Digital Workers’ Comp Agency Pie Insurance Enters 3 More States

Digital agency Pie Insurance has begun selling its low-cost small business workers’ compensation insurance policies online in Colorado, Louisiana and Texas.

That brings the total states for Pie to seven, as in March it began selling in Illinois, Georgia, Tennessee and Arizona.

The pitch from Pie includes the claim, based on research from partner Valen Analytics, that a majority of business owners are overpaying for workers’ comp. The agency offers small businesses a tool that tells them about what they should be paying for coverage versus the market average. Valen Analytics powers the tool, free to customers.

The insurtech will write firms with premium up to $25,000 but its “sweet spot” starting out is businesses with premiums of $5,000 and below, according to John Swigart, co-founder and CEO of Pie. In addition, Pie’s website invites business from construction, restaurants, healthcare and retail.

Pie operates as a full-stack managing general agency with backing from insurer Sirius Group. Sirius is owned by the Singapore-based division of China Minsheng Investment Corp. Ltd., run by private investors, which bought it from Bermuda-based financial services holding company White Mountains Insurance Group in 2016 for $2.6 billion.

Swigart served on the Esurance executive team for 13 years where he initially led all the financial functions and then became the company’s first chief marketing officer.

Pie has said it also plans to eventually sell through large agency partners, and Swigart said that there is “strong interest in the partner channel.”

In October 2017, Pie closed a $4.3 million seed round of funding. Investors include Sirius Group and venture capital firms Moxley Holdings and Elefund.