Refining the innovation strategy with data-driven market scans

DELA is the largest Dutch funeral insurer and caretaker. Founded as a cooperation, DELA has nearly 3 million members and is the market leader in both the Netherlands and Belgium. They have the ambition to continuously develop new propositions for its clients that foster connections between people and improve stay at home care. Core to realising this vision is to actively create partnerships with and investments in innovative startups. DELA and Venture IQ structurally work together to map out market domains and identify the most relevant targets for DELA to engage with.

‍Targeted searching leads to better results‍

Due to the broad field of interest of DELA, Venture IQ started structuring an initial two domains. Thanks to this structure, the client services team at Venture IQ could perform multiple specific solution focused searches, and compare identified companies within those focus areas. Simultaneously, it provides DELA real-time insights into the different sub-themes to assist in setting priorities.

One of the first projects was focused on performing a broad market scan. DELA requested Venture IQ to help identify and structure inspiring and striking innovative companies in two domains: 

1. Innovations focused on the well-being in the third trimester of life
2. Solutions focussed on improving financial security 

The goal of the project was to obtain more insight into the type of solutions available in the market today and to initiate conversations with the top companies to form  partnerships. 

In less than two weeks, Venture IQ identified, screened and ranked more than 250 relevant companies‍

Using these two themes, Venture IQ performed a broad global scan to identify relevant companies. The goal of the project was not to be exhaustive on every theme, but to identify relevant companies in each sub-theme. In total, Venture IQ identified 251 technology companies of which 151 fitted theme one on well-being in the third trimester of life,  and 100 companies fitted theme two on improving financial security.

Using custom criteria, Venture IQ ranked all 251 companies on relevance for DELA. Using this initial ranking, the team from DELA could directly zoom into the top 30 most interesting companies, saving valuable time. 

The next phase of the project entailed initiating conversations with the management teams of the top companies to gain a deeper understanding of the technology, commercial traction and partnering appetite

Benefits for DELA‍

Prior to the project with Venture IQ, DELA had initial ideas to develop potential new propositions for their clients. Thanks to the broad market scan, DELA has a more thorough understanding of the landscape and how companies can be of relevance to the organisation. The extended analysis of the top companies through management team interviews helped in obtaining relevant information and provide a comprehensive picture of successful startups in their core domains.