Insurtech firm Next Insurance’s chief executive Guy Goldstein estimates that more than half a million small businesses start operations in the US every month. Yet, this market remains largely underserved by the insurance industry. The market has huge potential - Goldstein said in an email exchange that it is worth more than $100 billion, and continuing to grow. To efficiently tap this market, his start-up firm partnered with chat bot developer SmallTalk to deliver insurance products through social media, specifically the Facebook Messenger application. Through the automation technology, the company proposes to cut processes that used to take days, even weeks, into a matter of minutes. “By taking a technologically data driven approach, we are able to gain a much more complete picture of what small businesses need so that we can create insurance policies that are uniquely tailored to them to protect their business and enable them to thrive,” he added. The firm said in a statement that it will provide “uniquely tailored” policies for the small business verticals it plans to target. On its list of potential clients are personal trainers, photographers and contractors. “We are adding one vertical at a time to make sure that the policies are perfectly tailored and carefully constructed for the unique insurance needs of each small business sector,” Goldstein emphasized. Additionally, he said the company hopes to bring more transparency to the insurance procurement process by simplifying the language used and employing technology to understand customer behaviour and further simplify the sign up process. “This takes away the often overwhelming and confusing nature of insurance, making for a very simple and quick process,” he explained. “By bringing small business insurance online we are creating a massive data pool that until now hasn’t existed, giving us a much deeper understanding of user behaviour, enabling us to optimize the user experience and decrease fraud.” The firm launches today via a website that offers products available across the US. It is backed by $13 million in seed funding from Ribbit Capital, TLV Partners and Zeev Ventures.
Insurtech start-up Next Insurance has joined with chat bot developer SmallTalk to help it capitalise on the coverage needs of the US's growing army of small businesses. About 500,000 companies start up every month, creating a market that Next believes is worth $100bn. The company will use its new chatbot, called Next.ai, which can be used by any business or individual in the US, to provide insurance and other services for their customers. Next plans to "make sure the policies are perfectly tailored and carefully constructed for the unique insurance needs of each small business sector", said CEO Guy Goldstein.