Deal doubles the size of Next Insurance's business and adds 160 team members, over 75,000 small business customers and a leading partner network with access to over 10 million small businesses
PALO ALTO, Calif., March 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Next Insurance, the leading digital insurtech company transforming small business insurance, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire AP Intego, a digital insurance agency providing a suite of small commercial insurance products to some of the largest small business software ecosystems in the U.S., including Intuit, Gusto, Square and Toast. AP Intego's platform provides an embedded insurance offering alongside its partners' core products. With a foundation built around many of the leading payroll software providers, AP Intego delivers a digital buying experience for pay-as-you-go workers' compensation insurance to tens of thousands of small businesses. Next Insurance and AP Integowill help streamline how small businesses shop for, purchase and pay for products that help insure their livelihoods, their employees and their assets.
"At Next Insurance, we're modernizing a centuries-old industry to better provide small business owners with convenience, value and choice," said Guy Goldstein, CEO and co-founder of Next Insurance. "We're excited to welcome the AP Intego team to Next Insurance. This acquisition marks an industry-defining milestone in our efforts to build a market-leading one-stop-shop for small business insurance. The combination of AP Intego's experience in insurance product distribution through partners and pay-as-you-go infrastructure combined with our approach to digital customized coverage, will provide more customers with seamless access to innovative insurance products."
The insurance industry has been traditionally slow to innovate and for decades small businesses have remained an underserved and fragmented market, proving there is a need for a modern, digital-first insurance provider that better supports their needs. Next Insurance will offer its products on AP Intego's platform alongside an established stable of carrier relationships. Next Insurance will provide AP Intego's partners and customers with additional coverage, pricing options and a streamlined insurance experience. Together, through AI-driven pricing, instant purchasing capabilities and always-on, pay-as-you-go service that automatically adapts to a business as it changes, Next Insurance and AP Intego will offer a modern upgrade to small business insurance.
"As an integration partner with Next Insurance and AP Intego, we appreciate the great value they bring to our small business customers," said Olivier Bartholot, Director Product Management Online Payroll at Intuit. "Next Insurance and AP Intego have created solutions that cater to the needs of small business owners and by teaming up, they will further our strategy of delivering Intuit customers an innovative insurance buying experience, offering more choice and flexibility, within the Quickbooks platform."
"We built Gusto's people platform to simplify the complexities of running a business by helping them to pay, insure, onboard, and support their teams. One of the most complex and difficult tasks of running a business is identifying and setting up all the types of insurance that are needed to operate," said Tomer London, Gusto Chief Product Officer and co-founder. "AP Intego has been a fantastic partner for providing commercial insurance to Gusto's customers, and by combining with Next Insurance, we'll be able to deliver more choice to businesses so it's even easier to find and implement the right solutions based on their needs."
Next Insurance experienced record growth in 2020 further solidifying the company as the insurtech leader for small businesses. The company raised $500 million in venture capital over the last 16 months and acquired Juniper Labs in December, making AP Intego its first insurance distribution acquisition. The acquisition of AP Intego brings Next Insurance's small business customers to over 200,000.
"This is a powerful combination and we are excited to become part of the Next Insurance team—a perfect match that accelerates our market leading embedded insurance offering through small business software providers," said Steven Hauck, Co-Managing Director at AP Intego. "Adding Next Insurance to our platform enhances the overall value proposition we are delivering our partners and their customers and allows us to truly innovate within small business insurance. In order to keep up with our partners' insatiable appetite for a superb customer experience, Next Insurance provides us digital product flexibility for the benefit of both our partners and their customers. We're thrilled about this new chapter in our history."
AP Intego employs 160 people in and around Waltham, Massachusetts, Rochester, NY and other parts of the U.S., bringing Next Insurance's headcount to nearly 600 team members across four major offices. As part of the agreement, AP Intego will retain its partnerships with leading US small business insurance carriers and its focus will remain on delivering choice, the right coverage and competitive pricing to its partners and their small business customers. The close of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.