LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

a year as a corporate commercial attorney doing high-tech law. Then in the late ‘90s, I started what was my first startup and I’ve been in the tech sector ever since.”

That company was Alchemedia, which made cybersecurity software and was bought out by Finjan Software in 2003. Next, he served as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for M-Systems, which was the original inventor of the USB flash drive. It was yet again a successful exit for another company in which

Schreiber was involved; M-Systems was acquired by SanDisk for US$1.6bn in 2006.

Schreiber stayed at SanDisk for several years after the acquisition, holding senior positions including SVP of Corporate Marketing and General Manager of Mobile Network Operators. He went on to co-lead Powermat Technologies, which provides businesses with end-to-end wireless power and charging solutions.

From nothing to smash IPO in five years

He helped co-found Lemonade in 2015 and has led the business ever since, using his extensive background and business knowhow to guide the digital insurer through four different venture series rounds, then an IPO in July 2020 that saw Lemonade shares soar by more than 130% on its opening day.

Today, Lemonade has a total market cap of US$865mn and over 1,100 employees on LinkedIn, split between Israel and the United States. It offers renters’, homeowners’, car, pet and life insurance, and is active in five countries: the US, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and the UK.

$4mn

Reflecting on his success, he doesn’t think that people usually enter the insurtech space for the love of insurance. He told the Wharton FinTech podcast: “It’s not a natural thing for a tech entrepreneur to want to go into insurance. It connotes all the wrong things. It’s perceived as being dull… retro-grade, heavily regulated [and] heavily capital intensive.”