Allianz and InsurTech Startup Flock to Launch UK’s First Pay-as-you-Fly Drone Insurance

Flock, working with Allianz, will deliver on-demand drone insurance through a simple, easy-to-use app for commercial and recreational drone users. Flock has partnered with world-leading data providers to aggregate real-time data relevant to drone flight risk such as drone data, operator profiles, environmental data, and hyperlocal weather conditions (accurate to within a few minutes and a few hundred meters). Flock’s algorithms convert this real-time geospatial data into a risk metric, and then an insurance premium for commercial or recreational drone flights.

Pilots will be fully insured for their flight time, within a specified geographical region – all of which is customizable at the point of sale, or can be scheduled in advance. The ‘Flock Cover’ app will also provide drone pilots with a comprehensive safety tool, alerting them to ground hazards, real-time weather updates, Notice to Airmen (NOTAMS), and restricted airspace.

Brian Kirwan, UK CEO, AGCS said: “Twenty-two incidents involving commercial airliners and possible drones were investigated by the Civil Aviation Authority’s Airprox Board in the first four months of this year alone. As drone usage increases, new risk exposures will emerge including the risk of cyber-attacks and terrorism. Further incidents are also likely to occur once regulations are finalized that strike a balance between reaping the benefits of drones and minimizing misuse. Future incidents could result in multi-million pound claims against businesses, operators and manufacturers,” Kirwan continued.

Tom Chamberlain, Underwriting Manager for Aerospace and General Aviation, AGCS added: “Allianz is at the forefront of insuring the rapidly expanding UAS industry and we’re excited to partner with Flock to explore Big data driven risk intelligence solutions directly addressing the safety and insurance needs of both commercial and recreational users. This partnership further aligns with Allianz’s digital strategy to focus on new distribution channels for our products and provide enhanced customer journeys in a technologically and digitally changing landscape.”

Ed Leon Klinger, Flock’s CEO, said “Flock is reinventing drone insurance from the ground up. Increasing drone use will bring complex risks. Flock uses cutting edge data analytics to identify and quantify these risks and together with Allianz, you’re now able to insure against them. Our app puts control back into the hands of the pilot, allowing them to purchase insurance exactly when they need it and fully customized to the needs of their job”. Klinger continued “Allianz are a world leading authority in aviation. With their expertise, and Flock’s cutting edge technology, this partnership has the potential to redefine drone safety and insurance.”

The Flock Cover app will be launching later this year and Flock have now opened up early access to beta-testers, with signup available through their website. Flock and Allianz will be announcing more products in the coming months.

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) is a leading global corporate insurance carrier and a key business unit of Allianz Group. AGCS provides risk consultancy, Property-Casualty insurance solutions and alternative risk transfer for a wide spectrum of commercial, corporate and specialty risks across 12 dedicated lines of business.

Our customers are as diverse as business can be, ranging from Fortune Global 500 companies to small businesses, and private individuals. Among them are the world’s largest consumer brands, tech companies and the global aviation and shipping industry, but also wineries, satellite operators or Hollywood film actors. They all look to AGCS for smart answers to their largest and most complex risks in a dynamic, multinational business environment and trust us to deliver an outstanding claims experience.

We constantly strive to deliver the best for our customers through our global team of around 4,400 employees from over 70 nationalities in 34 countries worldwide. As the one of the largest Property-Casualty units of Allianz Group, we are backed by strong and stable financial strength ratings and a global network in over 200 countries and territories. In 2018, AGCS generated a total of €8.2 billion gross premium worldwide.

The ‘creation’ of Flock
Flock arose from a research project in Imperial College London’s Data Science Institute. Flock’s founder - Antton Pena - was undertaking  a research project there as part of his Master’s program at the Royal College of Art (RCA). He published a paper on the future of the drone industry, in which he proposed a system whereby the risk of any given drone flight, anywhere in the world, could be quantified and minimised using real-time analytics and Big-Data.
Ed Leon Klinger graduated from Cambridge after having completed a Master’s in Technology Policy. Ed had been focusing on the future of the drone industry, proposing solutions that Governments could leverage to reduce drone flight risk and maximise the benefits realised from piloted and fully autonomous drones. Ed was due to begin working in private equity, but decided to join Flock as its CEO.

Flock’s investors
Flock recently raised over half a million pounds in seed funding, and is backed by London Venture Capital (VC) firm Downing Ventures and R/GA Ventures. Flock has also received investment from a number of high profile individuals (angels), including experts in the insurance and automotive industries.  

Flock’s grants
Flock have received a grant from Ordnance Survey, with whom they work very closely. Flock have received three grants from Innovate UK, the UK Government’s innovation agency.