Amélie Breitburd: How Coopetition Could Double Europe’s Insurance Market

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Amélie Breitburd, the former CEO of Lloyd’s Europe, and a leading voice in the movement to rethink how we insure against tomorrow’s biggest shocks – from climate and cyber to the long-tail risks the industry still avoids.

In today’s conversation, we’ll unpack her journey to Lloyd’s, explore the institution’s evolving role in a risk-saturated world, and dig deep into the bold ideas behind her latest work.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Every day, people should focus on their specifications and should be reminded of it. When I see syndicates doing business only in the US, they could do business in Europe almost for free because, from a capital perspective, diversification helps.

We’re here to help people. People wouldn’t do anything: Take a bike, drive a car, or fly to Mars without insurance. It’s a key enabler. As leaders in the insurance industry, I believe we can show a great sense of purpose.

There was a period when companies were mainly focused on buying, which was killing teams. I think we’re definitely in the partnership era now, which is great for startups because they can work for different companies, increasing diversity and helping people learn from each other.

Insurers have a lot of data, but it’s a bit outdated. Risk is evolving because the automotive industry, for example, is moving towards autonomous cars; data about car behaviour is no longer as important as it used to be; the software and batteries that will be in cars are more important, so we must build another set of data. Then there are things like flying to Mars and carbon capture, where there is no data because we don’t know how we’ll be doing them.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Risk is at the heart of what insurers do, and risk is about diversification.’

‘The statistical aspect is that when you are together, you’re taking risks together and lowering the cost of capital.’

‘The journey today is like moving from paper to pdf, but the next change perspective is moving to more digitalised exchanges between various parts of the company.’

‘Coopetition is the idea that if we work together as competitors, we can access a market which is currently inaccessible because it’s not affordable, we can price the risks differently to make them more accessible.’

ABOUT THE GUESTS

Amélie Breitburd is a strategic powerhouse in Europe’s insurance and risk management ecosystem, driving a bold agenda to double the size of the continent’s insurable market. With a sharp eye on the protection gap, Amélie brings an unflinching perspective on how to future-proof European economies—through syndication, public-private partnerships, and radical coopetition.

A thought leader who thinks beyond tradition, Amélie fuses financial acumen with game theory principles to challenge how we scale solutions to climate risk, cyber threats, and long-tail systemic exposures. Her work on the Digital Insurance Exchange Market (Euro DIEM) envisions a next-gen insurance infrastructure—anchored in data access, distributed underwriting, and multi-layer diversification. LinkedIn

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 hello@alchemycrew.ventures