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How PolicyMe Is Rebuilding Insurance for the Next Generation | TTW 2026
Watch on YouTube ↗First seen on the TechTO stage in 2026. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Andrew ↗
In their words
people still want to talk to humans. People still want that support. What they want is, we call it, advisors on demand, not by default.
when you buy life insurance, you're not buying anything tangible. You're buying a promise.
being a life insurance company in general is not a good business. The return on capital is very low, margins are very low.
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Quick answers
Who is Andrew Ostro?
Co-founder and CEO of PolicyMe, a Toronto digital life insurance company founded in 2018. He is a licensed actuary — a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries since 2011 — and spent about ten years at Towers Watson and Oliver Wyman consulting to large insurers before starting the company.
What did he say on the TechTO stage?
In a June 2026 fireside at Toronto Tech Week he explained why life insurers innovate slowly — a healthy 35-year-old dies at roughly a 1-in-3,000 annual rate, so it takes years of data to know whether a pricing decision was wrong — and why PolicyMe abandoned its original plan to cut brokers out entirely.
How does PolicyMe distribute?
Three brands, per his June 2026 talk: its own direct-to-consumer site, plus white-label products embedded with CAA and Blue Cross. He said roughly half of revenue comes from PolicyMe's own brand, with the partner channel carrying near-zero customer acquisition cost.