Around the P&C insurance industry: November 4, 2020

Risk Strategies acquired LaRocca & Associates, Inc., a brokerage focused in health and welfare benefits across several industries. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Established in 1980, LaRocca & Associates has a focus on employee benefits and property and casualty that Risk Strategies says will enhance its national employee benefits practice.

InsurTech NY announced its growth-stage InsurTech accelerator cohort, selecting 22 startups to participate in its insurance carrier and broker sponsored program. The program will provide access to insurance carriers and brokers looking to deploy new technologies and provide financial backing to digital managing general agencies. Selected startups include: Assurely, Dealer Policy, Ecopia, GradientAI, Guardhog, Harbor.ai, Honcho, Neural Metrics, Pinpoint Predictive, Relay, and TrustLayer.

Applied Systems has been crowned the winner of a Gold award for Company of the Year in the Insurance category in the 12th Annual 2020 Golden Bridge Business and Innovation Awards^®. The annual Golden Bridge Awards program recognizes and honors “the world’s best” in organizational performance, products and services, innovation, executives and management teams, women in business and the professions, and more from every major industry in the world. Judges from a spectrum of industries and locations around the world participated and their average scores determined the 2020 award winners. Winners will be celebrated and presented their awards during a virtual awards ceremony in December.

Brightway Insurance opened seven new Brightway locations:

• Roland and Marjorie Jerome Toussaint opened Brightway, The Jerome Agency in Hollywood, Fla.
• Ashley Burbank-Boyles opened Brightway, The Ashley Burbank-Boyles in Springhill, Fla.
• Jimmy Thomas opened Brightway, The Jimmy Thomas Agency in Lake Charles, La.
• Michelle Boquin opened Brightway, The Michelle Boquin Agency in Doral, Fla.
• Cici Lu opened Brightway, The Lu Agency in Orlando, Fla.
• Brandon Jamison Sr. opened Brightway, The Brandon Jamison Agency in Columbia, S.C.
• Tyson Rochelle opened Brightway, The Tyson Rochelle Agency in Fort Worth, Texas

Higginbotham and Brisky & Perez Insurance Agency have merged operations. Both firms broker commercial and personal P&C insurance, employee benefits and individual life and health insurance. The union marks Higginbotham’s entrance into Brownsville and adds eight insurance professionals to its coastal region operations for a total of 110.

Progressive Insurance will continue its annual Keys to Progress vehicle donation on November 5, 2020. In advance of Veterans Day, 45 veterans in need and their families will receive the keys to vehicles that will provide reliable transportation, helping them get back on the road and move forward in life. Progressive worked with Enterprise Rent-A-Car to locate certified vehicles from Enterprise’s U.S. fleet of high-quality, late-model used cars, vans and SUVs that could be purchased and given away with funds provided by Progressive.

Azuga announced an increase in sales from its work with auto insurance companies. Between October 1st, 2019, and September 30, 2020, Azuga increased sales from auto insurance customers by 60%. Azuga credits the increase in sales “to the ability of the Azuga product to help fleets reduce accident claims.” Azuga’s insurance company customers, which resell Azuga to their auto fleet clients, have reported a 20% reduction in loss frequency due to clients’ use of Azuga.

Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. announced plans to exit the grocery and retail lines of business, which include providing general liability and self-insured retention risk management programs for grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, and other retail businesses.

NAU Country Insurance Company partnered with Watts and Associates, Inc., an economic consulting firm specializing in risk management innovation to develop and launch the first-ever Enhanced Coverage Option for crop insurance. The area-based supplemental shallow-loss coverage shields loss from 86% up to 90% or 95%. It is expected to be available on over 30 crops beginning in 2021 with more to follow in 2022 and beyond.

Related: Around the P&C insurance industry: October 28, 2020