Why Outsource with Boost to Build Your New Insurance Program?

New Product Development Why Boost

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New Product Development Why Boost

By The Boost Team on Aug 11, 2023

5 min read

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The search for the ideal insurance program development outsourcing partner is not always a simple one. You might have a concept for a product that addresses an unmet need in the modern world, but it can be a challenge to choose the right option for bringing your vision to life.

We may be a bit biased, but we think you should choose Boost.

What is Boost?

Boost is an insurance infrastructure-as-a-service provider that makes it easy for businesses to offer innovative insurance solutions through a website or app. We’re licensed to develop and sell P&C insurance products in all 50 states and have packaged the necessary compliance, operational, capital, and technological components of an insurance program into a single API-based solution.

Boost’s full-stack platform provides a more scalable, cost-effective way to build your tech-enabled insurance program. Here’s six reasons why you should choose us.

1. All-in-One Partner

Traditional insurance program outsourcing partners usually only provide one piece of the puzzle, such as form creation, reinsurance brokerage, or technology. It’s then on you to source partners for every other step of the process, project manage those partners, integrate the deliverables, and pay separate fees to each partner (sometimes ongoing).

With Boost, however, you get everything you need in one place. Boost handles every aspect of development, including forms, rating, underwriting guidelines, tech integration, reinsurance, and filing. In fact, we are the only outsourcing partner that combines compliance, risk capital, and technology infrastructure under one roof. The end result is a more streamlined and cost-effective process to getting your new program ready to enter the market.

2. Streamlined Development Process

With 9+ products built in the last five years, and extensive experience leading insurance teams across the industry, Boost’s experts have seen everything. We have a proven development process that allows us to get new products to market on a faster timeline than project-managing complex multi-partner contracts (or spending millions of dollars and multiple years building your own MGA).

Our development process happens in three phases:

Phase 1: Research and Proposal: This is where we discuss the new program opportunity with you, outline a scope for the initial product, and create a product sketch. We'll then review with all key stakeholders, make revisions, and iterate towards the best version of the product. Once you and Boost both approve the proposal, we can begin development.
Phase 2: Product Development: Once the proposal has been approved, we'll build out a product development timeline. Then building begins! We’ll dive straight into developing forms and rates, creating underwriting guidelines, determining program operations, and designing claims workflow. As the last step in this phase, we submit the product to our reinsurance and fronting carrier partners to secure capacity.
Phase 3: Technology and Product Filing: Once our reinsurance and carrier partners approve, filing and tech work can begin. We start by setting a filing timeline so that you can be in the loop and know exactly what will happen in the process. Then we’ll configure the policy administration system, provide implementation support, and file the product in all applicable states. This is when you can begin building the API integration into your website or app.

When the filings are approved by the states and the API integration is completed, you can launch your brand-new program.

3. 'A'-Rated Fronting Carrier Paper

Boost is appointed by the most reliable and trusted fronting carriers in the U.S. This allows us to create custom insurance products from scratch, and have those same policies backed by top-rated global insurance organizations. By working with Boost, you get peace of mind that your new product is sold on ‘A’-rated paper.

4. Dedicated Reinsurance Capacity

Capacity is vital for any insurance program, and regular access to additional capacity is a requirement to scale. This can also be one of the more difficult parts of building a new product, since you need to convince established carriers to take a chance on backing a new risk (or new way of covering an existing risk).

At Boost, we’ve already assembled a panel of reinsurance and carrier partners that we can work with to secure capacity for new products. Having a diverse network of partners, with varying interests and risk appetites, allows us to find the right backers for innovative new products, and lowers our own risk by avoiding overreliance on a single partner. Boost can get you the capacity you need to launch - and scale - your new program.

5. Full-Service Claims Administration

Handling claims efficiently and effectively is crucial for any insurance program. Filing a claim is one of the few times your customers will interact with their insurance policy, so it's important that they have a good experience. Boost simplifies the claims management process by offering full-service claims administration.

