Guest Blog from Jana Stella, CEO & Co-Founder, NeuWave
Diving into an Insurtech Incubator
I never expected to end up in an Insurtech Incubator.
I trained as an oceanographer. My early career was all about modelling complex wave patterns, running simulations, and decoding the brutal rhythms of the sea. The ocean demands respect, it doesn’t pause for human schedules, it crashes through plans, breaks equipment and takes lives. But it’s also where I’ve always felt most connected.
I grew up in South Wales, close to the wild beauty of a national park and a short drive from the sea. My family comes from island communities, so I spent much of my childhood in and around the water – swimming, exploring, observing. Nature was part of daily life.
Later, when I moved into academia, I started in medical research, but something didn’t feel right. So I transitioned into oceanography – a move that felt less like a pivot and more like coming home.
And although I was now working in an area I was passionate about, I started to see the same issue crop up again and again: the most advanced marine science was being buried in papers – never making its way into the hands of the people who needed it most.
From Academia to Startups
The moment I decided to leave academia and become a founder, felt like a release. I was no longer confined by grants or publications – I could build something real.
Starting NeuWave meant I could take everything I’d learned – from years of modelling wave behaviour to my obsession with environmental data – and build a solution with direct impact on our transition to green energy.
Let me paint a picture. You’re building a wind farm 30 miles off the coast. You’re relying on big boats and an experienced crew – both more or less in your control. But the thing that has the biggest impact on your project deadlines is the one thing you cannot control – the weather. Construction delays caused by unpredictable sea conditions cost up to £100 million per project, per year. And the kicker? The data that underpins your schedule is so low resolution it’s like trying to forecast a storm in Manchester using data from Liverpool. Current logistics tools are so unresponsive to the actual conditions that captains often fall back on their gut instinct. That’s not just frustrating. It’s dangerous. And it’s wildly expensive.
NeuWave is an AI-powered predictive wave analytics platform. We help offshore teams plan smarter, move faster, and reduce risk at sea. Our models deliver 60x more resolution and 10x better accuracy than the status quo. Think of us as Google Maps for offshore operations – helping teams decide when to go, where to go, and how to stay safe.
But to scale a company that manages risk? I quickly learned that we needed to work with the people who underwrite it.
Where Insurance Meets Innovation
The more we spoke to underwriters and brokers, the more it became clear: offshore renewables can’t scale without insurance. And insurers can’t price risk accurately without better data.
Premiums for offshore wind projects have barely shifted in a decade. Despite advances in turbine technology and construction techniques, risk perception remains sky-high. Why? Because weather delays and wave damage remain a blind spot – and most insurers are working with ocean models that are decades out of date.
NeuWave changes that. We provide incredibly accurate, real-time and predicted data that empowers insurers to write smarter policies and avoid underestimating their exposure.
Piloting the Future of Offshore Risk
We’ve had an incredible year.
Right now, NeuWave is piloting with major insurers (names under wraps, but they’re leaders in renewables and subsea infrastructure). These trials are already shaping how underwriters model risk for offshore wind projects – and we’re only just getting started.
We’re also running pilots with a UK-based asset management company (monitoring two operational wind farms) and two specialist engineering firms.
These aren’t theoretical models or demos. These are live deployments – in the field, on real projects, making a tangible impact.
How did we secure these pilots? By listening more than pitching. Many of these conversations started casually – over coffee at industry events. When we tell people about NeuWave their eyes light up, we clearly have a shared mission. Coming from a research background helped, our academic roots gave us credibility and we built relationships from there.
Enter Insurtech Gateway
Scaling a startup is hard. Scaling one at the intersection of climate risk, ocean science, and insurance is even harder. That’s why we partnered with Insurtech Gateway, the specialist insurtech incubator that co-led our £600k pre-seed round with QVentures.
Insurtech Gateway didn’t just offer capital. They gave us:
- Strategic introductions to insurers, VCs, and portfolio companies
- Friendly, frank advice (the kind that saves you months of work)
- Product feedback through an insurance lens
- And the credibility to open boardroom doors that would’ve otherwise stayed shut
They didn’t just back us with funding. They embedded us into their global insurtech ecosystem – giving us the platform to become both an SaaS company and a key enabler of smarter underwriting.
Why More Founders Should Look to Insurtech
If you’re a founder in climate, infrastructure, or data – I urge you to consider insurers as customers, partners, and enablers.
I didn’t start out knowing about premiums or policies. But what I’ve learned is this: if your product reduces risk or improves transparency, there’s an insurtech angle. And there’s probably an insurtech business hiding in your roadmap.
Insurance is the nervous system of every complex industry. And when we make it smarter, we unlock growth, resilience, and confidence.
What’s Next for NeuWave?
We’re now scaling across the UK and the North Sea. Next up? The Baltics, Southeast Asia, and the Americas – where offshore infrastructure is expanding rapidly and the need for better wave intelligence is critical.
We’re also planting seeds for longer-term transitions: into maritime logistics, vessel underwriting, and even passenger ferries. The ocean isn’t just for energy – it’s the foundation of global trade. And we believe NeuWave can support a safer, more efficient future for all of it.
With the continued support of our insurtech incubator, we’re embedding ourselves deeper into the underwriting process, ensuring our tools are shaping risk decisions at every stage of a project’s lifecycle.
Building NeuWave has taught me that transformation doesn’t just come from better tech. It comes from better partnerships – and from listening deeply to what each stakeholder truly needs.
Insurance is often seen as reactive. But with the right data, it can become predictive. Proactive. Transformational.
A note from Insurtech Gateway
“Thank you for sharing your story, Jana. We’re incredibly proud to be backing a venture with such powerful potential to drive impact at scale. At Insurtech Gateway, we’re especially excited to support founders from outside the traditional insurance world—like Jana. Fresh perspectives often lead to bold solutions, and it’s exactly this kind of thinking that can reimagine how we understand and price risk. If you’re an outsider with a breakthrough idea—or already building a pre-seed or seed-stage insurtech—we’d love to hear from you. With capital, regulatory support, and hands-on venture building experience, we can help you launch and scale faster. Check out our incubator and venture fund or get in touch.”