Allstate teams up with Arlo; The Hartford and Coalition partnership: Insurtech news

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The following summaries are written by the Digital Insurance editorial staff.

Digital Insurance reviews a high volume of news leads every week for this and other stories. Please send press releases and other information to kaitlyn.mattson@arizent.com.

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Allstate teams up with Arlo

Allstate is partnering with Arlo Technologies, a smart home security company, to offer policyholders the Arlo Total Security bundle, which includes professional monitoring and sensors. 

Suren Gupta, president, protection products and enterprise services at Allstate, said in a statement: "This exclusive package, offered at a special reduced price, helps homeowners rest easy with Arlo's advanced security system backed by a three-year extended protection plan from Allstate. It's affordable, simple and connected protection, arriving in time for the holidays when people are on the go and packages are arriving."

Vertafore acquires Surefyre

Vertafore acquires Surefyre, an underwriting platform for MGAs, to expand its artificial intelligence capabilities. Surefyre's AI low-code/no-code solution will be added to Vertafore's ecosystem. 

Amy Zupon, CEO of Vertafore, said in a statement: "We are intensely focused on empowering MGAs and wholesalers through technology. With the addition of Surefyre's platform, we are setting a new standard for speed to market, operational efficiency, and growth in the MGA space. This acquisition builds on the successful acquisition of MGA Systems two years ago and is a continuation of our deep commitment to supporting MGAs with technology that enables and powers their success."

DigitalOwl launches Case Notes

DigitalOwl announced the launch of Case Notes, insights from medical records using AI agents, for underwriters, claim adjusters and legal professionals. The tool identifies information for decision-making within the records and is tailored to the user. 

Amit Man, CTO of DigitalOwl, said in a statement: "Case Notes is like having a digital assistant perform your medical record reviews and prepare notes and insights for every case. It goes beyond mere data extraction by investigating patterns and connecting the dots, helping insurance and legal professionals reclaim valuable time in their workday to focus on higher-value tasks."

Pacific Life Insurance confirms customer data leaked in Infosys McCamish data breach

Pacific Life Insurance Company filed a data breach notice after discovering information was leaked because of the Infosys McCamish Systems cybersecurity incident. Information included names, Social Security numbers and financial accounts. The unauthorized activity acquired Oct. 29 to Nov. 2, 2023.

Acuity to hire 200 people

Acuity Insurance to hire over 200 people next year for jobs across the company. Acuity's revenue grew by 17% last year and is on pace to surpass $3 billion for the first time, according to the press release. 

Joan Ravanelli Miller, Acuity general counsel and vice president - human resources, said in a statement: "We are excited to offer rewarding career opportunities to people across experience levels to fuel our progress. Acuity seeks candidates who have relevant skills while emphasizing an alignment with our core values and culture. We also remain committed to offering flexible work arrangements, including onsite at our corporate headquarters, remote, or hybrid, to support the diverse needs of our employees while maintaining a collaborative team environment."

The Hartford and Coalition announce UK cyber partnership

The Hartford and Coalition announced a partnership to meet the growing demand for Coalition's Active Cyber Insurance approach in the U.K. According to the press release, The Hartford will assume a quota share of Coalition's U.K. cyber program and existing capacity partner relationships.

"We continue to capitalize on the strengths of The Hartford and our London operation, securing new opportunities to meaningfully grow our international business and footprint," said Carl Bach, head of The Hartford's international business, in a statement. "Drawing on our deep expertise underwriting cyber in the U.S. market, we recognize the innovative model of active insurance that Coalition possesses; designed to help businesses identify and mitigate cyber risk before it becomes a disruption. We look forward to partnering with Coalition to serve more customers and brokers in the U.K. for years to come."

Bolt collaborates with Salesforce

Insurtech Bolt announced a collaboration with Salesforce to offer the Bolt for Salesforce solution on the Salesforce AppExchange marketplace. The integration aims to automate the quoting process and tailor customer experiences directly within the Salesforce Financial Services Cloud.

"Integrating with Salesforce allows us to deliver a truly innovative experience for agents and brokers by bringing valuable quoting and policy data directly into Salesforce," said Jon Walheim, CEO of Bolt, in the press release. "This integration not only enhances agent and brokers' ability to offer more product choice and provide tailored, real-time quotes to their clients, but also leverages AI for proactive and personalized quoting. We're thrilled to enable agencies and brokerages to streamline their operations, scale faster with rapid market expansion and better serve their customers, all while working within the familiar Salesforce CRM environment."

Duck Creek Technologies announces 2024 Partner of the Year award winners

Duck Creek Technologies shared the winners of its second annual Partner of the Year Awards. The awards recognize the role that partnerships play in driving success across the P&C and general insurance industry, according to the announcement.

Winners of the Systems Integrator awards are Accenture, Aggne, EY, Hexaware, LTMindtree and XCeedance. The two Solution Partner award winners are Quadient and Verisk.

"Our partner ecosystem is an essential element in enabling Duck Creek to continue to deliver solutions that are reimagining the future of insurance," said Mike Jackowski, CEO of Duck Creek. "Together, we are accelerating innovation in the insurance industry by providing top-tier cloud-based solutions paired with exceptional services. We value all our partners and celebrate their contributions and accomplishments."

Honeycomb expands its territory for MGA insurance services

Honeycomb Insurance, a MGA for landlords and condo associations, has added Washington state and Maryland to the states that it serves.

With the expansion, Honeycomb is now in 18 states reaching 60% of the U.S. population. The digital insurer also launched "E&S Lite," a program that makes solutions available for risks that do not qualify for its standard offerings.

"As the U.S. insurance market grapples with rising premiums, reduced competition, and widespread refusals to insure, Honeycomb is stepping in with a highly differentiated, tailored solution for property owners," said Itai Ben-Zaken, Co-Founder and CEO of Honeycomb. "Our advanced technology enables us to tackle these challenges directly, offering more affordable and accessible coverage where it's needed most."

The company recently got $36 million in financing from a group led by Zeev Ventures.

Zywave adds benchmarking to cyber insurance quote platform

Insurtech Zywave has added embedded benchmarking to its Cyber Quoting solution, allowing brokers to leverage industry data and loss profiles for improved insights.

The solution, first launched in April, connects global cyber insurers with U.S. distributors to centralize quotes. By adding the benchmarking capability, users will get insights about coverage models and identifiable loss gaps.

"Now, it's not only faster, but it's also smarter," said Jeff Cohen, senior vice president at Zywave. "By providing insights into limits and loss profiles for similar risks, together with bindable quotes, we're leveraging our arsenal of proprietary data to help educate brokers and address the coverage needs of their policyholder clients."