Rather than have to source and manage an agency yourself (or invest in hiring a team), your product with Boost comes with claims administration included.

Our platform’s FNOL API allows your customers to file their claims online through your website, with no offline steps required. Once filed, the API sends your customers’ claims to Boost, where they can be handled either in-house or by one of our TPA partners. Your customers get a seamless claims experience, while you get less overhead to manage.

6. API-Driven Policy Administration System

Driven by powerful, easy-to-implement APIs, Boost's policy administration system (PAS) is the key to the end-to-end digital experience that everyone wants but few can deliver. Our PAS enables fully automated workflows throughout the insurance policy lifecycle, with benefits such as:

Automated compliance for every state: Our PAS is constantly being updated to stay compliant in all 50 states, so that you never have to worry about your product keeping up with regulatory changes.
Developer-friendly API for easy integration: Our insurance API was built from the ground up to leverage modern RESTful patterns, and to be easy for developers to build to and implement.
Built-in configuration: As part of the new product development process, we’ll configure the Boost PAS to support your product. No need for complex custom PAS development - when your product is ready to launch, all you need to do is connect to the Boost API.
All-digital workflows for seamless transactions: From rates to quotes to binding, document delivery, policy modification, and more, our PAS supports the entire policy lifecycle, allowing you to offer your customers a truly seamless digital insurance experience both during the purchase transaction and after it.
Robust, reliable platform: The Boost PAS is built on an enterprise-grade platform, leveraging modern industry tools like Kubernetes and Terraform. With 99.99%+ uptime, multi-region support, and the ability to handle multiple releases per day, you can count on the Boost insurance platform to be available when you need it.
Fast data processing, smoother purchases: Modern customers expect their digital experiences to be speedy, and Boost delivers. The response time of our API is up to 10x faster than other insurance carriers.

Our technology infrastructure empowers you to deliver superior customer experiences while optimizing operational efficiency.

Choosing a partner for outsourcing a new insurance program build is an important decision, but with Boost you can rest easy. By choosing Boost as your strategic and collaborative partner, you can unlock streamlined development processes, tap into 'A'-rated fronting carriers, secure dedicated reinsurance capacity, streamline claims administration, leverage advanced API-driven PAS, and watch as your business grows.

If you want to learn more about partnering with Boost to build a custom insurance product, contact us.

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Ready for Liftoff: BHMS Backs Boost

