Scouting for Growth

In this episode of "Scouting for Growth," Sabine VanderLinden welcomes Florian Graillot, founding partner at Astorya VC, for an in-depth conversation about the evolving landscape of risk management and insurance innovation. The discussion explores how risk management is shifting from static predictions to adaptive strategies designed for tomorrow's uncertainties, emphasizing the rise of the “frontier firm”—organizations that continuously learn, adapt, and act in real time.

 

Florian Graillot shares insights from his experience investing across insurtech, cyber, climate risk, and financial fraud, highlighting the increasing importance of technology, data, and AI. 

 

Together, Sabine VanderLinden and Florian Graillot discuss the structural advantages Europe may hold in building AI-native, trust-driven business models and the critical role of agent-human collaboration in future risk management. They address the challenges faced by incumbents—including talent acquisition, cost efficiency, and profitable growth—and consider what distinguishes great founders in the frontier firm era.

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

 

This episode underlines that risk management is no longer about controlling yesterday’s uncertainties but engineering resilience for tomorrow. I was struck by Florian Graillot's argument that insurance leaders must rethink the entire risk value chain—not just the insurance segment—but encompassing prevention, risk assessment, capital efficiency, and claims. Simply layering AI onto legacy workflows isn’t enough; true transformation requires intention, an openness to external partnerships, and a clear ROI focus.

 

It’s clear to me that embracing AI isn’t “optional practice"—it’s existential. Organizations that experiment vigorously and collaborate with tech-first ventures gain a competitive edge, especially as emerging risks outpace traditional data models. Europe’s more measured regulatory approach, sometimes critiqued as cautious, actually presents an opportunity to build trust-by-design, ensuring AI is explainable and aligned with both ethics and end-customer value.

 

Ultimately, the essence of any successful frontier firm lies in clarity of vision, a readiness for real change, and a focus on trust between leaders, employees, and customers. As the industry shifts, those who can articulate and measure technology’s value, while empowering agent-human teams, will undoubtedly shape the risk landscape of the future.

 

BEST MOMENTS

 

"Risk management is no longer about predicting yesterday's risk. It is about designing for tomorrow's uncertainty." 

 

"Either you consider emerging risks as a threat and retreat from the market, or you leverage technology to build resilience. That resilience is the optimistic side of the challenge." 

 

"The perfect founding team is a blend of technology expertise and deep industry knowledge—you need both to create real value in insurance." 

 

"If you expect big figures tomorrow morning, it will not work... But if you are ready to take more time and invest accordingly, innovation can deliver real and very nice results." 

 

"In the end, technology doesn’t remove risk. It actually reveals our choices." 

 

ABOUT THE GUEST

 

Florian Graillot is the co-founder and founding partner at Astorya VC, one of Europe’s most influential venture capital firms focused on early-stage insurtech, risk, and regulatory technology. 

 

With 15 years of tech investing experience—ten of them specializing in insurtech—Florian Graillot has an unparalleled vantage point on the evolution of the insurance and risk landscape. He is passionate about backing founders who are redefining resilience, tackling climate, cyber, and financial fraud with cutting-edge data and algorithms, and reshaping how risk is owned and governed across enterprises.

 

ABOUT THE HOST

 

Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.

 

If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.

 

And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]

In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden welcomes industry veteran Karl Grandl, now of Miss Moneypenny Technologies, for a wide-ranging conversation on the real transformation underway in financial services and insurance. 

Sabine VanderLinden sets the stage by emphasizing that digitization is no longer enough—true change means re-architecting operating models for velocity, intelligence, and trust at scale. Together, they explore the pitfalls of strategic complacency, the opportunities provided by European regulation, and the immense potential of intelligence layers and wallet technology to redefine how institutions interact with customers. 

