Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. recently selected Milwaukee startup Pythonic AI as the winner of its second Reverse Pitch MKE competition.

Pythonic co-founders Matt Younkle and Baoqiang Cao triumphed over six other teams in the pitch contest. They will receive a seed investment of up to $85,000 from Northwestern Mutual, and a spot in its Cream City Labs innovation space at 733 N. Van Buren St., next to the company’s downtown headquarters.

In Reverse Pitch, Northwestern Mutual executives present their business challenges to entrepreneurs from around the country. Entrepreneur teams come up with solutions, then pitch them back to the company.

Pythonic AI uses machine learning and natural language processing to automate portions of medical records review in the life and disability insurance sector. The aim is to incubate the software platform at Northwestern Mutual and then market it to other insurers to speed the underwriting process, Younkle said.

Pythonic AI’s MedReviewer platform not only helps streamline processes and create economic value for Northwestern Mutual, but also provides access to a big addressable market, said Karl Gouverneur, corporate chief information officer and head of digital innovation at Northwestern Mutual.

“We know that there is a need to reduce the amount of review required to analyze PDF medical records in the underwriting process for an insurance policy or evaluating a claim,” he said.

Younkle, 45, and Cao, 43, met about a year ago. They had already been exploring the application of machine learning to understanding medical documents, Younkle said. Read the full story here.