Jul 31, 2024

Friends of Boost, Today Boost is thrilled to announce that we have secured a significant equity investment from BHMS Investments, setting the stage for an incredibly exciting next phase for this company and the amazing team that has built it brick-by-brick over the past seven years. With a rock-solid foundation firmly in place, this partnership is going to supercharge our growth, fuel more innovation, and cement Boost’s position as the go-to infrastructure platform in insurance. We are on a mission to empower MGAs, insurtechs, independent brokers and agents, wholesalers, embedded insurance providers, and really any company that just wants to build, transact, and operate more efficiently in this technology-enabled world of ours. While capital is great, today is about hard-earned validation for our team doing that the right way since Day 1. BHMS is the perfect capital partner for Boost in terms of their insurance expertise and unquestionable track record in the space, but more importantly, they are fantastic people that share both our views on the industry and our principles of company building. The market is dangerously fixed for early and growth stage companies right now (and I say “fixed” intentionally). It’s incredibly easy to get picked off in an environment like that, so it takes a rare mix of both intellect and character to do the right thing when you’re on the capital side of that equation - and even more to be truly value-add to your portfolio companies. BHMS has that mix in spades and appreciated Boost for what it is, what it has accomplished, and what remains an incredibly high ceiling for this company vs. playing short-term charades with the herd. That’s our kind of investor. This investment isn’t just about the money—it's a resounding endorsement of Boost’s strength, credibility, and potential to make a truly meaningful impact on the insurance industry at scale. With BHMS now on board, alongside an incredible group of long-time strategic backers like Markel, RenaissanceRe, and Canopius, we’re ready to take our game to the next level. Our mission has always been to disrupt the insurance space with cutting-edge tech and unparalleled service, and this backing proves that disrupting responsibly is the only approach that works in our industry. Anyone can grow fast if they don’t care about quality or long-term credibility. At Boost, we underwrite profitably, we respect compliance, and we always - always - take a collaborative approach with our stakeholders across the entire value chain. As someone with literally zero patience, I can personally attest to that being incredibly difficult to do at times - but it scales. Even with the market’s ups and downs, Boost has been a powerhouse of innovation in the insurtech landscape with equal commitment to disruption and reliability. Doing things the right way does not mean you cannot innovate - or even disrupt - and leveraging best-in-class technology is not a right reserved for #insurtechs. Our platform has always been a one-stop shop for insurtechs and embedded insurance providers and MGAs, independent agents and brokers, and wholesalers alike - offering everything from product development to underwriting and program management to claims administration and reinsurance capacity. With our proprietary tech and a dream team of industry pros, we’re delivering smarter, more efficient solutions than ever before. Since our first program launched in 2019, we’ve underwritten over $200 billion in coverage, which is a somewhat staggering figure in hindsight. Today we’re proud to support programs for giants like Amwins along with trailblazers like Cowbell, Newfront, and Wagmo, and we’re grateful for all of the companies that chose to build with Boost even when Boost itself was just getting started. Our steady, disciplined approach has kept our portfolio profitable and we like to think that has kept our partners in front of us very happy as well. All of Boost’s success is thanks to what is hands down the best team in the industry. Hard stop. Their grit, dedication, and willingness to tackle tough challenges head-on has been crucial. Boost’s commitment to quality starts with our team and is reflected in them every single day. We keep things lean at Boost because that quality always outperforms quantity. Even if that approach always requires more from each individual and makes the stakes a bit higher, working with the right people makes the returns on each long hour invested that much more gratifying. Few people exemplify those principles or have demonstrated such an unwavering commitment to Boost more than Jeremy Deitch, so I am also thrilled to announce that Jeremy has been promoted to President at Boost and will join me on our Board of Directors. Jeremy’s leadership has been critical since the day he started at Boost almost 6 years ago, following probably the most grueling interview process in our company’s history - one he is always happy to dramatize even more if you ever ask him. ;) I couldn’t be more grateful to have a partner like him as Boost soars to new heights. With this new investment, we’re geared up to boost (pun intended) our growth and expand our tech offerings. We’re planning to scale our MGA programs, roll out new products, and snap up some strategic acquisitions. Our goal? To make building a business in insurance easier, faster, and more efficient for everyone so they can better serve their customers. We’re more fired up than ever about our mission to empower insurance providers with the tech and infrastructure they need to thrive. This partnership with BHMS is just the beginning. The future is bright, and we’re ready to lead the charge. Thank you to everyone who has been part of our journey thus far. Let's all keep pushing boundaries together - because the best is yet to come. Special thanks to the team at Howden Capital Markets & Advisory for helping Boost always say what it’ll do and do what it says. You can find our full press release here and, more importantly, can start joining our platform here. All my best, Alex Maffeo CEO & Founder Boost Insurance

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What is a Cell Captive?

