Venture building is gaining traction in Italy as one of the most sophisticated approaches to turning corporate expertise, data and assets into standalone, scalable businesses. Unlike purely financial models or investments in external startups, venture building goes beyond “funding innovation”: it actively builds it, identifying tangible opportunities within an established company and developing them into fully fledged ventures with their own governance, teams and P&Ls.
BeRebel is a compelling example of this approach. Created within the Unipol Group, the venture drew on existing data, technology and market knowledge to introduce an insurance model based on actual car usage. Developed through an “inside-out” approach, BeRebel was able to harness the parent company’s strategic assets—from its customer base and telematics platforms to its pricing capabilities and regulatory compliance expertise—without having to build the foundations of the business from scratch.
This experience offers valuable insights into designing an effective venture building process: establishing governance that ensures operational autonomy and clear decision-making; assembling hybrid teams that combine a startup mindset with domain expertise; structuring the relationship with the parent company around access to critical assets; and progressively validating the business model, from the initial concept through to market launch.
The discussion will explore the conditions that enable venture building to become a repeatable model, capable of delivering sustainable innovation, economic value and strategic impact for the parent company. To bring these themes to life, Giovanni Carparelli, Head of Marketing & Communications at BeRebel, will share firsthand insights into how these principles shaped concrete decisions across governance, organisational design, product development and go-to-market strategy.
“A corporate startup needs enough autonomy to experiment, while also being able to draw on the resources of the organisation it comes from.”
1. What prompted the idea of creating this internal startup, and how did you turn the initial insight into a concrete project?
The BeRebel project began in 2021 with a very practical question: could we rethink car insurance around actual vehicle usage, rather than relying solely on traditional pricing factors?
The starting point was the wealth of data and telematics expertise the Unipol Group had developed over the years. Big data analysis revealed a strong correlation between how frequently a car is used and the likelihood of a claim. Put simply: the less you drive, the lower your exposure to risk.
This led to the idea of turning that insight into a tangible benefit for customers, allowing them to influence their insurance costs through their actual car usage. This is the principle behind BeRebel: the less you drive, the less you pay.
The innovation went beyond introducing a telematics device or offering a cheaper policy. We wanted to move beyond an approach driven primarily by factors customers cannot control, such as their city or region of residence, and also account for a personal, measurable choice: how much they actually use their car.
To turn the idea into a concrete project, we combined the agility of a startup with the expertise and financial strength of a major insurance group. This combination enabled us to develop a new, market-ready proposition very quickly.
2. What were the main stages in building the startup, from initial analysis to market launch?
The process began with data analysis. Before designing the product, we needed to verify that the underlying hypothesis was sound from an insurance perspective and commercially viable. Mileage had to be a relevant, measurable variable that customers could easily understand.
The next step was to translate this insight into a business model. The aim was to build a policy genuinely linked to usage, rather than apply a promotional pricing formula to a traditional product: a monthly fee, an included mileage allowance and an adjustment based on the actual distance driven.
We then worked on the technology infrastructure required. RebelBot, the telematics device installed in the car, records mileage and makes driving data an integral part of the policy. In parallel, we developed a digital experience through which customers can purchase and manage their cover, track their mileage and understand how it affects their costs.
Simplification was a major part of the work. Insurance products involve complex technical, actuarial and regulatory considerations, but customers need to understand how they work easily. We refined processes, language, the customer journey and customer support to make the relationship between car usage and policy costs immediately clear.
Finally, we built a standalone brand with a distinctive tone of voice and a customer engagement model designed for a digitally savvy audience. BeRebel needed to stand out in the market while maintaining the credibility and reliability essential to insurance.
The project started in March 2021 and launched in September 2022. In just over a year, we worked simultaneously on product, technology, compliance, operational processes, distribution, customer experience and positioning.
3. What were the biggest challenges in securing acceptance for a new model and developing it within an established corporate structure?
One of the main challenges was finding the right balance between autonomy and integration. An innovative project needs speed, clear accountability and room to experiment. At the same time, operating in insurance means meeting stringent regulatory and operational requirements.
We therefore had to bring together two ways of working: the startup approach, focused on speed and experimentation, and that of a large group, which must ensure reliability, oversight and sound risk management. The challenge was to make these approaches work effectively together.
Another challenge was cultural. A usage-based policy changes the relationship with the customer: the cost is no longer perceived as entirely fixed upfront, telematics data becomes part of the everyday experience, and customers play a more active role in determining their spending.
Internally, this also required a shift in perspective. Data does more than improve pricing or support risk management. It can help deliver a service that is more transparent, easier to understand and more closely aligned with people’s actual habits.
Positioning was another key consideration. In the insurance market, innovation is easily reduced to a promise of lower prices. We wanted to avoid that simplification. BeRebel does not make a blanket promise to be cheaper: it allows customers to pay in a way that better reflects their car usage and gives them greater control over their spending.
“Having large volumes of data is not enough. The crucial step is understanding how to use it to offer customers something truly new.”
4. How did you assemble the initial team, and which skills or functions were critical to turning the idea into an actual product?
The initial team was built around the project’s needs, bringing together a range of expertise from the outset.
Insurance and actuarial expertise were essential to defining a viable model. Data and telematics capabilities made mileage a measurable, usable variable. Technology and product design translated this logic into a straightforward digital experience. Legal, compliance and operations teams enabled us to develop the project in line with regulatory requirements and the specific demands of the sector.
Marketing and customer experience played an equally important role. A new product must first be understood. We needed to explain an innovative insurance model in simple terms, build trust in a new brand and guide customers through an experience that differed from traditional insurance.
The decisive factor was how these capabilities worked together. It was about creating a team with shared objectives and collective accountability for the outcome, beyond simply bringing together specialists from different functions.
In a project like this, speed comes primarily from close collaboration between those analysing the data, building the product, developing the technology, overseeing regulatory matters and bringing the proposition to market.
5. Looking back, which elements of your venture building process would you consider replicable, and which were specific to your corporate context?
One clearly replicable element is starting with a company’s distinctive assets and asking what new value proposition they could support. In our case, these were the Unipol Group’s data, telematics capabilities and insurance expertise.
Having large volumes of data, however, is not enough. The crucial step is understanding how to use it to offer customers something truly new. With BeRebel, we turned mileage data into greater customer choice and more control over policy costs.
Another replicable element is giving the venture its own identity, objectives and ways of working, while retaining access to the Group’s expertise and infrastructure. A corporate startup needs enough autonomy to experiment, while also being able to draw on the resources of the organisation it comes from.
Team composition is another replicable aspect: diverse expertise, shared accountability and a focus on both immediate financial results and the learning generated throughout development.
By contrast, the depth of the available data, Unipol’s experience in insurance telematics and access to established operational expertise in a highly regulated sector were specific to our context. An independent startup would have found it harder to access the same combination of resources from the outset.
BeRebel’s experience has shown us that venture building can play a broader role than creating a new product or channel. It can help a company test different ways of generating value and building customer relationships.
In our case, this means moving from a policy based almost entirely on static characteristics to a model that also takes people’s actual choices and behaviour into account.
That is why “the less you drive, the less you pay” is more than a marketing slogan. It expresses the idea that affordability, mindful car usage and a sustainable insurance model can reinforce one another. BeRebel was created to test this possibility in practice and bring it to market.