Hudson Structured invests in Kin, as the insurtech launches Florida carrier

Hudson Structured Capital Management Ltd. (doing its insurance investment business as HSCM Bermuda), the insurance-linked securities (ILS), reinsurance and transportation focused investment manager, has invested in the latest funding round for insurtech start-up Kin Insurance.

Kin Insurance is expanding its offering and capacity to serve homeowners in catastrophe-prone regions, with Florida the next market being targeted.

It has raised $47 million in funding to support the launch of a Florida homeowners insurance carrier named the Kin Interinsurance Network.

Kin aims to reinvent home insurance through the use of advanced technology, affordable pricing, customer focus, and efficient underwriting.

In targeting Florida and taking on an investor like Hudson Structured, that specialises in insurance and reinsurance linked investing across the market value-chain, including the provision of risk transfer, Kin has perhaps demonstrated precisely what it means by efficient underwriting and affordable pricing, as with a Florida catastrophe exposed focus its new carrier may require ILS market support in time to come.

Kin’s Florida carrier has been structured as a reciprocal insurance exchange, giving its policyholders a voice in everything the company does.

The insurer wants to keep costs low and make it simple for customers to interact with it. Use of efficient reinsurance capital in future may be key to the goal of providing its products in the most efficient way possible.

Kin’s Florida carrier has received a financial stability rating of “A – Exceptional” from Demotech, Inc.

The $47 million fundraising saw a group of new investors participate, including Avanta, Hudson Structured Capital Management Ltd., doing business as HSCM Bermuda, UChicago Startup Investment Program, and others.

“We are excited to partner with Kin to create a sustainable source of capacity to support growth and geographic expansion within underserved coastal homeowners’ markets,” explained HSCM Bermuda Vice President Andrew Sagon. “The Kin team is responding directly to the needs of its growing customer base by developing insurance products that are well-underwritten, distributed efficiently online, and supported by excellent customer service.”

“​Our approach in totality is unique​,” commented Kin CTO and Co-founder Lucas Ward. “​We’ve built our own policy administration system, we’re a direct writer serving a CAT-prone state, we have catastrophe modeling expertise and heavy pricing experience, and we use tech to truly benefit the customer. When you add all that up, the result is something the insurtech space hasn’t seen before.”

“We wanted to be able to control all aspects of the customer experience, and the best way to do that was to launch a carrier,” Kin CEO and Co-founder Sean Harper added. “We have a team of the best insurance minds in the business guiding our path and we believe in what we’re doing: taking the difficulty and high-cost out of home insurance and focusing on what really matters – taking care of the homeowner.”

Taking the insurtech into Florida and catastrophe exposed property underwriting could be interesting to watch, as the state is highly competitive and reliant on reinsurance capital.

Kin aims to make the experience simpler, while offering efficiently priced products. That suggests that if its Florida carrier gains any size, the use of insurance-linked securities (ILS) capital is likely in its future.

TigerRisk Capital Markets & Advisory advised Kin Insurance, Inc. on the formation of Kin Interinsurance Network and acted as placement agent for the investment round.