Around the P&C insurance industry: May 12, 2021
News from Duck Creek Technologies, Metromile, Relay Platform and more.
Duck Creek Technologies, Inc. has introduced the OnDemand Control Hub operational tools for its SaaS customers licensing Duck Creek Policy, Billing, Rating, Claims, Insights and Producer. The Control Hub is a web interface that enhances carrier IT operations teams’ abilities to deploy, monitor and control all their Duck Creek SaaS applications through an intuitive, web-based portal.
Hub International Limited announced that it had acquired the assets of Conover Insurance Services, LLC and some of its affiliates, one of the largest insurance and financial brokerages in the Pacific-Northwest. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
DARAG Group Limited has executed a reinsurance transaction with Pacific Valley Insurance Company (PVIC), Lyft Inc.’s captive insurance company. The LPT, written through DARAG Bermuda Ltd., covers PVIC’s commercial auto liabilities occurring from October 1, 2018, through September 30, 2020.
Dogan Kaleli, a former Allianz executive and author of the Future of Insurance newsletter on LinkedIn, announced the launch of Stere, a digital ecosystem designed to tackle speed-to-market, capacity sourcing and other challenges faced by managing general agencies, InsurTechs and embedded-insurance programs.
Spencer Educational Foundation announced its 2021 Undergraduate and Graduate Spencer Scholarship award recipients. This year, Spencer awarded 84 scholarships, totaling $503,500, to full-time undergraduate, graduate and part-time master’s students.
First Indemnity Insurance Group introduced its Excess Protect insurance coverage for law firms of one to 750 attorneys. Excess Protect, which was created in response to shrinking capacity and higher rates in the professional liability market, is designed to help protect law firms that may be carrying inadequate coverage or are seeking higher limits.
Metromile, Inc. will soon allow policyholders the option to pay for insurance and receive payment for eligible and approved insured claims in bitcoin. Metromile will be the first insurance company to both accept premiums and pay claims in cryptocurrency. Metromile will purchase $10 million of bitcoin in Q2 2021 to adopt cryptocurrency as an additional choice for insurance premiums and payment of claims. Metromile believes allowing cryptocurrency payments will support its commitment to fairer insurance and promote financial resilience for policyholders as cryptocurrency becomes mainstream and a more significant portion of consumers’ assets.
Relay Platform raised $5.2 million in seed financing. This follows a pre-seed SAFE round in January 2020, for a total of $8.25 million in financing to date. The round is led by Drive Capital with participation from Highline Beta, the Canadian venture capital firm that incubated Relay. Since Drive’s founding in 2012, the firm has raised $1 billion to invest in startups solving important problems in large markets. Previous Drive Capital InsurTech investments include Root Insurance, Circulo, and Battleface.
Insurify opened its first international office in Sofia, Bulgaria, and is also growing its in-house insurance agency. The new office in Sofia is home to an experienced team of 15 engineers and data scientists, who are uniquely skilled in building high-growth marketplaces. The team was previously a part of one of the largest travel metasearch engines, Skyscanner, which closed down its operations in Sofia due to COVID-19’s impact on travel.
Alera Group acquired the employee benefits division of Lamb Insurance Services, an insurance broker exclusively dedicated to nonprofit and social service organizations. The acquisition is effective April 1, 2021, and the terms of the transaction were not announced.
Pouch launched a simple, no-hassle commercial auto insurance that rewards small businesses for safe driving. Aimed at contractors, landscapers, florists and other small businesses that depend on a fleet of vehicles, Pouch offers free tracking software for every vehicle insured, helping small business owners better manage and protect one of their most valuable assets while earning discounted rates. Now available in Illinois, Pouch will be rolling out to additional states in the coming months.
Pelican Ventures launched Tango Specialty, a modern, commercial lines managing general agency, and named Greg Wolyniec as President and CEO. Tango Specialty will establish several sizable programs that will serve the complex needs of select specialty market clients and brokers.
HONK Technologies announced it is supporting Branch Insurance, the startup that pioneered bundling home and auto insurance online, by providing fast, next-generation roadside assistance services to its auto insurance members. HONK’s nationwide availability enabled Branch to easily expand into Indiana, Colorado and Oklahoma.
American Property Casualty Insurance Association will hold its annual Legislative Action Day virtually on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. APCIA members will discuss the property & casualty industry’s policy priorities in more than 100 meetings with members of the House.
Origami Risk launched an enterprise risk management maturity assessment tool that can be accessed online free of charge. The tool enables risk managers and other executives to evaluate the effectiveness of their ERM initiatives, whether they are just getting started or have well-established programs. Upon completing a brief 17-question online survey, risk managers instantly receive a custom PDF indicating where their organization’s ERM program stands in terms of a variety of key indicators. It also provides benchmarks against peers and a list of next steps for making improvements or driving results based on responses to the questions.
BriteCo jewelry insurance announced a new program that offers U.S. consumers superior rates, faster coverage and a monthly payment option for insuring fine jewelry and watches. BriteCo’s innovative insurance offering is backed by Glencar Insurance Company, an A+ carrier with the highest financial strength rating determined by AM Best.