Pie Insurance introduces policies in four US states

Pie Insurance is rolling out its online workers compensation policies in Arizona, Georgia, Illinois and Tennessee. CEO John Swigart is predicting the start-up will be in between 15 to 20 US states by the end of the year, hitting 60-70% of the market. The insurtech has raised about $4.3m in seed financing.

Pie Insurance said it is ready to start selling its first workers compensation policies, and the InsurTech startup expects to be operating in 15-20 states by the end of 2018.

Policies are slated to start selling in Illinois, Georgia, Tennessee and Arizona in March—a larger number of states than had been expected, Pie co-Founder and CEO John Swigart acknowledged in an e-mail blast to “Pie watchers” detailing the marketing milestone.

“This was an audacious goal we set when we established the company in May 2017: stand up an entire insurance operation in less than 12 months. We did it and I couldn’t be more proud of the team,” Swigart wrote. “We had expected to only be selling in one state at launch; however, we have four states with regulatory approval…and will be selling our first policies [in] each of those states during March.”

Swigart added that Pie will be expanding rapidly, with four additional filings submitted for approval with state regulators and others in the pipeline. Pie predicts it will be in 15-20 states by year-end, hitting 60-70 percent of the market.

The company launched with plans to focus on the small business workers comp market and its Pie Price Predictor Tool. The tool, based on Pie’s website at www.pieinsurance.com, is designed to help educate small businesses about what they should be paying for workers comp policies versus the market average. Valen Analytics powers the tool, which businesses can use at no charge.

Pie also raised $4.3 million in seed financing around the time of its debut.

Longer term, Pie hopes to make its market by quoting and binding insurance policies for small businesses based on data from the predictor tool, working as a full-service managing general agent.

Other updates from Swigart’s email:

Pie’s initial marketing tests yielded encouraging results. According to the company, those tests showed that small business owners would be willing to shop for workers comp online, as Pie offers, rather than through various offline agency channels as is commonly done now.

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

Pie added new investors and advisers, including Judd and Susan Shoval, founders of small business workers comp insurer Guard Insurance (now part of Berkshire Hathaway).