Aplanet wins national phase of the Zurich startups contest
Of the 13 applications, Zurich Portugal selected five startups for the national phase: Aplanet, Knok, loqr, YDATA and THEIA. Aplanet will represent Portugal in the EMEA regional phase (Europe, Middle East and Africa).
Aplanet is the winning startup in the national phase of the Zurich Innovation Championship, a Zurich Group competition that promotes transformation, innovation and disruption in the insurance sector. Aplanet has developed intuitive and customizable software so that companies, governments, city councils, educational establishments and NGOs can optimize management in the area of sustainability, analyze and report the impact of the actions implemented and manage all non-financial information on a single platform.
The software arises to combat common obstacles in the area of sustainability, namely: heavy administrative tasks, difficulty in assessing the social and environmental impact of actions, alignment with international requirements, the involvement of different target audiences, whether internal or external and projection internal and external impact of corporate social responsibility efforts and impacts.
The platform is divided into four complementary modules: Sustainability Analytics – for managing and integrating non-financial information or ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) data in alignment with global requirements, such as the Global Report Initiative, Integrated Reporting, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and the UN Sustainable Development Goals; Community – tool for the management of volunteering and donations (creation, management, analysis of the impact and reporting of social responsibility actions, as well as involvement actions with different target audiences); Materiality – tool for identifying priority themes and elaborating the materiality matrix; Equality – tool for managing diversity and inclusion plans.
Sustainability and innovation influence all aspects of our professional and personal life, including the ways we choose to protect ourselves, protect our family and our assets. With this contest we want to develop solutions for the global challenges of the planet, contributing positively to society.
António Bico, CEO of Zurich Portugal
In the coming months, Aplanet will develop a specific project with Zurich Portugal and, in June, the project will represent our country in the next phase of the contest, the EMEA regional phase (Europe, Middle East and Africa). The eight best startups from the regional phases – EMEA, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific – will compete in the global final in the second half of 2020. The solutions of the three world winners will be developed locally through pilot projects, with the ambition of later become global.
The energy we feel from the applications we received and from the startups we just met is enough to conclude that we can challenge the limits of the transformation of the insurance sector by forecasting and adapting to the constantly changing needs and expectations of customers and by customizing services for customers. customers.
Carlos Fonseca, Chief Operating Officer at Zurich Portugal
In this second edition of the Zurich Innovation Championship, 1358 applications were submitted from 68 countries, including the 13 applications received in Portugal. Of these, Zurich Portugal selected five startups – Aplanet, Knok, loqr, YDATA and THEIA – who recently visited the insurer’s headquarters in Lisbon to defend, together with the national jury, their projects that face the challenges related to climate, health, automation and other topics that can put pressure on and concern future generations.
Aplanet was founded in March 2019, has headquarters in Bilbao, offices in Lisbon, Madrid and São Paulo and has 15 employees.
It is a startup with the mission of leveraging sustainable practices and social responsibility through technology. With only one year of activity, Aplanet has already received several awards and recognitions in the field of entrepreneurship in Spain: B Venture and Biscay Bay Startup Campus, in Bilbao, and Sustainable Startup Day, in Madrid, which aimed to boost technological companies young people aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. The platform was also recognized as one of the best technological solutions for volunteering and donation management in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Corporate Volunteering, Giving and Grants Technology Review.
Zurich Portugal is part of the Zurich Group and has been in Portugal for over 100 years. It has about 500 employees, 19 own offices and a network of more than 2,500 Insurance Agents serving more than 620 thousand
