Closing the conversation gap in financial services

Protection shows the gap most clearly

The majority of adults in the UK have no form of life insurance. Consumers are not 'refusing' protection, they simply never have a conversation about it, on their terms. The protection gap is a conversation gap, and the same gap runs through every regulated product.

• 31m UK adults hold no pure protection product at all. FCA Pure Protection Market Study Interim Report (MS24/1.4), January 2026
• 18m have never actively considered their protection needs. FCA Pure Protection Market Study Interim Report (MS24/1.4), January 2026
• 54% of UK adults now use AI tools, up from 31% a year earlier. Ofcom, Adults' Media Use and Attitudes, April 2026

Omnichannel distribution and native AI assistants are combining to create a new era for regulated financial services

1. 01 Digitally personalised journeys, where the customer chooses their own path.
2. 02 One AI assistant behind every channel: web chat, SMS, WhatsApp and AI voice.
3. 03 Context and memory persist across the journey, so the customer feels seen.
4. 04 The assistant nurtures the enquiry, prompts the next move and knows when to bring a human in.
5. 05 Always on, omnichannel changes the nature of online acquisition.

Built by people who've changed protection before

Subcontext is the work of two founders who've spent years working across protection, technology and marketing. Alain and Mike have challenged and changed the 'way it's always been done'. Protection is where we've spent our careers, and where we started. The same gap runs through every regulated conversation.

Alain Desmier Mike Laming

Alain Desmier

Co-founder & CEO

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“I've spent my entire career trying to open up life and health insurance to a digital consumer.”

1. 01Launched the first UK life insurance lead gen product in 2007 to capture online intention at LeadPoint.
2. 02Founded E-Finity in 2012 (and acquired Tom+Polly) to close the gap between regulated protection marketing and sales. Acquired by private equity and then Allianz.
3. 03Built Contact State in 2019 to create a better insurance customer journey by integrating marketing data into the heart of distribution systems. Acquired by Verisk Inc.

I've spoken and written extensively about the problems facing a 'four silo' protection industry. Insurance distribution is structurally misaligned.

That misalignment shows up everywhere; in inflated acquisition costs, in cancellation rates and production friction. For years, the industry's response was bigger sales teams and more aggressive incentives. The technology to do something different finally exists.

Mike Laming

Co-founder & CTO

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“I've always been interested in how technology can be used to make a customer journey easier. We have a unique opportunity to transform protection.”

1. 01Founded Propable in 2008, backed by Y-Combinator.
2. 02Tech lead across projects at Capgemini's Idean from 2015, launching two UK mobile networks: Three UK / SMARTY (the highest-rated UK mobile network on TrustPilot) and Superdrug Mobile, with parallel deliveries powering household-name financial services and insurance brands.
3. 03CTO and co-founder of Contact State in 2019, delivering 1.5 million insurance journeys a year. Acquired by Verisk Inc.

The companies I've built all worked because they treated the customer journey as the product. Not a wrapper around the product, the product itself. In protection, that's still rare.

Most insurance technology was engineered for the people running the policy, not the people buying it. Forms. Portals. Phone calls. Wait times. The shift to AI assistants that hold context, products you can configure in days, and orchestration across distribution and underwriting changes that. The technology to put the customer back at the centre of protection is finally here.