May 23, 2024

A captive is an insurance entity that a business creates, rents, or owns in order to self-insure risks. A cell captive, sometimes also called a protected cell captive or segregated cell captive, is a specific insurance captive structure that allows an entity to segment or separate business in one cell from that in another cell, so that a particular cell’s assets and liabilities are insulated from anything that happens in another cell (even if both cells are part of the same overall captive facility). Using captives to self-insure risk offers businesses a number of benefits: they can participate in some or all of their program’s underwriting profitability, maintain end-to-end control over risk (including pricing and claims handling), and avoid paying significant overhead fees to a “middleman” insurer. Companies have several options for structuring and utilizing an insurance captive. They might build a single-parent captive, pool risk in a group captive, or make use of a cell captive. In this blog, we’ll take a look at each. In a single-parent captive, a company will often partner with a fronting carrier to reinsure at least part of their own risk. These are most commonly used by very large companies with exposure to multiple lines of business, which they can insure through the same captive entity. Example: A national food-delivery business wants to provide insurance to its restaurant partners, to protect against the risk of lawsuits related to food safety for meals delivered through the service. It discusses partnerships with several major insurance carriers, but none are willing to provide the level of coverage that the business is looking for at a reasonable price. To get what it needs, the food-delivery business sets up a captive to reinsure a fronting carrier partner, enabling the business to insure its own risk and provide the coverage it needs to its restaurant partners. Setting up a single-parent captive is a considerable undertaking with high capital requirements and a complex setup, with significant ongoing operational requirements going forward. In order to make sense financially, it usually requires a high volume of premium. For that reason, this option is usually only viable for very large businesses. For businesses that can’t afford (either in time or in money) to set up their own captive, a second option is to partner with other businesses in a related industry to set up a group captive. In this scenario, a single captive maintains portfolio capacity that can be shared by a group of entities. The entities can then pool risk together in the single captive. Example: Several real estate companies form a partnership to share a group captive to pool their similar risks. Each company contributes a certain amount of capital to fund the captive, and the capacity is shared among the partners. The participating real estate firms are then able to leverage the captive’s capacity to exercise greater control over their risk, and avoid paying high fees to middlemen. This can allow the partner businesses to share risk (and benefits) between them, and works well for trade associations and other groups of companies in related industries, that share similar risks. However, since the fund is shared between partners as well, one partner’s negative returns can impact the other partners involved. In a cell captive, the business first sets up an entity called a core, which is a similar process to setting up a single-parent captive. Once the core entity is complete, however, the business can much more easily spin up additional cells within the captive structure. The financials for those individual cells are separate from each other, rather than the combined funding of a single-parent or group captive. For many companies, however, using a cell captive doesn’t mean building one themselves. While there are use cases for single-parent cell captives, most businesses that create them then rent out cells to other businesses. Using a cell in another company’s captive entity (also called captive-as-a-service) allows a business to reap the benefits of an insurance captive at a much lower cost. We’ll look at some examples in the next section. The first step in creating a cell captive is to create the “Core” entity. This process is similar to building a single-parent captive: Once the core captive entity has been created and adequately funded, the owner can spin up individual cells within the captive’s structure to support different lines of business, segments, or partners. The Department of Insurance will still need to approve all new cells, but the process is much more streamlined than in prior cases. New cells can often be set up in weeks instead of the months or years typically needed for entirely new captive entities. Captive cells’ assets and liabilities are then statutorily protected from each other (which is where the ‘protected cell captive’ name comes from). This means that if one cell has a difficult year and experiences significant underwriting loss, the assets of the neighboring cells can’t be used to fund that loss. There are multiple ways that cell captives are used, including offering captive-as-a-service (also called rent-a-captive) to other partners or businesses, and separating different parts of the parent company’s business for performance tracking. In a captive-as-a-service or rent-a-captive scenario, the company that owns the captive core would allow other businesses to use cells in its captive. For a fee, the owner can set up a new cell specifically for the partner business, and manage it on their behalf. This lets the partner business leverage the owner’s infrastructure to achieve many of the same benefits of a single-parent captive, without the cost and complexity of creating one. Example: An insurtech specializing in commercial insurance has built a very strong customer base, and wants to further grow its business by participating in some of its own risk. However, building a full captive is too resource-intensive for the insurtech to take on. Instead, the insurtech partners with a CaaS provider and rents a captive cell. The insurtech then uses the cell to self-insure some of its risks, enabling it to participate in the underwriting returns and further scale towards a full-stack insurance business. While the most common reason for building a cell captive is to rent out cells to other businesses, there are a few reasons a company might build one for its own use. Because the cells’ financials are statutorily separated from each other, a cell captive allows a large enterprise to delineate between different lines of business or geographic regions, and monitor their performance separately. Example: A nationwide property management company offers several insurance products to its customers to help protect their personal property and finances. For planning and budgeting purposes, each line is supported by an individual cell in the management company’s cell captive. Over the course of the fiscal year, several lines perform over their targets, while one line significantly underperforms. The other LOBs’ budgets are unaffected by the low-performing LOB’s losses, and the company has clear visibility into which of its products are doing well and which may need a course correction. Cell captives provide a number of benefits to both their owners and the end users: Cell captives are popular for a reason: they offer significant value to both the companies with the resources to build them, and the companies that would rather rent a cell than build a single-parent entity from scratch. To learn more about Captive-as-a-Service with Boost, contact us.

