JustParent stands out as a provider of parental leave insurance tailored for businesses. This novel offering allows UK enterprises to provide their employees with parental leave pay that surpasses the statutory requirement, without the fear of incurring unsustainable financial burdens. The insurance covers 100% of an employee's basic salary during parental leave, above a specified excess, enabling companies to budget effectively and plan for the future.

The company's platform is a game-changer for insurance brokers, intermediaries, and distributors. It facilitates the seamless transfer of data to insurance carriers in any format required. With the ability to automatically understand and generate the necessary code for API connections, the platform empowers intermediaries to create these connections effortlessly, without needing any coding expertise or developer assistance.

In recognition of its outstanding pitch, JustParent was awarded a £25,000 investment by Norton Rose Fulbright, along with an additional £25,000 in pro bono UK legal and regulatory advice. This support will be provided by specialist lawyers from the firm's acclaimed teams in corporate, regulatory insurance, intellectual property, employment and labour, and data privacy sectors.

Ed Gaze, CEO of JustParent, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to have won this year’s Insurathon. Both the funding and legal advice have come at such an important time for JustParent.

“We have only just launched and there are so many things we can do with Norton Rose Fulbright's expertise. At the Insurathon, we already got a taste of this - through the series of one-to-one clinics - and I'm looking forward to continuing those discussions shortly.

“A big thanks to the Norton Rose Fulbright team and congratulations to the other finalists, who all presented truly game-changing solutions.”

Nicholas Berry, Head of Norton Rose Fulbright’s InsurTech practice and founder of the Insurathon, said: “Each year, I am astounded by the quality of the entrants and it was brilliant to see products that will really make a huge, positive difference to the wider community.

“For many businesses, even though they are keen to do their best for their employees, the cost of parental leave pay can be a high financial burden. This new offering from our winner, JustParent, can help both businesses and parents by supporting the provision of enhanced parental pay.

“We greatly look forward to helping this exciting new business to develop further in the coming months.”

An ‘honourable mention’ was also given to Lukango, a startup which provides easy-to-understand, flexible insurance to the small business and sole professional community, a sector which has been traditionally underserved in the insurance space. It does this through its proprietary intelligent algorithm which uses data gathered from customers to provide them with the most suitable product for them.

Norton Rose Fulbright has provided more than £250,000 in prize funds through the Insurathon, since launching the competition in 2017. For this year’s event, two previous Insurathon winners - Devin Chawda, CEO, ARMD and Gilbert Harrap, CEO, InsurX - joined the event for a fireside chat with Nicholas to discuss their progress, success and journeys since winning the Insurathon.

Devin Chawda, CEO of ARMD, said: “ARMD won Insurathon in 2021 when we were only a year into the business and it was such an important moment for us as, not only did it bring some cash and legal support, but more importantly gave us the confidence we needed at the time that we were on the right tracks and to keep pushing hard.”

Gilbert Harrap, CEO of InsurX, said: "The advice and support we've received from Norton Rose Fulbright off the back of winning their Insurathon competition has tangibly helped us turbocharge our growth as the independent digital exchange for the corporate and specialty insurance market. Norton Rose Fulbright's expertise in supporting multinational insurance corporations all the way down to ambitious startups like us is unrivalled."