In a bid to boost its digital insurance offerings, financial services FinTech Acrisure has acquired B2Z Insurance. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“With B2Z’s focus on providing small businesses easy access to personalized coverage online, Acrisure now has the ability to provide a more holistic suite of solutions to solve the various insurance needs of its customers,” the company said in a Monday (Sept. 19) news release.
Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Acrisure’s financial services offerings include insurance, real estate services and wealth management. A digitally native company, B2Z launched during the pandemic to provide simpler protection for small businesses.
B2Z uses third-party data and analytics to help business owners answer time-consuming application questions. It also lets clients get quotes, buy personalized coverage and review their coverage with a licensed customer experience advocate over the phone or via text or chat.
Acrisure said in the release its acquisition of B2Z enhances its digital fulfillment capabilities and customer experience on a larger scale.
“We’re proud to help extend Acrisure’s unmatched relationships and technology capabilities,” said B2Z CEO and Founder Kuldeep Malik in the release. “B2Z looks forward to joining Acrisure’s culture of collaboration and trust.”
PYMNTS spoke to Malik last year about the challenges of running a small business — and getting it covered — during a pandemic.
Read more: B2B InsurTech Navigates a Real-Time Payments Future
“The small business owner really is having a difficult time over-planning,” he told PYMNTS. “Let’s say you are a restaurant. You don’t know when you’ll be allowed 50% capacity, or just to do takeout.”
That led to a situation in which businesses were struggling to budget for marketing, hiring, inventory and other investments. But if a customer is injured, or if there is a cyberattack, those businesses can face losses in the tens of thousands of dollars.
“When you take all these things into account, it becomes harder for any small business that is not insured to survive through these kinds of claims,” Malik added.