MENA — The Launchpad for Global InsurTech and FinTech

MENA InsurTech Initiative Co-Founder & Manager. Lars is Chief Digital & AI Officer at QIC Group, focusing on building and supporting new digital ventures through QIC Digital Venture Partners (DVP) while transforming how QIC operates with AI. DVP, QIC’s corporate VC, invests in early-stage InsurTechs that advance this journey, and the international partnerships team helps global InsurTechs enter the regional insurance market by leveraging QIC’s assets and capabilities. Lars’s foundational work on the MENA InsurTech Initiative connects startups with incumbents, regulators, and VCs to help them enter and scale across the region. The MENA InsurTech Summit 2025 brought together 150+ international speakers for three days of deep networking—join us again for the 2026 edition. With 25+ years of experience building and managing digital companies in insurance, financing, leasing, automotive, and education, his first InsurTech project dates back to 2000. He’s a strategic advisor and investor to several digital startups, with a passion for platforms and ecosystem business models.

Head of Start Ventures, an early-stage VC investing across Europe in fintech, insurtech, and cybersecurity. Co-founded Portugal Fintech and co-leads the regulatory innovation hub Portugal FinLab (“Where Regulation meets Innovation”) with all Portuguese financial regulators. Invited Affiliate Professor of Fintech at Católica Lisbon SBE. Holds a BSc in Economics from Nova SBE, an MSc in Management (Finance major) from Católica Lisbon SBE, and completed the Fintech course at MIT.

Micro Insurance Company (MIC) is a full-stack digital insurer providing simple, relevant embedded insurance for platform businesses, their customers, and their service providers. MIC Global delivers straight-through-processed embedded solutions for platforms in gig/sharing, mobility, payment gateways, IoT device manufacturers, and traditional sectors such as banks, consumer products, telecom, and utilities. By partnering with platforms, MIC enhances brands, differentiates products, and drives revenue while making insurance accessible, affordable, and efficient for underserved segments. “Micro” refers to cost, size, duration, and wording—while MIC is “macro” in impact, with a global mission and operations across 10+ countries.

Leading Gangkhar’s expansion in MENA, Xavier is passionate about accessible, affordable protection and frictionless insurance experiences. Over the past 20 years he has operated at the intersection of insurance and technology—running a claims software/services company, heading Digital at two direct health insurers, selling cloud-native core insurance systems, and now scaling the first AI-native embedded protection infrastructure. His APAC experience in Singapore selling AI-powered solutions prepared him for GCC growth markets. Earlier, he worked in strategy consulting (Kearney, Accenture) and at a challenger bank. He holds an MBA from IESE and a degree in International Business Administration from NEOMA Business School (France) and ICADE (Spain).

Ritesh is the co-founder of Zango, building AI agents for compliance teams in financial services. He previously co-founded ClearGlass, a UK-based RegTech platform backed by Aon, and served as Head of Product at Cinnober (acquired by Nasdaq). He holds an MBA from the University of Oxford, and works at the intersection of AI, regulation, and financial innovation.