New M&A insurance marketplace for SMEs gears up for global launch

Insurtech io.insure, a first of its kind online mergers and acquisitions (M&A) insurance marketplace for small and medium-sized business (SME) transactions, has been piloted in Australia prior to its phased global rollout in North America, UK, Europe and Asia.

The marketplace is designed to bridge the risk protection gap in the niche M&A segment for SMEs, which io.insure says lacks insurance capacity and is largely focused on higher value transactions.

io.insure’s SME M&A Insurance (SEMI) product will initially provide insurance solutions for smaller M&A transactions with values of up to A$50 million, progressing to larger transactions over time.

Working with marketplace partners globally, io.insure will provide innovative Underwriting-as-a-Service (UaaS) support for global and local insurers as well as Lloyd’s syndicates, combining M&A and specialist underwriting expertise, data & technology and distribution. io.insure can also be white-labelled by select strategic insurer and distribution partners.

The io.insure platform was created by insurance industry veterans Killian McDermott (pictured right) and David Rogers (pictured left), as part of the POP Holdings group, a conglomerate for specialist, data & technology-enabled insurance solutions, working with insurers including Allianz, Markel, Zurich, HDI Global Specialty, Antares and Ping An.

McDermott and Rogers plan to expand io.insure to new markets as well as scale into new verticals, such as in financial lines, parametric, and sustainable insurance.

McDermott said: “We are delighted to launch the world’s first online M&A insurance marketplace, serving a fast-growing segment of small and medium business owners in Australia and safeguarding their growth ambitions and exit strategies. As we look towards the future, there is exciting potential for other new specialty business lines that io.insure will tap into globally and we look forward to announcing these in due course.”

Rogers added: “Leveraging our industry-leading underwriting expertise and capacity, our proprietary data and technology capabilities, and partnership distribution, io.insure will provide an essential marketplace and related services for industry partners to access, analyse and protect the underserved M&A and specialty risk needs of small and medium-sized businesses in Australia and beyond.”

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