The Standard Partners with Plug and Play Innovation Platform

Insurance Weekly News

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Standard Insurance Company (The Standard), a leading provider of financial products and services, announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Plug and Play, one of the world's leading startup accelerators and open innovation platforms.

The Standard is an anchor partner on the Plug and Play Insurtech platform and is engaging directly with a select group of startups to explore and catalyze technological advancement with an eye toward driving innovation, increasing collaboration and achieving greater efficiencies.

"Our industry is changing at a pace that we have never seen before, and the expectations of our customers and partners are increasing. Throughout our 112-year history, The Standard has steadfastly remained committed to meeting and exceeding customer expectations. Our partnership with Plug and Play is just one of the ways we intend to evolve our innovation efforts to benefit our customers, producers and employees," said Dan McMillan, vice president of Employee Benefits at The Standard.

The Standard will be focusing on the areas of insurance and financial services, seeking to improve a range of processes that could enhance distribution, risk management and customer-facing services. Increasing efficiencies means the company can deliver enhanced value to brokers, partners and other customers.

Plug and Play Insurtech is an innovation platform bringing together corporations, startups and investors to work on improving the industry. Since Plug and Play Insurtech's inception in May 2016, they have provided a vast innovation platform to more than fifty corporate partners and have made over 20 investments in Insurtech startups. Plug and Play Insurtech has recently expanded internationally to New York, Munich and Tokyo. About The Standard The Standard is a leading provider of financial products and services, including group and individual disability insurance, group life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance, group dental and vision insurance, absence management services, retirement plans products and services and individual annuities. For more information about The Standard, visit www.standard.com.

The Standard is the marketing name for StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., and its subsidiaries: Standard Insurance Company, The Standard Life Insurance Company of New York, Standard Retirement Services, Inc., StanCorp Mortgage Investors, Inc., StanCorp Investment Advisers, Inc., StanCorp Real Estate, LLC, and StanCorp Equities, Inc. About Plug and Play Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we have built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services, and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in 21 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 6,000 startups and 220 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 700 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $7 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, LendingClub, PayPal, SoundHound, and Zoosk. For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180418005167/en/