The Future of Insurance – Juan Garcia, Co-Founder & CEO, Tuio

Episode Info

Juan García is one of the Co-founders of Tuio, a next-generation insurer built from the ground up with artificial intelligence at its core. Tuio's ecosystem of AI agents — including Leia, Watson, Lisbeth, Sonia, and George — now automate over 80% of customer interactions and 85% of simple claims, showing how AI can rebuild trust in financial services through transparency and efficiency.

Juan oversees Tuio's brand, growth, and product strategy, blending design thinking with operational rigor to create a customer experience that feels more like modern software than traditional insurance. Before founding Tuio, he spent 20 years helping companies scale at the intersection of technology and finance — including leadership roles at Monitor Deloitte and global experience in affinity insurance distribution (e.g., Orange Seguros).

A telecommunications engineer and La Caixa Fellow, Juan holds an MBA from London Business School and CEIBS.

Juan García is co-founder and Co-CEO of Tuio, Spain's 100% digital, AI-native insurer creating next-generation insurance solutions for a customer-centric, tech-driven world. Under his leadership, Tuio has rapidly scaled from a garage startup into a multi-million euro fintech-insurtech raising major backing and redefining what "insurance" means for the digital generation.

Juan García brings a unique blend of telecommunications engineering, strategic consulting and startup leadership to his role at Tuio. With a passion for transforming legacy industries through technology, he embarked on the mission of reinventing insurance in an age of artificial intelligence, mobile-first expectations and subscription business models.

In early 2021, alongside fellow co-founders José María Lucas and Asís Pardo, Juan helped launch Tuio from its earliest phase — from conception in a garage to its market launch just months later. The vision: build an insurer designed for the digital era, not a legacy insurer digitized.

Tuio's model under Juan's leadership is built on three pillars: 1) products designed for digital-native customers (clear policies, subscription-style terms, self-service); 2) technology and automation as core operations, where AI handles everything from underwriting to chats and claims; and 3) a socially-aware business model, with transparency, accessible language and customer alignment built into the value proposition.

Under Juan's aegis, Tuio closed a significant €15 million financing round (in 2024) led by major investors including BlackRock and MassMutual Ventures, signaling strong investor confidence in the business model. He has repeatedly spoken about achieving unit-economics advantaged positions: Tuio is approaching profitability by keeping customer acquisition costs low and lifetime-value comparably high.

Episode Overview:

Company Snapshot:

• Founded mid-2020, launched November 2021.

• Serves ~100,000 customers with ~€15 million in premiums.

• Focuses on personal lines: household, term life, auto, pet, health, travel.

• Operates as the MGA for all products.

Tuio's InsurTech Differentiator:

• Beyond Process Fixes: Moves beyond early InsurTech's focus on efficiency to fundamentally re-engineering insurance.

• Targeting Underserved Segment (25-55): Addresses this demographic's demand for digital-first, self-service experiences.

• Sustainable Growth Model: Rejects "grow at all costs"; prioritizes healthy margins and controlled loss ratios over rapid, unprofitable expansion.

• Challenging Traditional Playbooks: Proves that a focus on profitability and underwriting is key, even for newer entrants.

Key Innovations & Strategies:

• Proprietary Customer DNA:

  • Collects 100+ non-traditional data points continuously.

  • Example 1 (Device Type): iPhone/MacBook users have ~10% higher claims for stolen goods; this insight influences pricing.

  • Example 2 (Onboarding Behavior): Customers who scrutinize specific coverages during sign-up are flagged for closer review during claims, detecting potential fraud.

• AI-Powered Claims Management ("Watson"):

  • Handles non-deterministic claims processes effectively.

  • Analyzes customer DNA, policy data, claim history, and more.

  • Performs severity, urgency, and duplication analysis.

  • Assigns confidence levels and escalates high-risk decisions to human adjusters.

  • Transforms claims from a cost center to a "data flywheel."

• Direct-to-Consumer Model:

  • Operates largely as a direct writer (~60% in the US, ~98% in Spain for new sales).

  • Believes in the value of direct customer relationships for data insights.

  • Acknowledges the role of mediation but focuses on a segment that appreciates their model.

  • Direct model exposes unique challenges like immediate claim filing post-policy purchase, which their data analysis helps mitigate.

Claims Processing Excellence:

• Superior Loss Ratios: Household insurance loss ratio is 55% (vs. 15-115% market average in Spain), aiming for 19% by year-end.

• Human-Centric Automation: Automation supports, but does not replace, human adjusters for critical decisions.

• Next Best Action System: Guides adjusters through complex claims processes.

• Claims as a Data Source: Leverages claims data to refine underwriting and fraud detection.

• Focus on Non-Deterministic Nature: Recognizes that claims are not linear and requires flexible AI, not rigid rule-based systems.

Future Vision:

• Southern European Champion: Expanding from Spain into Portugal, France, Italy, and Greece.

• Leveraging Tech Stack: Utilizing their efficient operational model to enter and scale in less competitive markets.

• Proving Profitability: Demonstrating that Southern European markets can be highly profitable for InsurTech

This episode is brought to you by The Future of Insurance book series (future-of-insurance.com) from Bryan Falchuk.

Follow the podcast at future-of-insurance.com/podcast for more details and other episodes.

Music courtesy of Hyperbeat Music, available to stream or download on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music and more.