Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • December 14, 2020 • Hartford Business Journal 21 By Norman Bell Special to the Hartford Business Journal F or most of its 36-year history, Insurity has been a low-profile Hartford suc- cess story. But a string of acquisi- tions — six in the past 12 months — has changed all that. Much like an actress proclaimed an "overnight success" when her 14th film wins an Oscar, Insurity has been making headlines at every turn. From humble beginnings in 1,000 square feet of rented space on Wethersfield Avenue, the pioneer- ing insurtech startup steadily gained high- profile insurance clients for its cloud-based soft- ware products while keeping its own profile low. Its core mis- sion — using technology to simplify insurance — has been attractive, landing Insurity deals with more than 300 clients, including 15 of the 25 largest insur- ance carriers. Eight of the 10 largest U.S. auto insurers are clients. Still, for most outside the inner circles of insurance industry IT deci- sion making, Insurity's claim to fame was as a real estate risk-taker when, in 2004, it moved its then 300 em- ployees into office space at the newly renovated Sawtooth Building on the Colt Gateway campus. The firm's steady growth re- mained mostly below the radar until June of 2019 when Insurity was acquired by a San Francisco-based private equity firm, GI Partners. The new owners promoted Insu- rity's then-CFO Chris Lafond to CEO. The marching orders were clear, Lafond explains: "Be aggressive." Six months later, Lafond's team ac- quired SpatialKey, a leading provider of geospatial analytics, data enrich- ment, and risk intelligence solutions for the property and casualty sector. The deal fits like a jigsaw piece with Insurity's 2017 acquisition of Valen Analytics, an advanced data and analytics provider for property and casualty insurers. "Data and analytics is a key focal point in our strategy of delivering differentiated and high-value prod- ucts to our clients," Lafond said. Unique market niches Nailing down the analytics piece served to position Insurity for more rapid growth in 2020. Over the summer, Insurity made two deals that again added comple- mentary pieces and propelled the Hartford firm in new directions. In July, it acquired Texas-based Virtual MGA. Just a few weeks earlier, it had acquired Florida-based Epic-Premier. Together, they give Insurity access to new markets by offering front-office and back-office services to the largest wholesale brokers, syndicates, and managing general agents — a type of insur- ance agent who has underwriting authority. In September, Insurity scored a partnership with ODG by MCG, part of the Hearst Health network. ODG provides evidence-based, data- driven claims strategies for workers' compensation, including medi- cal treatment and return-to-work guidelines. ODG's claims analytics enhance the accuracy of Insurity's machine-learning predictive models when forecasting claim severity. In October, Bill It Now joined the Insurity family. The Westport-based firm provides billing and other private-labeled services to insurers, agents and administrators, also in the property and casualty space. In November, Insurity acquired CodeObjects, a California software firm with a portfolio of property and casualty customers. Its main prod- uct, InsuranceEnterprise, consists of a policy, billing and claims suite. CodeObjects also sells a virtual as- sistant — InsurBot — powered by artificial intelligence. The rash of acquisitions continues an expansion strategy of picking off small privately-held companies with unique market niches. In 2015, Insurity added Oceanwide; in 2016, it added Tropics Software and Systema Software. Each of the acquired entities re- tains its brands and operates as "an Insurity company." Lafond says there could be more acquisitions ahead, suggesting In- surity will go wherever a deal seems the right fit for the growing firm. Winning market position In explaining Insurity's approach, Lafond uses the phrase "speed to value" to encapsulate the firm's commitment to complex solutions that are relatively quick and simple for the client to implement. It's an approach that stretches throughout Insurity's growing line of products, from its core systems to its newest specialty solutions. The insurance industry has long been dogged by legacy systems. To some extent, the pandemic has forced a reevaluation of technology and rewarded innovation to accom- modate an escalating array of new products, Lafond said. Insurity's cloud-based solutions, emphasis on innovation and access to capital create a winning market position, he said. But Lafond recognizes Insurity's window of opportunity may be limited. He acknowledges private equity firms usually look for liquid- ity opportunities to recover their investment within five years. And Insurity has already been in the GI Partners portfolio for 18 months. Lafond shrugs off any suggestion of added time pressure. Any busi- ness is always for sale for the right price, he says. He sees his role as growing the firm, no matter what the ownership. No details are available on any of the private transactions, nor on Insurity's sales or earnings figures. The string of acquisitions has pushed the firm's employee base from about 700 to more than 1,000 spread out across the globe. Lafond says integrating the new acquisitions has been a challenge during the pandemic. He says he looks forward to in-person meetings as soon as travel conditions permit. Still, from Insurity's headquarters, he's just minutes from many of his firm's largest clients. That proxim- ity to clients – and to the world's best market for insurance employ- ees – are among the reasons Lafond said he expects Insurity's headquar- ters will remain firmly planted in Hartford. Despite its growing global presence, insurtech Insurity is still headquartered in Hartford's Sawtooth Building, 170 Huyshope Ave., on the Colt Gateway campus. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Insurity's acquisition spree still leaves it firmly planted in Hartford Chris Lafond Insurity's growing global footprint Insurity has expanded from a single small office in Hartford to 12 offices across the globe. LOCATIONS INCLUDE: Hartford (headquarters) Westbrook, Connecticut Ashburn, Virginia Austin, Texas Denver, Colorado Lakeland, Florida Sarasota, Florida Mesa, Arizona Milpitas, California INTERNATIONAL London, England Montreal, Canada Noida, India

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