The discussion moves from strategic leadership to practical use cases—from frictionless onboarding and claims to agentic customer experiences—offering a roadmap for both incumbents and challenger firms looking to thrive in the era of real-time risk and embedded governance.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Reflecting on my conversation with Karl Grandl, what became clear is that transformation in financial services isn’t just about digitizing legacy systems—it’s about fundamentally re-architecting the industry. For decades, institutions like banks and insurers were built for stability, but the pace of change and customer expectation today demands real-time, intelligent, and seamless experiences. Simply layering new digital tools over old processes leads to fragmentation, not progress.

We’re stepping into the era of frontier firms: organizations powered by intelligence, human-agent collaboration, and embedded governance. As Karl emphasized, automation by itself doesn’t mean autonomy or intelligence. Instead, success hinges on evolving operating models and creating trust at scale. Regulatory changes, particularly in Europe—such as the EU AI Act and the introduction of digital identity wallets—are not burdens, but strategic advantages. They force discipline, drive infrastructure modernization, and create opportunities to offer frictionless experiences for 450 million citizens.

Karl’s insight into customer experience “activation layers” resonated deeply. True transformation is about orchestrating intelligent touchpoints so insurance feels invisible and effortless, yet highly trustworthy, especially at moments of service or claim. This approach preserves the value of brokers and advisors, enhancing their roles as strategic risk partners instead of replacing them.

Finally, leadership, not technology, is at the heart of transformation. The ability to articulate a clear vision and quickly demonstrate value is what distinguishes the winners. Real-time governance, compliance by design, and empathetic human engagement are becoming essential to build—and keep—customer trust. The challenge for every executive now is not just to optimize yesterday’s operations but to actively build tomorrow’s intelligence layer. The frontier is being defined now, and it begins with a leadership mindset ready for structural redesign and velocity.

BEST MOMENTS

"Automation is not autonomy, efficiency is not intelligence, and digital channels without orchestration create digital fragmentation." 

"European regulation is our unfair advantage. It’s not just about discipline, it’s about infrastructure." 

"You have to evolve—from transaction intermediary into a strategic risk advisor, augmented by intelligence that handles routine so you can focus on relationships, empathy, and judgment." 

"Governance is about to become the most strategic capability. When compliance agents and financial AI are embedded in every workflow, governance shifts from retrospective reporting to real-time intervention." 

"The frontier firm is not defined by how much AI it deploys; it is defined by how intelligently it integrates risk, compliance, capital, and customer experience."

ABOUT THE GUEST

Karl Grandl is often dubbed an “insurance dinosaur,” with over 30 years in the industry spanning Swiss Life, GetSafe, WeFox, and now Miss Moneypenny Technologies. His experience spans product development, distribution, and embedded insurance, as well as scaling tech-driven aggregators across markets. 

At Miss Moneypenny, Karl is spearheading the integration of wallet technology and intelligence layers, focusing on frictionless customer interaction and embedding trust and compliance by design. 

An advocate for regulation as a strategic advantage and transformation as a leadership imperative, Karl is a sought-after voice for both legacy insurers and challenger MGAs looking to build tomorrow’s intelligence-driven operating models. 

Connect with him via LinkedIn or at upcoming events such as InsurTech Week and InsurTech Insights in London.

ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.

If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.

And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]

In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden sits down with Manish Shah, President and Chief Product Officer at Majesco, to explore the rapidly changing landscape of insurance core systems. 

Together, they examine how AI is shifting the industry from being purely a protector to one that also focuses on prevention and dynamic participation. The conversation covers everything from the persistent protection gap and the urgent need for behavioral—not just technological—transformation in insurance to the practical realities and fears surrounding the implementation of agentic AI systems. 

Manish Shah shares actionable insights on overcoming internal resistance, building trust with customers, and the importance of leadership courage. Throughout, listeners will gain an insider’s view on how insurance models are transforming and what sets bold, future-ready leaders apart.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

I was delighted to welcome Manish Shah to explore how the insurance industry is being transformed at its core. Our discussion began with the fundamental premise that insurance is built on trust and a promise of protection—yet today, both are being challenged by shifting customer expectations, legacy systems, and the rapid evolution of AI technologies. 

