Published : 6 years ago, on 20/07/2018

Drive with Belron, powered by investor and innovation partner L Marks, is hosting their Demo Day for the three startups chosen to take part in the 2018 ten-week startup innovation lab. Belron and L Marks will be making available a fund of £200,000 to invest in winning startups.[*]

Belron is the worldwide leader in vehicle glass repair and replacement, trading under more than 10 major brands including Carglass®, Safelite® and Autoglass® across 35 countries.

More recently, Belron has expanded into vehicle body damage and home repair.

Following an immersive ten-week programme, in which the three startups have been able to work and field test their products across the markets Belron operates in, the startups will be presenting their developments in the hope of potential investment.

This year’s cohort are all using AI to help Belron strengthen its work supporting insurers and customers in managing repair claims, offering a more effective solution for the assessment of small vehicle damage, and improving customer call centre interactions by identifying moments of concern or hesitation in real time during calls.

The startups on the 2018 programme are:
Soft Edge
Working alongside Carglass® Belgium, this Polish startup has created an exciting app which has the ability to detect hail damage through mobile AI technology. The app has an AR overlay that allows technicians to take an image of the damaged vehicle from which the app will assess and mark the size and location of the damage much faster than traditional methods. The process will help to speed up claims for customers and will give Belron the ability to quickly assess the scale of damage and the likely outcome and costs, so it can make more rapid assessment of the claim for the insurer.

RightIndem
This UK startup Insurance claims platform will be working alongside Safelite® in the USA, and the premise is for claimants to be more like customers, so they feel more in control of proceedings. Customers can put forward claims themselves through their insurer’s website, making them aware of every step in the process like Amazon customers do when they order a product, whilst also having the ability to detect fraudulent claims. The platform will also allow insurers to get richer information about the claim more rapidly as customers provide more detailed information and images of the damage upfront, ultimately streamlining claims management costs.

Bonobo
Using AI, Bonobo analyses 100 per cent of voice-based customer interactions, converts them to actionable segments and insights, and drives a personalised experience that increases customer satisfaction and loyalty. Bonobo is working alongside Autoglass® UK with their call centre staff to identify moments of uncertainty, aggravation or confusion for customers and resolving these issues as they present themselves in real time. Thanks to its TextBrain technology, clients gain unprecedented insight into what customers say, request, want, and do – at scale, and in real time allowing them to tailor their interactions to achieve customer satisfaction.

Nick Burton, Chief Information and Digital Officer at Belron, said: “This year’s cohort have really challenged our Belron teams to embrace innovation. We constantly look to improve the experience of our service for our customers and this year’s startups have really helped tackle some of those needs. The purpose of the programme is to help our people understand how different approaches and ways of working can help us be better, and the curiosity that has been ignited this year shows how well working with startups helps do this.”

“Now on our third programme, we have become very effective at working with these entrepreneurs and their technologies to develop, test and incorporate them in our global company. Along with exceptional access, it has been very rewarding to see the results of the education and investment support on offer and we look forward to seeing how we have helped them advance their businesses. Our team is excited to seeing the presentations from the startups and how they have integrated within our regional markets.”

Daniel Saunders, Chief Executive of L Marks said: “The startups on this third iteration of the highly successful Drive with Belronprogramme are better than ever and we are excited to see the results of their hard work from the startups and the Belron team.”

“Belron are exceptional at embracing the startups into their business, seeing how they can both help them to develop as a forward thinking company but also support their own affiliates to embrace change. They see the value in offering genuine opportunities for startups to develop their technology in real life commercial environments and in doing so innovate the technology that will change their sector for the better. We are looking forward to continuing our work with Belron again as they truly understand the purpose of the innovation lab process and really welcome challenges and ideas from exciting entrepreneurs.”