Canopius enters into strategic partnership with insurance infrastructure company

The US subsidiary of Bermuda-based specialty re/insurer Canopius Group is to provide long term risk capacity to an insurance infrastructure programme that is designed to help managing general agencies to build and scale up much faster than in the past.

Canopius US Insurance Holdings has entered into a strategic partnership with Boost Insurance and will also make an unspecified strategic investment in the business, Boost said.

Boost said it is a full-stack digital MGA platform that provides compliance, capital, and technology infrastructure to product and distribution-focused insurtechs, MGAs, and embedded insurance partners.

“Traditionally, building and scaling an MGA, or even just a new insurance programme, would take multiple years and millions in capital,” the Boost statement said. “However, Boost’s partners access end-to-end infrastructure via a simple, turnkey API integration that drastically reduces the costs of scaling their digital insurance programmes. Boost’s partners can focus their resources on delivering better products, services, and experiences to their customers while maintaining the same control and flexibility they would have if they built it all themselves.”

Boost said the dedicated risk capacity provided by Canopius will fuel “the high-growth and highly profitable insurance programmes that Boost supports”.

“In addition to entering into this meaningful commercial partnership, Canopius has also made a strategic investment in Boost to fuel the expansion of its proprietary technology platform and growing partner base.

“Boost will deploy the reinsurance and risk capacity provided by Canopius across a diverse range of specialty insurance programmes with the aim to do so far more cost effectively than traditional one-off program business. Like Canopius, Boost’s growing syndicate of reinsurers and other risk capital providers benefit by gaining more efficient access to the asset class of insurance premium, through a technology-enabled platform and modern distribution channels.”

“We see enormous potential in the turnkey infrastructure that Boost has built,” said Lisa Davis, CEO US & Bermuda of Canopius. “By lowering the barriers to entry for both innovative products and new market entrants, Boost has created an opportunity for Canopius to unlock new technology-enabled distribution channels and premium diversification opportunities.

“Their team values everything that always matters in insurance - underwriting, compliance, and capital efficiency - while still being committed to powering new and potentially disruptive concepts that can help move the industry forward.”

“Boost is deeply committed to providing the most comprehensive and cost effective infrastructure platform in the insurance industry,” explained Alex Maffeo, Boost’s CEO & founder. “Reinsurance capacity is one of the most critical components in the insurance infrastructure stack and is one of the most difficult to build yourself.

“It’s especially difficult if you are trying to take a different approach to market or deploy something entirely new, and nearly impossible in an uncertain economic environment like the one we’re experiencing today. Having long-term support from seasoned reinsurers like Canopius enables Boost to provide a rock-solid platform that our partners can trust as they scale their business.”

Boost said Canopius’ strategic investment was part of a broader round of financing with participation from a number of new and existing investors including RRE Ventures, Fin Capital, and IA Capital Group.

Boost said it will use the proceeds from the investment to add several powerful new features to its technology stack along with a new and innovative risk transfer platform, which the company plans to announce in the coming weeks as it continues to improve the way business and capital flows across the insurance value chain.