Manish emphasized that closing the protection gap is not merely an issue of customer education but primarily a challenge of product and experience design. If customers do not understand or value our offerings, it's a failure of design, not comprehension.

We agreed that the path to genuine transformation must be grounded in a behavioral shift—beyond technology upgrades or business process reengineering. Transformation executives must start by listening deeply to customers, adapting to their evolving needs, and fostering a culture that is not afraid to take bold risks rather than settle for incremental change.

The conversation also delved into how AI, when embedded into the core—not bolted on as an afterthought—can help insurers move from process-led to truly human-centered operations. This enables better capacity, more personalized experiences, and the ability to anticipate rather than react to customers’ needs.

Crucially, Manish Shah articulated the importance of trust, transparency, and auditability in the AI era: true trust is built through consistent, clear, empathetic engagement, supported by AI that augments—not replaces—human judgment. The insurers that will thrive in the next 3-5 years are those who are brave enough to rethink their business models, leverage intelligent, agentic cores, and prioritize behavioral change. 

The future belongs to those willing to become active partners in their customers' lives, focused on prevention, participation, and peace of mind.

BEST MOMENTS

“If our customers don’t understand or see the value in the product, then it is a design problem. It’s not really a customer problem or an education problem.

“Trust is built in small moments, not in any marketing material or strategic deck.” 

“If we can actually execute well as an industry, insurance should feel more like a proactive safety net than a just reactive payment mechanism.” 

“The brave ones… are those who are willing to rethink their business model and not just the tech stack.” 

ABOUT THE GUEST

 Manish Shah is the President and Chief Product Officer at Majesco, a leader at the intersection of technology, product strategy, and insurance industry expertise. 

With over 30 years in the insurance sector, Manish Shah has been both a witness and a driver of major transformation, from the analog days of the industry to today’s AI-driven innovation. He is particularly passionate about embedding intelligence into the foundation of insurance operations—not just talking about AI, but delivering it as an engine of change. 

At Majesco, Manish Shah oversees strategy for their cloud-native, intelligent core platform, with a special focus on agentic workflows, operational effectiveness, and preparing insurers for future challenges and opportunities in P&C, Life, Health, and Benefits.

If you want to connect with Manish Shah, he encourages open dialogue and learning across the industry.

ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.

If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.

And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]

In this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VanderLinden welcomes Gil Arazi—a serial entrepreneur, executive, and leading insurtech investor—to explore the urgent transformation taking place in insurance. Gil Arazi argues that the industry’s traditional role of simply paying claims post-loss is outdated and that prevention is the new north star for sustainable growth.

Their conversation dives into why insurance must shift from risk transfer to risk mitigation, what the future holds as data, AI, and even quantum computing disrupt business models, and how prevention can actually drive profit—not just avoid cost. Gil Arazi introduces The Spark, a not-for-profit initiative designed to help insurers decrease systemic risk and increase societal resilience through practical collaboration, not empty innovation theater.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Reflecting on my conversation with Gil Arazi, several themes truly stood out, affirming both the urgency and opportunity for true transformation across insurance. 

First, it’s clear that insurance cannot remain content with its legacy of paying claims post-loss. We are entering an era where prevention, not just remediation, is imperative—technological advancements, from AI to quantum computing, now offer insurers the tools to anticipate and prevent systemic risks, fundamentally altering their value to customers and society. The model must evolve from chasing losses to proactively reducing risk, and this shift is not just about cost efficiency, but empowering profitable growth through enhanced customer retention and relevance.

In building The Spark as a nonprofit prevention lab, Gil Arazi emphasized a collective responsibility: by leveraging data, domain expertise, and increasingly mature technology, we—insurers, partners, and innovators—can bridge the protection gap and act as genuine “protection architects.” This vision requires us to move beyond innovation theater and toward real operational enablement, where execution trumps experimentation.

