This article investigates the promise of Insurtech to expand the frontier of the insurance market to
include vulnerable populations around the world. It contributes to current debates on the
proliferation of new technologies for financial inclusion as embedded in contemporary forms of
platform-based capitalism. We argue that Insurtech’s promises fall short of expectations because of
the contradiction between the principles of platform scalability and insurance risk pooling. Such
contradictions lead Insurtech platforms to unpool risk rather than provide innovative technologies
to pool it. This ultimately limits the expansion of markets for inclusive insurance as Insurtech
platforms struggle to scale up the market through their supposedly disruptive technology. Our
analysis draws on a range of regulatory reports, complemented by in-depth interviews with
Insurtech executive officers. The article offers insights into the contradictory principles currently
driving the digital inclusive insurance market, as well as the limits to the ongoing global expansion of
platform capitalism.