Digital Agriculture Services won the excellence in insurtech category at the ninth annual Finnie Awards.

Commercial insurance broking insurtech Upcover won the workplace diversity prize.

FinTech Australia CEO Rehan D’Almeida says the awards reflect progress and achievement in the sector.

“The diverse list of companies ... receiving a Finnie is a positive sign,” he said. “Getting onto the finalist list is a significant achievement in and of itself. Congratulations to those companies that made the shortlist.”

Winners were announced on Thursday night in Sydney after being chosen from 348 entries across 21 categories.

Digital Agriculture Services was up against finalists Codafication, Entsia, Fetch, ICRM, Karia, myVal, Open Insurance and the FreightSafe Group.

CEO Anthony Willmott says the win caps a “bumper year” in which the business collaborated with insurers to measure the impact of droughts, floods and the “chronic effects of long-term climate change”. 

UpCover CEO Skye Theodorou says the Finnie is a “milestone and speaks to the work we’re putting in behind the scenes.

“We have a massive job ahead of us, being the only start-up in Australia disrupting the B2B insurance sector, and diversity across our team is just one of many tactics we’re deploying to accomplish this.”

Upcover completed a $19 million funding round in February.

It beat diversity category finalists Kanopi, Citro, Hello Clever, Lendi Group, Lightspeed Commerce, Monoova, Nimo Industries and Swyftx.