Japanese Insurer Tokio Marine Joins SOSA Innovation Hub

Tokyo-headquartered multinational insurance holding company Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. has joined the network of Tel Aviv and New York-based innovation hub SOSA. The company is looking to make strategic investments across the verticals of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, insurance technology, and fintech, Daljitt Barn, global head of cyber risk at Tokio Marine, said in a statement sent to Calcalist. Cybersecurity and other innovation verticles could help Tokio Marine disrupt the insurance value-chain, he said.

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Founded in Israel in 2014 as a company offering coworking facilities by a group of angel investors and venture firms, SOSA now operates as an investor network and corporate innovation hub, connecting companies and entrepreneurs, and facilitating collaborations, investments, and acquisitions.

Tokyo-listed Tokio Marine Holdings is Japan's oldest and largest property, life, and casualty insurance group. It is the parent company of the Tokio Marine Group, which employs 36,000 people in 38 countries worldwide, according to Pitchbook.

The possibility of partnering with Tokio Marine spells “a huge opportunity” for Israeli companies targeting the Asian market, SOSA CEO Uzi Scheffer said in a statement.

In October of 2018, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) named SOSA, as well as Israeli venture capital firm Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) as partners on a new cybersecurity initiative. As part of the collaboration, SOSA has dedicated space in its new eight-stories building in Chelsea for a global cyber center that will offer a coworking space for startups, industry-specific events, and a virtual testing ground for simulations.