The Lord Mayor of London and other U.K. officials visited Connecticut’s Capitol building in Hartford this week to highlight the growth of the CT-UK InsurTech Corridor, a partnership that launched in 2022.

The CT-UK InsurTech Corridor is a partnership between Connecticut, Hartford and the United Kingdom that aims to foster business development in the insurance and financial services industries.

It now has 18 companies in its cohort.

Five U.K-based insurtech companies — Reask, Previsico, Matrix iQ, Slipcase and Sonar Global — have announced they will be locating their U.S. headquarters in Hartford.

Among other things, the business accelerator corridor provides support and industry connections to help companies test their proof of concepts in other markets and learn insights at no cost.

Michael Mainelli, the first American-born Lord Mayor of London, met with Gov. Ned Lamont, Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam and other city and state officials Tuesday afternoon to discuss the partnership and its goals. As lord mayor, Mainelli serves as an international ambassador for the U.K.’s financial and professional services sector and heads the City of London Corporation, the governing body of the Square Mile, a historic district in London.

“We’re very interested in working here with the state of Connecticut, and the city of Hartford in particular, because what we like to do is to connect with other cities and try and create mutual prosperity,” Mainelli said. “The InsurTech corridor is very, very important to us and we’ve already seen five United Kingdom firms moving over here and opening extensions of their existing business. We’re hoping naturally to see some Connecticut firms and U.S. firms moving back in the other direction.”

The InsurTech Corridor launched in 2022 as a collaboration between the U.K. Government’s Department of Business and Trade, Connecticut Insurance and Financial Services trade association, state Department of Insurance, MetroHartford Alliance, InsurTech UK and state Department of Economic and Community Development.

During the first stage of the partnership in 2022, more than a dozen U.K companies participated in the program to prepare for entry into the U.S. market.

The second stage of the initiative launched in 2023, allowing U.S. companies to join the corridor and explore options to enter the U.K. market.

While no announcements have been made yet, Lamont said there will be Connecticut companies opening new regional headquarters in the U.K.

The governor also said there have been talks about establishing a direct flight from Bradley International Airport to London, another example of the growing relationship.

“The reason we have this cross fertilization is because these are small analytic companies, early stage, and they come to the United States, they come here to Hartford and this is an on-ramp to some of the most major insurance companies in the United States,” Lamont said. “We have a lot to learn from the analytics they bring to the table. We give them a lot more exposure and hopefully it’s going to be a two-way street and some of our innovative companies do the same in London.”