September 21, 2022 – Pie Insurance (“Pie”), an insurtech company specializing in workers’ comp insurance for small businesses, today announced it raised a $315 million Series D round of funding. The round was led by Centerbridge Partners and Allianz X, the digital investments arm of Allianz Group. White Mountains Insurance Group also joined as a new investor, and previous investors Gallatin Point Capital, Greycroft, Acrew Capital and others also participated in the round.
Today’s Series D fundraise more than doubled Pie’s total capital raised to over $615 million and is the largest round of financing for any U.S. based P&C insurtech company in 2022.
“This round of financing is monumental in more ways than one,” said John Swigart, co-founder and CEO of Pie. “It’s no secret that growth-stage startups, and specifically insurtechs, are facing a challenging fundraising environment. However, Pie’s ability to grow rapidly while still focusing on delivering strong unit economics and sustainable loss ratios, is proving to be a key differentiator. Pie is disrupting the highly fragmented small business commercial insurance market through our proprietary technology which more accurately prices and underwrites insurance risks. We believe the insurtech 2.0 phase of this industry-wide transformation will be built by companies like Pie that leverage their technology to ‘do the insurance better’ and deliver superior traditional insurance metrics along with a delightful customer experience.”
“Pie’s demonstrated ability to grow across multiple distribution channels at impressive loss ratios truly distinguishes them within the insurtech space,” said Eric Hoffman, Managing Director at Centerbridge Partners. “We’re attracted to technology enablement in the small commercial insurance market, and Centerbridge is excited to partner with Pie on its journey to transform the industry.”
“Since our founding in 2017, Pie’s mission has been to empower small businesses to thrive by making commercial insurance affordable and as easy as pie,” Swigart continued. “This fundraise allows us to strategically expand in a way that serves the long-term interests of our customers, partners, investors, and Pie-oneers. Pie has an exciting future ahead and this capital allows us to stay true to our values, execute on our vision, and build a lasting and sustainable business.”
Pie’s Series D enables the company to continue providing America’s 32.5 million small businesses with access to simple and affordable commercial insurance. The company will use the funds to support Pie’s growth initiatives that directly impact its small business customers, including expanding into new lines of business, fully transitioning to a full-stack carrier, further innovating upon its advanced proprietary pricing algorithms, and delivering world-class user and product experiences directly to small businesses and the partner agents who serve them.
“We’ve been continuously impressed by Pie’s innovation and ability to deliver strong growth and underwriting results since our relationship began with co-leading the company’s Series C round in early-2021,” said Dr. Nazim Cetin, CEO of Allianz X. “We’ll be there to support Pie every step of the way as the company continues its bold transformation to a full-stack insurer and expansion into new lines of business.”
Today’s fundraise follows an incredible period of growth for Pie, most recently the company announced it more than doubled its gross written premium, and doubled its number of policyholders and partners. In addition, Pie expanded its coverage area into two new states, increasing its total workers’ comp coverage footprint to 89 percent of small businesses in the U.S.
Ardea Partners served as an advisor on the Series D. Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as a legal advisor to Centerbridge Partners, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP acted as a legal advisor to Allianz X, and Cooley LLP acted as a legal advisor to Pie.
Pie Insurance is leveraging technology to transform how small businesses buy and experience commercial insurance, with the goal of making it affordable and as easy as pie. Pie’s intense focus on granular, sophisticated pricing, and data-driven customer segmentation enables Pie to match price with risk accurately across a broad spectrum of small business types, which allows Pie to offer more affordable insurance to small business owners. Since 2017, Pie has received over $615 million in funding and partnered with over 2,800 agencies nationwide.
Allianz X invests in digital frontrunners in ecosystems relevant to insurance and asset management. In just a few years, it has grown to a portfolio of almost 30 companies and AuM of over 2 billion euros. Allianz X has counted 11 unicorns among its portfolio so far. The heart and brains behind it all is a talented team of around 40 people. As one of the pillars of the Allianz Group’s digital transformation strategy, Allianz X provides an interface between Allianz Operating Entities and the broader digital ecosystem, enabling collaborative partnerships in insurtech, fintech, and beyond. As an investor, Allianz X supports mature digital growth companies to take the next bold leap and reach their full potential.
Centerbridge Partners, L.P. is a private investment management firm employing a flexible approach across investment disciplines — private equity, credit and real estate — in an effort to develop the most attractive opportunities for our investors. The Firm was founded in 2005 and as of June 30, 2022 has approximately $34 billion in capital under management with offices in New York and London. Centerbridge is dedicated to partnering with world-class management teams across targeted industry sectors and geographies. For more information, please visit www.centerbridge.com.