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Partnerships and Focus: Big Trends at Money20/20

Nov 3, 2021

It was a busy October for the team at Boost Insurance, wrapping up with one of our favorite industry events: Money20/20. The conference was a super interesting contrast to ITC which was laser-focused on insurance, while Money 20/20 was more about fintech in general and much, much bigger! With fintech about ten years ahead of insurtech in terms of maturity, it’s interesting to see the level of innovation and diversity of companies in our big brother industry. Here are some of the big trends we noticed. One of the really interesting trends that kept being repeated at Money20/20 was a shift in mindset among both fintechs and banks. In the past, they have tended to see each other as competition for consumers’ business and attention but now everyone is moving towards viewing each other as complementary vs. competitive. We saw multiple collaborative efforts between the upstarts and the established, working together to create a better customer experience. This works because they each have a specialization (fintechs excel at meeting modern consumer expectations and banks are experts in profitably navigating a very regulated, very complex business), and partnership lets them bring both those strengths to the table. This was extra interesting to us at Boost because it reflects what we see in insurance, with insurtechs and carriers working together and bringing their own strengths together to meet modern consumer needs and expectations. For example - Boost has built a modern tech platform making various insurance products available via API but partners with established reinsurance companies to facilitate risk transfer. There will still be winners and losers between the incumbents and the upstarts, but as collaboration and competition continue consumers will be the clear winners. A trend I’ve written about before, and one that we continue to see play out, is tech companies’ focus on affinity groups. Fintechs are springing up all over with explicit goals of serving a relatively narrow group of people and serving them well. Companies like Paceline for people focused on health and wellness, Daylight for the LGBTQ+ community, and First Boulevard for African-Americans are just some of the fintechs concentrating on being the best option for a specific set of consumers. This is pretty much the opposite of traditional one-size-fits-all programs - instead of creating something broad that can be good enough for the biggest slice of people, creating something very targeted that can be great for a specific niche. This trend is great news for consumers who traditionally have not been served well by financial services in general. At Boost we’re starting to work with more affinity-focused companies because our modular, customizable product structure allows partners to tailor insurance for their customer needs. It’s exciting to be part of making insurance more accessible to all groups of people! Finally, it was really exciting and validating to see so much interest in new approaches to traditional industries. Finance and insurance have historically had a reputation for being very slow to change, sometimes for good reason (highly regulated, handling people’s money is a big responsibility, etc). This year though there’s a ton of interest in potential innovations, look no further than the enormous presence of blockchain and crypto-focused companies at Money20/20! Boost met with a TON of different companies during the show, and we cannot talk about anything yet but be on the lookout for some very interesting things coming in the near future! Money2020 was a heck of a conference and while my conference year is wrapped, the Boost team will be out and about at shows the rest of the year. We are looking forward to more opportunities to meet people in 2022, so if you did not get a chance to connect with us at Money2020, just drop us a line.