AI-Native Network American Growth Insurance Makes Heller-Kowitz its First Buy
An insurance brokerage network built around artificial intelligence has completed its first acquisition, adding Heller-Kowitz Insurance Advisors as its inaugural partner agency after spending the past year developing and testing its operating model and gaining private equity backing.
Atlanta’s American Growth Insurance today announced the acquisition of Baltimore’s Heller-Kowitz, with capabilities across personal lines, commercial lines, employee benefits and life insurance. It marks the transition from planning to execution after months of building the company’s technology infrastructure with support from investment partners Atomic and Rockbridge Growth Equity.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
AGI founder and CEO Brian Morgan told Insurance Journal Heller-Kowitz was not part of the group that AGI used to test its technology but the agency, but a rapport was quickly established.
“They wanted to adopt technology, and realized that it’s going to be too hard for an agency on their own to sort of create and develop, or figure out what to buy. So this really afforded them that,” he said.
“They really prepared themselves to grow in the next three to five years, but they felt like they needed some some additional support from a leadership standpoint and additional support from the tech side,” Morgan added. “Then you give them a little bit of rocket fuel with capital to make investments in the business. So it was really a good blend, and just great people – high character group – and they have a great reputation.”
Heller-Kowitz was founded in 2014 by Steve Heller and Brian Kowitz, and will now operate on AGI’s platform.
“Culturally, I think the real opportunity is it enables the team to grow, [to be] more client facing,” said Morgan, adding that AGI is meant to “enable our teams to get out of the day-to-day, behind-the-scenes paperwork and spreadsheets, which quite frankly hasn’t changed over my last 31 years in the industry. Our goal is to really enable the individuals to grow.
“We’re not here to take jobs. We’re here to enhance.”
Morgan said he expects full integration in three to six months. AGI plans to improve operational efficiency, which should allow firms to reinvest in the business. The platform is also built to enable retention and client experience, as well as grow sales. More technology will be built side by side with the insurance professionals.
“We’re always going to have people in the equation when it comes to insurance,” he told IJ. “It’s just a fact because no one risk is the same. Everything’s unique. The data can be collected and harnessed, and put into formats for our utilization, and we can ease the ability to communicate, but ultimately there has to be a human involved in what we do.”