I couldn’t be more excited today to announce our latest round of funding, a $5M round led by SiriusPoint with participation from our existing investor Vertex Ventures US. The last few months have been a rocket ship. Josh Curry drove the investment from SiriusPoint and right from the start I could tell he was the kind of investor that would be a strategic partner and support me in my vision to continue the evolution of Broker Buddha. Not only did we build a close personal connection during the process, but the SiriusPoint team quickly showed me that they understand both the industry and the opportunity given their clear focus on both distribution and tech-forward companies.
Also participating in the round is an experienced Industry Executive, Bob Sergent, who has been advising InsureTechs and has a passion for the space. I’m excited to welcome both Josh and Bob to the Broker Buddha family. It always feels great when you find people who believe in your vision, and it feels even better when those people become a part of your family to help make that vision a reality. In addition to having Bob and Josh as part of the family, we’re adding Darryl Siry, CTO at SiriusPoint, to our board. Huge shout to David Gritz & Tony Lew from InsureTech NY for organizing InsureTech Slopes this past February where I met both Josh and Bob in person and everything started coming together.
So What?
I’ll tell you what…in 2021, FT Partners reported 379 InsureTech investments and over $10B in capital invested. Safe to say, InsureTech is HOT…which is not surprising given that insurance is a $1 Trillion dollar industry in the US alone. Different insureTechs attack the market differently with early entrants (InsureTech 1.0) focused on disrupting carriers and brokers (e.g. Lemonade, Hippo, Root, CoverWallet, Embroker). Since then, there’s been a bigger focus on enabling technologies (InsureTech 2.0) with companies like Bold Penguin, The Zebra, and PolicyGenius connecting buyers to carriers in new ways. Other InsureTech 2.0 companies have targeted Insurance agents & brokers with rating and quoting tools that have also gotten a lot of hype. At Broker Buddha, we like to do things a little differently and that’s why we’re winning. Before I explain how / why we’re winning, I want to explain why it matters….
Why does any of this matter to everyday people?
The restaurants where we love to eat, the schools where our children learn, and the businesses creating our future all need insurance to protect them as they shape the world. Sadly, though, the process of buying and selling insurance today is an administrative nightmare and these businesses…the ones you love…waste countless hours every year filling out insurance applications when they could be building better products and making your experience even better. Almost every one of these businesses works with an insurance agent to get the coverage they need because insurance is complex and requires someone to explain the differences between policies and coverages as well as between carriers, pricing and terms.
Why does this matter to insurance agents?
The burden of responsibility for producing a complete and accurate insurance application falls on your insurance agent and the process of producing that application is excruciatingly painful. Insurance applications, called “submissions” are the bane of the industry. They typically include a combination of completed forms and excel spreadsheets produced through back and forth email exchanges between the agent and their customer. The larger the customer, the more complex the process. The truth is that PDFs were designed for printing, not for sharing information electronically, but insurance carriers still require them to evaluate businesses, produce quotes and bind policies. The idea that paper & PDF based insurance applications will still be used as part of Insurance submissions 5 years is ridiculous. This needs to change and we are driving that change.
Why does this matter to carriers?
Insurance carriers still struggle with partially completed, handwritten applications. They pay junior underwriters and offshore workers to manually transpose applications from PDF and paper to digital platforms to initiate the rating and underwriting process. That process is time consuming, error prone and costly. When this information exists digitally in an online platform used by their agents, there is no reason it can’t be delivered digitally to carriers, saving them time and money while reducing errors.
What are we doing about it?
Agents wholeheartedly agree that the process of getting insurance for a business is an administrative nightmare. Broker Buddha’s technology is reshaping and simplifying that process today for every business, broker, and carrier in the US. Our Mission is to eliminate the monotonous administrative work that frustrates the insurance professionals who protect the businesses that shape our world. And our Vision is a connected digital world where every insurance agent helps their clients get the insurance they need using a simple online experience.
So why are we winning?
In the early stages of growing a business, focus and differentiation is everything. And our focus is clear. We’re not a rater connecting brokers to carriers. We’re not building tools to help agents shop for better rates when they already know where they are going to place the business. We’re not a marketplace connecting buyers to sellers. We’re not an agency management system. We’re not going to replace your agency management system.
We are building the most incredible digital insurance experience that agents have ever used to give their clients the simplest way to get the right coverage for their needs. The painful, back and forth process that agents and their clients loathe doesn’t ever have to happen again. Industry leading insurance agencies and brokers use Broker Buddha to work with their clients today and the change is happening in real time.
Good agencies know that the customer comes first.
We are different because (unlike other InsureTechs selling to agents) we focus on the customer.
We are winning because we are responsible for the client digital experience for the top agencies in the country….and by powering that experience, we become irreplaceable for the agents, and hold a position where we can capitalize on endless opportunities to create value.
Huge shout to SiriusPoint for funding this round as well as to Broker Tech Ventures and their participating agencies, Holmes Murphy, Conner Strong and Buckelew, and Graham Company for helping us grow the business over the past 2 years. Read more in this press release from SiriusPoint here.
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