SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MetLife Korea today announced Endor as the winner of its open innovation program, collab 5.0. The Israel-based startup has won a USD 100,000 contract to pilot their solution with the insurer, which allows business users to answer predictive questions on the same day without the need for data science expertise.

In addition to Endor, MetLife Korea selected four other finalists including Eda Communications, Fount, and MindsLab from South Korea, and Gnowbe, from Singapore for special Judges Awards.

Created by LumenLab, MetLife’s Asia innovation center, collab 5.0 invited insurtechs from around the globe to apply to pilot their solutions with MetLife Korea.

The winners were among seven finalists to pitch their solutions to a panel of senior MetLife executives at a ‘Demo Day’ in Seoul on Thursday. In total 180 startups from 30 countries applied to the program, including 51 from South Korea.

“MetLife Korea is looking forward to working with Endor and the other four innovative startups. Their solutions have the potential to offer tremendous benefits to our business and customers in Korea,” said Young Rok Song, Senior Vice President and General Manager, MetLife Korea.

“Innovation is a business imperative and external collaboration forms a key component of MetLife’s efforts to transform the insurance sector. Collab is about building partnerships that help us innovate ahead of tomorrow’s challenges to have a greater impact on those we serve,” said Zia Zaman, LumenLab’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Innovation Officer of MetLife Asia.

Collab 5.0 launched in February and follows four successful collab programs, including two in Japan in 2017 and 2018, one in MetLife’s Europe, Middle East and Africa region in 2018, and one in Singapore in 2016.

Since its inception, collab has attracted 718 applications from more than 60 countries and MetLife has awarded more than USD 1 million worth of contracts to develop value-generating solutions for MetLife’s business and customers.

For more information on collab 5.0 and the seven finalists, visit: http://collab.lumenlab.sg/

About MetLife

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET), through its subsidiaries and affiliates (“MetLife”), is one of the world’s leading financial services companies, providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to help its individual and institutional customers navigate their changing world. Founded in 1868, MetLife has operations in more than 40 countries and holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. For more information, visit www.metlife.com.

About LumenLab

As MetLife’s pioneers for disruptive innovation in Asia, LumenLab is charging ahead to create new businesses in health, wealth and retirement. Lumen, a measure of light, symbolizes our commitment to illuminating a new path for solving the problems that the people of Asia face today. Through our focus on building new products and services grounded in technology and data, we aim to help people achieve richer and more fulfilling lives. For more information, visit http://www.lumenlab.sg