Boston-based Corvus Insurance announced the opening of a new LA Office
In response to the growing demand for its Smart Cyber™ and Smart Cargo™ Insurance products, Boston-based Corvus Insurance has announced the opening of its first West Coast office in Greater Los Angeles.
Brian Alva, formerly Vice President at NAS Insurance, has joined and will be leading the company’s West Coast operations. He has close to a decade of experience building innovative insurance products, including Cyber, and in bringing those products to market. Joining Brian is Amanda Mirabile, who joins Corvus from RPS where she serviced brokers throughout the California and the southwest.
“Corvus is bringing data analytics to brokers that help them to bring new value to their clients. Our broker-enabling Dynamic Loss Prevention reports help brokers to better manage risk for their clients” said Philip Edmundson, CEO of Corvus and former CEO of a major retail insurance brokerage firm. “Corvus helps brokers and their policyholders to better manage cyber risk through our Corvus Score and through actionable recommendations. We are excited to be able to offer this to more organizations than ever.”
Founded in 2017, Corvus Insurance is a broker-friendly InsurTech MGA offering Smart Commercial Insurance™ policies and innovative technology that utilizes new forms of data to predict and prevent claims, creating value for the policyholder, broker, and underwriter. In late 2018, the company $10 million Series A investment led by .406 Ventures and Hudson Structured, along with expanded funding from previous investor, Bain Capital Ventures. which the company plans to use the new capital to expand into additional commercial lines of insurance.
Oyster Insurance Expands Workers’ Compensation into California
Waltham-based Oyster Insurance, which had been in stealth mode for the better part of 2018, has now begun to ramp up its operations for 2019. The online platform announced just before start of the new year that it has begun “protecting small businesses in California.” According to the company, which positions itself as a better alternative for small business insurance needs, it is already licensed in 26 states with plans to launch their workers’ compensation coverage in an additional six states throughout 2019.
“Obtaining regulatory approval in California is very important to Oyster and to our partner network,” said Curt Stevenson, Managing Director at Oyster Insurance. “The majority of our larger digital distribution partners are not only based in the Bay Area, but have a significant amount of their small business customers throughout the state. In aggregate, 40 percent of our potential customers are based in California and we are committed to their success.”
Aside from California, Oyster is already active in both New York and New Jersey, having provided workers’ compensation to over 70 classes of business in these states since January 2018. Coverage, which initially began with professional classes such as software consulting firms, lawyers and medical and dental offices, now has expanded into covering variety stores, groceries/delis, bakeries, eating places, drug stores, jewelry stores and florists.
Many of our readers may recognize the name Curt Stevenson. Prior to taking the helm as Managing Director at Oyster Insurance, he was the former CEO of Boston-based Agencyport Software. After overseeing the sale of Agencyport to Duck Creek Technologies in 2016, Mr. Stevenson served as Duck Creek’s Chief Digital Officer until 2018. He has also been an active participant at Insurtech Boston, and has contributed his thoughts on the event to Agency Checklists.