Meet Roi Amir, Sprout.ai’s New CEO

Sprout.ai (Sprout) is a fast-growth technology company, already reimagining the claims process for the customers of major insurance companies across the world, including Zurich.

What is the problem Sprout.ai is solving?

Sprout’s technology is able to understand claims data as well as information included in insurance policies and what these cover, in order to match the two and settle claims in record time: from several months to several days.

This has enabled us to be the first to deliver a frictionless, end-to-end automated solution, from the moment a claim is received to the final settlement.

For insurers, Sprout unlocks true end-to-end claims automation leading to improved efficiency and reduced costs. For their customers, Sprout completely changes the claims experience enabling clear, accurate outcomes and delivering a much faster and less stressful experience at a time when they are at their most vulnerable. This mission is at the heart of everything Sprout does.

Why did you decide to join Sprout?

Sprout is on a fast-growth trajectory, having built world-class technology in an area of the market with huge potential. The opportunity to lead the team at Sprout was too good to pass up!

In my previous role at Tractable – a fellow AI software provider for the insurance industry – I gained a lot of knowledge about the insurance market, the challenges and the many inefficiencies in the sector. Sprout solves inefficiencies in the insurance market in a unique and sustainable way that others have not yet been able to, by automating the claims process. I admire what the team has achieved in such a short amount of time. Sprout’s technology has huge potential to fundamentally change the insurance industry and I wanted to be part of that change.

The opportunity to lead the company was very exciting, and a step up for me. Together with the rest of the team, we will drive Sprout in the right direction, to the next stage in its growth journey.

Can you tell us a bit about your career to date? Do you have any particular highlights?

I started my software engineering education during my service in the Israeli military, where I also began training software engineers myself. After almost seven years in the army, I left to join the private sector -a medical imaging startup called Algotec that was later acquired by Kodak. This was my first experience in a fast-growth startup, and it was exhilarating! After Algotec, I gained experience across a mixture of technical and business-oriented roles.

I moved to the UK in 2013 to head up the integration of a recently acquired startup into NICE systems. This required a lot of operational knowledge and I learned a lot about managing a team across a company’s life cycle.

My next role at Zift Solutions, where I worked for over 4 years, was a great shift from tech to business. As Chief Customer Officer I managed a global team spread across the world from Romania to Australia and Silicon Valley. I managed the post-sales work and professional services. It provided a holistic view of how businesses operate.

My latest role before joining Sprout was Vice President of Engineering at Tractable, where I managed a team of around 75 people. While I was there, the company grew fast – securing coveted Unicorn status. Being part of this growth journey was incredible and it’s proof of what is possible in the world of tech and specifically in Insurtech.

What are your plans and ambitions for the year ahead at Sprout?

My objective as a CEO is to grow Sprout and help it realise its full potential. We want to become firmly established as the global leader in claims automation.

In the shorter term, I want us to keep improving Sprout’s technology and enable insurers to shorten the time it takes to settle the health insurance claims cycle from weeks to hours.

Sprout has a significant competitive advantage in its OCR capabilities in certain languages, including Japanese, over other vendors. It is extremely hard for AI to decipher Japanese kanji, which Sprout’s OCR can do more accurately than other vendors. Leveraging these OCR capabilities within the area of claims automation will make Sprout the first choice for insurers in Japan and beyond.