A Marquee Deal, NEW Strategic Partnerships and Market Reports (3 Things We Learned)

Hi Friends!

No conferences this week, just a flurry of headlines and one blockbuster deal.

Brown & Brown’s move to acquire the parent of Risk Strategies and One80 sent a clear message: scale and specialization are driving the next chapter of growth. And it wasn’t the only story.

From major M&A moves and IPO filings to product launches and capital shifts, this week was marked by a flurry of signs that execution and clarity are more important than ever.

Below are the three themes that emerged.

Deal-Making Redraws the Map

Scale and specialization drove the week’s marquee buyout. Brown & Brown agreed to acquire Risk Strategies and its MGA arm, One80 Intermediaries, adding deep program expertise to its brokerage platform. On the carrier side, Samsung Fire & Marine invested another $570 million in Canopius, its third capital boost since 2019. Meanwhile, Ryan Specialty combined several MGUs into Ryan Specialty Renewables, betting on long-term demand for clean-energy coverage.

Insurtechs continue to focus. The Baldwin Group’s Westwood unit reached a deal to buy Hippo’s home-builder distribution network, gaining embedded property coverage at twenty of the top twenty-five U.S. builders. Mid-tier brokers and carriers now face a clear choice: bulk up or partner quickly. Larger platforms benefit from better reinsurance terms, richer data sets, and broader cross-sell options, raising the competitive bar across the board.

On the IPO front, Slide Insurance Holdings filed to list its analytics-driven Florida homeowners book, aiming for a valuation of north $2 billion. Just a day later, Ategrity Specialty sought $113 million to expand its E&S platform and capture hard-market pricing. Investors are rewarding carriers that pair disciplined underwriting with modern data stacks after two quiet years for insurance IPOs.

Underwriting Pressure Spurs Strategic Partnerships

With underwriting pressure mounting from volatile weather and rising loss costs, carriers are responding with innovation—rolling out new products and forming tech-driven partnerships designed to sharpen pricing, enhance distribution, and unlock new value across the chain.

Markel launched InsurtechRisk+, bundling E&O, D&O, and cyber protection for fast-growing insurtechs. The company also joined forces with Insurate to embed AI safety scoring in middle-market workers underwriting, promising cleaner loss picks and sharper pricing.

Embedded distribution keeps accelerating. Home-mortgage-insurance marketplace Matic now integrates directly with mortgage platform Floify, creating another place for borrowers to bind coverage while securing their loans. Arch Insurance connected its travel product to bolt’s embedded rails, streamlining a traditionally clunky purchase. Governance is evolving, too. Global Indemnity added deal-making veteran Jason Murgio to its board, sharpening its capital-markets insights as margins tighten.

Market Reports: Underwriting Loss, E&S Cooldown, and Capital Shifts

The insurance market is showing signs of recalibration. U.S. P/C insurers swung to a net underwriting loss in Q1 2025, a reversal from last year’s gains as elevated catastrophe losses and loss cost trends continue to weigh on combined ratios.

It’s a reminder that while top-line premium growth remains strong, profitability is far from guaranteed in this environment. In the E&S market, the torrid pace of growth we’ve seen in recent years is starting to cool, with 2024 marking a noticeable deceleration. While still expanding, the sector appears to be entering a more mature and competitive phase.

Meanwhile, reinsurers are increasingly leaning on alternative capital to drive growth and improve flexibility. A recent panel highlighted how an influx of insurance-linked securities and other alternative capital is fueling reinsurance growth, giving cedents more options and potentially lower costs. Public-market interest, combined with private ILS inflows, widens the capital stack, allowing carriers to fund expansion without relying too heavily on traditional reinsurers.