Broker Insights to double workforce for expansion in USA
Broker Insights – the high-growth company whose digital platform is transforming the commercial insurance market – has raised more than £6m in a Series A funding round led by Mercia Asset Management. Chroma Ventures, which first backed Broker Insights with seed funding in 2018, made a follow-on investment in this round, alongside a group of private UK and US investors.
The funding will enable further development on Broker Insights’ platform and accelerate its UK growth and launch in the US, in line with its plans to become a global leader in its field. The company, which currently employs 35 staff at its headquarters in Dundee, expects to double its headcount in 2022, with the majority of new jobs in Scotland.
Broker Insights was founded by former Aviva executives Fraser Edmond and Iain Crole in 2018.
Find out more about Broker Insights at their website.
The company's innovative and award winning data platform connects insurance brokers and insurers offering valuable "insight" to an information and data driven industry.
It is this that has allowed it to capture 12% of the UK commercial market and that is just the beginning as the company have their sights set on expansion into the USA.
Brokers Insights’ platform – the first of its type for the commercial insurance market – enables insurers to distribute their products more efficiently to regional brokers. Its platform now connects insurers such as AXA, RSA, Zurich, QBE, Travelers, Markel, and Hiscox with over 160 brokers. In the past year the platform has doubled its gross written premiums (GWP), the insurance industry yardstick, to more than £1 billion. Last month, the company was named ‘Technology Partner of the Year – Commercial’ at the Insurance Times Tech and Innovation Awards.
In the past year the platform has doubled its gross written premiums, the insurance industry yardstick, to more than £1 billion.
Chief executive Fraser Edmond, hailed the investment as a “massive step forward" saying:
“This investment is an endorsement of our success in building our platform, technology and team. We have established that our platform delivers results for our customers. It is attracting significant and growing demand from brokers and insurers alike. We have the opportunity to become a mainstream digital marketplace for insurers and brokers. We have traction, proven demand, and this funding allows us to accelerate our growth.”
Hugo Lough of Mercia said: “The commercial insurance market has continued to operate in a very traditional way, with client-facing teams travelling around the UK to build relationships with brokers. By bringing them together online to do business, Broker Insights offers the opportunity to remove friction and cost, and improve the experience for all concerned. The business has grown impressively since launch and we are delighted to be backing Fraser, Iain and the wider team for the next stage of growth. The business has massive potential and we’re excited to work with them to seize the opportunity domestically and abroad.”
Heading west into the USA
The investment will also allow Broker Insights to begin its plan to expand into the American market. Fraser Edmond went on to say:
“In the new year it will be doing what we’ve done in the UK all over again. This time we’ve built the product, we’ve got a track record and we’ve got customers in the UK who are also massive US insurers. We’ve got customers that can walk us into our home territory. It’s about repeating what we’ve done but in a territory that is 10 times the size of the UK.”
A company worth £30m
Mercia Asset Management led Broker Insight's Series A funding round with other investments coming from a group of private UK and US investors including Dundee-based Chroma Ventures owned by 4J Studio's Chris van der Kuyl and Paddy Burns who have been backers from the start.
Chris van der Kuyl, company chair says:
“From an idea that Fraser and Ian cooked up five years ago to a £30m company is amazing. Everyone involved with the company couldn’t be more delighted today. Broker Insights has created a unique marketplace for commercial insurance, proven that it works and grown the business at pace. We are creating a global leader in the digital transformation of the commercial insurance market and this positions the company for expansion. The company’s performance and progress to date have been exceptional."