Core Insurance
PR Newswire | September 14, 2023
Cowbell, a leading provider of cyber insurance for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), today announced its partnership with Zywave, an industry-leading provider of insurtech solutions. The partnership is powered by Herald, a digital infrastructure provider that connects software developers to commercial insurance carriers through a single API, and leverages Cowbell's leading technology and individualized coverage options for a superior customer experience through Zywave's expanding, simple and efficient, API-first interface for quoting commercial and E&S insurance. The collaboration marks the first standalone cyber insurance offering on Zywave's Hub, which provides MGAs, wholesale brokers, and retailers, with quicker access to modernized cyber insurance products.
Despite cyber being the fastest-growing line of insurance business in recent history, four out of five SMEs are still uninsured or underinsured, according to a recent report published by the small business resource AdvisorSmith. By partnering with Zywave, Cowbell extends its reach within MGAs and brokers and helps further accelerate the adoption of cyber insurance within the SME market.
"As the first cyber insurance provider on Zywave's Hub via Herald's API, our adaptive programs are now available to over 40 additional trading partners," said Rajeev Gupta, co-founder and CPO of Cowbell. "These partners can now experience the simplicity of placing the industry's best cyber insurance coverage for their clients and protecting their clients' future cyber risks with Cowbell's tailored risk mitigation service."
"This is an exceptionally powerful partnership between the most innovative leaders in the industry," said Duncan Crystal, co-founder and CRO at Herald. "Together, we're proving how API-driven distribution can transform an industry that has traditionally run on paper. Our unified offering makes it easier for carrier partners to plug into networks of brokerages and MGAs, resulting in more premium for all players in the value chain, along with better coverage for businesses."
The ability to adapt to ever-changing market conditions in almost real-time allows capacity providers like Cowbell to expand or contract the markets they serve without being hindered by manual processes and antiquated technology. Expanding Zywave's offerings through Cowbell's advanced technology and quality insurance programs ushers in a new and improved way for brokers to sell cyber insurance to their clients.
About Cowbell
Cowbell is a pioneer of Adaptive Cyber Insurance, a leader in providing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) coverage adaptable to today's and tomorrow's threats and the advanced warning of cyber risk exposures. In its unique AI-based approach in risk selection and pricing, Cowbell's continuous underwriting platform, powered by Cowbell Factors, compresses the insurance process from submission to issue in less than 5 minutes. Cowbell is backed by 20 prominent leading global (re)insurance partners and serves SMEs in 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and the United Kingdom. Founded in 2019, Cowbell is based in the San Francisco Bay Area with employees across the U.S., Canada, India, and the U.K. For more information, please visit https://cowbell.insure/.
About Herald
Herald builds digital infrastructure for commercial insurance. Developers who use Herald quote and bind insurance from multiple carriers through a single API. For more information, visit https://heraldapi.com.
About Zywave
Zywave leads the insurtech industry, fueling business growth for its partners with cloud-based sales management, client delivery, content, and analytics solutions. Zywave's all-in-one platform provides customizable, user-friendly options that enable insurance professionals to build a unique solution to fit their specific growth goals—their own Modern RevOps Machine. More than 15,000 insurers, agencies, and brokerages worldwide—including all of the top 100 U.S. insurance brokerages—use Zywave solutions to enhance client services, achieve business growth and promote greater health, wellness, risk management, and safety. Additional information can be found at www.zywave.com.
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Core Insurance, Insurance Technology
PRnewswire | July 11, 2023
NSM Insurance Group, the nation's leading specialty insurance provider with more than $1.5B in premium across 25+ niche insurance programs in the U.S. and U.K., today announced the completion of its acquisition of Shield Commercial Insurance Services. Based in Palm Desert, CA, Shield specializes in insurance solutions for the general contractor and construction liability space.
"We are energized to continue our series of strategic acquisitions in the U.S. and U.K. with Shield," said Bill McKernan, President of NSM Insurance Group. "Shield is a fast-growing and best-in-class business with exceptional underwriting and a profitable track record. They are a perfect fit for our B2B portfolio of dynamic, specialized businesses. We will accelerate their growth by expanding their geographic footprint and national distribution with our robust network of 15,000+ agent partners across the country."
Shield is exclusively focused on underwriting business for small and mid-sized contractors, offering coverages for General Liability, Excess Liability, Workers' Compensation, Inland Marine and Contractors Professional & Pollution Liability.
"We're thrilled to join the NSM family of specialty insurance brands and further enhance and bolster our offerings to meet the unique needs of contractors," said Robert Anderson, President and Co-Founder of Shield Commercial Insurance Services. "Over the last two decades, we have delivered innovative products for this niche segment and have built a tremendous reputation with agents and carriers alike — which has fueled our explosive organic growth over the last five years."
