storm of companies/startups focused on raising money without having a complete solution. And investors, driven by fear of missing out, funding them. This leads to high profile marketing and repeated rhetoric that makes every offering sound similar, even when they are not.

The combination of these two challenges has led to a state of confusion and noise in the marketplace, ultimately leaving the issues unaddressed, customers/investors having to deal with losses, and negative impact on the growth of startups with tangible, real-world solutions. It’s a common struggle among many startups in the InsurTech space. Maybe one day we can all figure out a solution and remedy the challenges by working together!

What would they change?

“We have been deliberate in moving slowly, and it has worked to our advantage in maintaining a lean operation with low overheads. In some cases, our pace has limited the number of client engagements to sharpen our focus, but this has also allowed competition to seep in and create noise and confusion in the market. Looking back, we could have balanced this better. Fortunately for us, the barriers to entry are high. It's not easy to build a solution without understanding the issues in-depth and our solution is not easily replicable.”

Words of advice to other entrepreneurs?

“Most people say to focus on the solution, not the problem, but I always advise startups to go deep into the issue and understand the root cause. Then you design a lasting solution, and that is a sure-fire way to win.

Entrepreneurship is hard. Sometimes, I see people getting into it for varied reasons – whether to be their own boss or make money. They spend considerable time on it, sometimes years. If you are already going to spend that time, why not take on something purposeful? Build a business around a genuine need instead of creating something and then building a business around it.”

Their passions outside work?

“I am a keen observer of world politics; a ‘foodie’ who loves to cook and explore new age restaurants and speakeasies; and an avid tennis fan attending Grand Slams when possible.

Sandeep, fuelled by an unhealthy obsession over fonts, is into calligraphy and typography; and also enjoys sailing.

We both have a shared enthusiasm for applying cutting-edge technologies to solve complex problems facing businesses and the world at large. When it comes to using ‘technology for good,’ we walk the talk and set an example that one can win big by building an ethical business.

We recently contributed to the book Theories of Change, proposing that insurers are now at the right place at the right time to catalyze behavioral change in businesses, leaders, governments, and society in delivering lasting solutions to climate change.”

Adapt Ready is one of our winners in the Prevention and Mitigation category, selected by Commercial Insurance and the UK Business Unit.