The challenge, however, is not just technological—it is cultural and emotional. Building trust across competitors demands we fall in love with solving the problem, not just owning the solution. Clear boundaries and shared vulnerabilities create the foundation for meaningful collaboration on the risks no single entity can control alone.

BEST MOMENTS

“The insurance industry needs to move from reacting to the claim ... to proactive prevention of this damage or systemic risk.” 

“The only way insurance can be actually successful and sustainably profitable is by being biased.” 

“Technology will predict risk, but humans will decide what to do with it. Algorithms are very good at probability, but they're terrible at responsibility.” 

“Do something good for humanity and for yourself. If you can't measure your impact by the loss that never happened, you're just optimizing the decline.” 

“The real revolution isn’t technological anymore. It is emotional, it is behavioral, and it is strategic.” 

ABOUT THE GUEST

Gil Arazi is recognized as an insurance industry disruptor and visionary. He’s the founder and managing partner of Fintlv Venture Capital—a top insurtech VC fund with close to $1 billion invested globally—and the founder of The Spark, a purpose-driven, not-for-profit global prevention lab. 

With a career spanning nearly 30 years, including executive leadership, board roles, and serial entrepreneurship in insurance, Gil Arazi has first-hand insight into the industry’s pain points and future opportunities. His work focuses on shifting insurance from loss-payout to loss-prevention, leveraging technology and collaboration to build resilience and drive growth.

ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.

If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.

And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]

In this forward-thinking episode, Sabine VanderLinden returns to kick off the year with a transformative discussion on “frontier firms” and the rise of agentic enterprises.

As digital transformation accelerates, leaders face challenges like increasing climate risks, cyber threats, and widening protection gaps—pushing businesses (especially in regulated industries like insurance) to rethink strategies. Sabine explores how trailblazing organizations are leveraging AI not just as an assistant, but as an autonomous driver of capacity and productivity. 

Through practical frameworks and real-world case studies, this episode lays out the playbook for riding the next wave of innovation, resilience, and growth.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

This year on Scouting for Growth, I wanted to regroup and make sure my podcast continues to deliver what matters most to you in the fast-paced transformation market. After a brief pause and reflection, and evaluating the insights from the World Economic Forum, with a clear sense that the world feels increasingly uninsurable—climate risk, cyber threats, and protection gaps are all expanding. But I believe that this narrative of uninsurability is simply a choice, not a certainty.

I see a new class of leaders emerging, those who aren’t just trying to manage risk but who are fundamentally changing how we approach it. Transformation isn’t just happening in isolated labs; it's exploding at the convergence of capital, technology, and strategy—the true frontier of business. This is where agentic enterprises are emerging, blending human leadership with AI agents, forming digital workforces where competitive advantage depends on our agility with data, not just data ownership.

Examples abound: Telstra is scaling AI across thousands of employees, UBS has put AI at the heart of its business via a Chief AI Officer, Mercedes-Benz uses digital twins and multiple agent systems to optimize production, and at Nestlé, AI is transforming everything from farm to fork. These companies aren’t dabbling—they’re fundamentally rethinking their models and leadership.

My message is simple: the agentic frontier is not some distant theory—it’s here and now. The uninsurable world is a choice, and you can choose to lead in this new paradigm. The tools and models exist, and the only question left is who has the courage to execute. As you listen and engage this year, I’ll keep guiding you through these themes—helping you build, not just watch, the future unfold.

BEST MOMENTS

"The uninsurable world is a choice, not a certainty. While some twist their hands over these challenges, a new class of leaders is rewriting the rules of the game."

"A frontier firm in the simplest terms is an organization that is human led but agent operated. This means your people set the vision and define success, while AI agents handle a significant share of the execution, working autonomously with oversight across processes."

"Mastering [these levers] is the difference between watching the future happen and actively building it."

"The market is sending an unequivocal message: the future of financial institutions including insurance, all regulated industry belongs to the agentic enterprise. This is not a distant vision; it is happening right now."

ABOUT THE HOST

Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.

If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.

And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]