After five years most tech investors look to cash-in or double-down on the stable of companies they bet on half a decade ago.

This is when their risk is rewarded or written-off and when the high and lows of entrepreneurialism are starkly laid out. It is when the chips are counted.

If you had invested in the over hundred alumni from the ten cohorts so far graduated from Lloyd’s Labs you would be a happy risk-taker and would almost certainly be reaching for your cheque book. The insurance technology business accelerator set up in 1998 by the world’s foremost insurance market, Lloyd’s of London, has seen some dramatic successes. We particularly like fertility health leader Gaia, in-transit insurer Anansi, anti-greenwashing pioneer, SecuredCarbon and pricing decision intelligence leader, and Positive client, hx.

Representing Positive’s sister company, Categorical, we were privileged enough to be among the lucky 100 attendees of Lloyd’s Labs fifth birthday party, literally dad-dancing around the famous Lutine Bell. If there is such a thing as star-studded in the conservative world of insurers, this was the gig.

In his opening speech Lloyds CEO, John Neal, pointed out the desk, or ‘box’ as Lloyds calls their workspaces, where he previously worked and regaled the assembled syndicates, brokers and entrepreneurs with the changes he has seen since last he wielded his slipcase in anger.

Neal’s stand out point was when he reiterated that 86% of what Lloyd’s now insures is intangibles. These are most definitely not ships, bricks and mortar, rather they are the intellectual property and brand reputation which Positive and others seek to enhance.

There was a light-hearted Q&A from senior figures at Apollo and Chaucer among others and the deadly serious business of international expansion, which Lloyd’s plans for the US, Singapore and elsewhere.

As a British-founded and tech-focused consultancy, Positive really hopes the efforts of Lloyd’s Labs, which once-described itself as the ‘Silicon Valley of insurance’ is indeed a massive success. We are actively looking for more insurtech clients and so we too hope to help Lloyd’s in the next part of its 300 year journey.