Over the past 33 years, NSM has developed a winning formula for building the industry's most successful and sustainable programs, consistently outperforming competitors and driving industry-leading growth and profitability over the last four years. This latest acquisition complements NSM's robust portfolio of specialty insurance programs and brands for the commercial P&C industry and consumer insurance — backed by the company's state-of-the-art resources, including IT, operations, marketing, HR and finance.
About NSM Insurance Group
NSM Insurance Group is the nation's leading specialty insurance provider, exclusively focused on building successful insurance programs. For more than 30 years, NSM has been committed to delivering industry-specific insurance programs that help agents meet the unique needs of their customers and fuel market growth through innovative development, underwriting, distribution and claims expertise. The company has built more than $1.5 billion in premium across 25+ specialty insurance programs and brands in the U.S. and U.K. focused on collector cars; pets; social services and behavioral health; addiction treatment; coastal condominiums; towing and garage; trucking; sports and fitness; professional liability for contractors, architects and engineers; habitational; medical stop loss and managed care; staffing; and workers' compensation. For more information on NSM, visit nsminc.com.
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Risk Management, Intellectual Property
Globenewswire | July 27, 2023
Betterview, the insurtech company Property & Casualty insurers rely on to identify and manage real property risk, and EagleView, the leading provider of aerial imagery and accurate property measurements, today announce a strategic alliance. EagleView's imagery will be integrated into Betterview's property intelligence platform to help insurers better understand a customer’s total property risk by providing broader, data-driven intelligence for both underwriters and claims professionals. Additional benefits of the alliance will include the ability for EagleView customers to gain direct access to Betterview’s property insights, scores, and data.
“EagleView chose to join forces with Betterview and their cutting-edge property analytics," said Piers Dormeyer, CEO of EagleView. “We’re launching an alliance that leverages the expertise of both companies to scale our innovative solutions and deliver unparalleled property intelligence to our customers.”
Customers across both product platforms will benefit from these advanced capabilities:
Greatly Expanded Imagery Coverage: Imagery coverage now encompasses 94% of the US population with over 1 billion ultra-high resolution property images.
AI Detections: Access to property condition attributes, including Roof Age, from the most advanced computer vision and machine learning in the industry.
Predictive Risk Scores: From roof conditions to weather-related perils and vulnerability, insurers will get the most accurate predictors of loss—pre-filled in many states.
Historical Image Library: Access to nearly 20 years of historical imagery will deliver expanded intelligence on property changes over time. A significant beneficiary will be Betterview’s new Roof Age product.
Rapid Post-CAT Event Imagery: When a storm strikes, EagleView mobilizes its fleet to capture imagery of the impacted areas, quickly producing before and after views of the event. This imagery will power Betterview’s CAT response solution, further supporting fast decisions and early assistance for homeowners.
Predictive CAT Response Capabilities: Customers will access solutions to remotely identify vulnerability, predict impact, quantify damage, and help homeowners recover faster from severe weather events.
“At Betterview we are continuously looking for ways to improve our customer’s ability to accurately assess property risk,” said David Lyman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Betterview. “EagleView’s extensive, 20-year library of high-quality aerial imagery paired with our AI-powered property insights greatly expand our customers’ total understanding of property risk, both pre- and post-claim.”
The combined strength of EagleView and Betterview represents a major leap forward for insurance companies in their transition from repair and replace to predict and prevent.
“The addition of EagleView imagery is not just great for our customers in the short-term, but also will lead to long-term enhancements and benefits for our customers and the insurance market,” says Dave Tobias, COO and co-founder of Betterview. “EagleView’s ultra-high-resolution imagery allows us to continue to develop the most accurate AI models, risk scores, and overall property insights. Ultimately, we can build the most innovative tools to solve tough problems for insurance.”
About Betterview
Betterview is the Property Intelligence & Risk Management Solution the insurance industry depends on to identify and mitigate property risk, improve underwriting and inspection efficiency, and build a more transparent customer experience. Applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computer vision to aerial imagery and geospatial data, Betterview generates the most accurate property information insurers trust to automate pricing, underwriting, and renewals while focusing strategic action on critical properties. For more information, please visit www.betterview.com
About EagleView
EagleView is a leader in geospatial technology, providing solutions that transform the way our customers work. EagleView has the largest geospatial data and imagery library ever assembled, encompassing 94 percent of the U.S. population. EagleView’s unique technology portfolio comprises more than 300 patents, enabling our highly-differentiated offerings of software, imagery, and analytics products for multiple industries.
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