πŸŽ‰ 2024-2025: Insurance deals, closures, and shifts

2024

  • Truist Financial Corporation finalized the sale of its remaining stake in Truist Insurance Holdings (TIH) to an investor group led by Stone Point Capital and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, valuing TIH at $15.5B. Over 1,500 employees have co-invested in the newly independent company, now rebranded as TIH. T is for Trusted, T is for Targeted, and T is for Talented.
  • Gallagher announced plans to acquire AssuredPartners for $13.4B.
  • Marsh McLennan Agency acquired McGriff Insurance Services, an affiliate of TIH, for $7.8B.
  • Sentry Insurance acquired The General from American Family in a $1.7B deal, including $1.1B in cash.
  • Prudential shut down Assurance IQ, which it bought in 2019 for $2.4Bβ€”a case of bad actors and bad business.
  • Two years after acquiring Relay Platform, At-Bay shut down the commercial comparison site.
  • Zurich acquired AIG Travel for $600M, with an additional earn-out payment possible, subject to regulatory approval. The business will merge with Zurich’s travel insurance provider, Cover-More, to strengthen its presence in the U.S. market.
  • Pets Best was sold twice in five years: first to Synchrony Financial on March 6, 2019, and later to Independence Pet Holdings on March 6, 2024.
  • TRANZACT has been sold twice in five years: first to WTW for $1.2B on April 1, 2019, and later to GTCR on October 1, 2024, for $632.4M.
  • First Connect Insurance Services has been sold twice in three years: first to Hippo for $25M on March 26, 2021, and later to Centana Growth Partners on November 8, 2024.
  • Chubb acquired Healthy Paws for $300M. In 2023, Healthy Paws generated $331M in premiums for Chubb.
  • Connected car insurance became a little less connected, with OnStar Smart Driver customer data no longer shared with LexisNexis or Verisk. “Customer trust is a priority, and we’re actively evaluating our privacy processes and policies.”
  • GEICO brought back the Caveman and started working with agents.
  • State Farm teamed up with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
  • AIG dropped claims against its former executives who founded Dellwood Insurance.
  • EasyKnock, offering an alternative to home equity loans, raised $28M in Series D funding in March but shut down this month, taking Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures along for the short ride. The drama isn’t over.
  • Life insurance startups Sproutt, DeadHappy, and Bequest have ceased operations.
  • LifeQuotes, a life insurance aggregator founded in 1984 and claiming to have served 410,000+ customers, was acquired by Keystone Agency Partners.
  • Jeff Turner, former CEO of Keystone Agency Partners, has launched Crestfield Risk, a platform designed to support independent insurance agencies across the U.S. Crestfield plans to acquire agencies while offering resources, insights, and growth opportunities through a co-ownership model that provides equity at both the agency and holding company levels.
  • Beem added TruStage’s Payment Guard Insurance product, offering up to $1,000 for job loss or disability. However, the app remains buggy and far from a ‘true’ partner experience.
  • VIU by HUB moved to a life insurance aggregator model, dropping Ethos and now offering a comparison service powered by BackNine.
  • Hagerty acquired Consolidated National Insurance Company from Everspan for $18.4M and launched Hagerty Media on Samsung TV Plus with 24/7 classic car content on channel 1194.
  • Allstate shut down the consumer side of its car-sharing service, Avail, and is now directing small business insurance prospects to Next Insurance.
  • Amazon shut down its UK-based Insurance Store, launched in 2022, signaling that it’s too big for insurance.
  • MassMutual shut down Haven Life and LifeScore Labs but topped $1T in life insurance protection for policyholders.
  • Chamath Palihapitiya shut down parametric startup OTT Risk.
  • Trupanion reached its one-millionth pet subscription across North America and Europe.
  • Similarly, Simply Business surpassed 1M active customers worldwide.
  • Meanwhile, Figo is at ~200K pet insurance policies, but Figo has Costco, so…
  • CURE, a non-standard auto insurer active in New Jersey (where it holds naming rights to the CURE Insurance Arena until 2027), Michigan, and Pennsylvania, works with 104 agencies. Half of these agencies also have appointments with Progressive.
  • Butter Insurance is no more, but this Butter stays.
  • Kanguro Insurance rebrandedβ€”before and after.
  • On November 5, we wrote about the similarities between the logos of Guardian Life and Gametime Hero. It seems Gametime Hero is now rebranding.
  • Jim Whetstone, who spent over 14 years at Hiscox before joining rival Next Insurance as Head of Product, has left after just nine months. He’s now VP of Programs at GUARD, where former Hiscox CEO Kevin Kerridge is also working. Important: “GUARD is in the process of reinventing itself as we strive to become a leading small commercial carrier.”
  • A long-serving GEICO employee retired today after 27 years, 6 months, and 29 days.
  • Edwin Engur had to let Root go.

2025

  • Starting January 1, 2025, Duuo Insurance Services will transfer all insurance operations to Co-operators General Insurance Company.
  • ManyPets is exiting the U.S. market to refocus on the UK, partnering with Odie Pet Insurance to ensure seamless policy renewals for customers starting January 2025.
  • Athlete Life “should be ready to launch in early 2025.”
  • Nimbla no longer offers credit insurance. A new website and product offerings are on the way.
  • The AIG and Dellwood Insurance case continues, with a status conference scheduled for January 30, 2025.
  • Acrisure goes public?
  • Lemonade Life via Banner Life launches in NY?
  • The Hartford rebrands?
  • Lantern Insurance goes live?
  • Castle goes dark?
  • Ezra, backed by Allianz, expands its full-body scan services to the UK.
  • Wag! explores asset sales amid rising customer acquisition costs, focusing on debt reduction and operations.
  • Wefox‘s valuation continues to drop.