Fatihah Ramzi | 15 December 2021
The three firms chosen for the Manulife BOOST 2021 batch were revealed today by Manulife and Brinc, a worldwide innovation accelerator.
The three firms chosen for the Manulife BOOST 2021 batch were revealed today by Manulife and Brinc, a worldwide innovation accelerator. Manulife is progressively collaborating with the startup community, including this batch, to develop innovative technology that will simplify the process of obtaining insurance and improve consumer health and financial well-being across Asia.
Pulse Active Stations, OME Health, and Planner Bee were selected from over 280 worldwide startups for their capacity to meet customer demands and make digital engagements more impactful and relevant. Manulife’s IT leaders are working with Brinc to define proofs of concept with the batch, and will test chosen solutions in the following months.
“With an ambition to be the most digital, customer-centric global company in our industry, Manulife invests heavily to develop and deploy new technology, so that we deliver seamless, frictionless, and, above all, simple experiences to our customers,” said Mark Van den Broek, Chief Information Officer and Chief Operating Officer, Manulife Asia.
“Manulife BOOST is one of our innovation programs that extends these efforts and connects us with outstanding startups who will help us drive products, services and digital experiences that are truly market-leading and differentiated,” he added.
The Manulife BOOST 2021 batch includes three businesses, one of which is Pulse Active Stations. The organization has developed a smart health kiosk that does biometric testing and creates a report that includes over 21 health indicators, such as blood pressure and fat distribution, as well as associated risks for 12 lifestyle diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes.
The kiosk, when installed at Manulife customer service centers, may be a strong engagement device for consultants who want to chat to customers about their health. Manulife is presently testing the underwriting usefulness of the kiosk’s health records in Indonesia, with the hope of reducing or eliminating the need for a client to visit a hospital for health assessment.
Manulife is still looking at the other two businesses, OME Health, a science-based customised health and nutrition coaching service, and Planner Bee, a digitized financial aggregator and consultant that connects customers’ objectives with the proper solutions.
“The Manulife BOOST program has proven that there is a wealth of innovative startups in the market with the ideas and drive to build next-generation products and services,” said Bay McLaughlin, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Brinc. “Offering these promising companies the chance to finetune and scale up their solutions, in partnership with an industry leader like Manulife, gives them a massive boost and will help drive industry transformation.”
