Clearlake Capital-Backed Zywave Acquires Advisen, a Preeminent Insurance Data & Technology Provider, Further Bolstering Its Market-Leading Position
Together with Zywave’s existing P&C offerings, Advisen’s innovative data, media and technology solutions will amplify Zywave’s existing product portfolio and accelerate its global footprint
MILWAUKEE, Nov. 17, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Insurance technology provider, Zywave, today announced the acquisition of Advisen, the foremost provider of data, media and technology solutions for the commercial property and casualty insurance market. Combined with Zywave’s existing portfolio of solutions, the acquisition reinforces Zywave’s leadership position in the P&C market, both in the United States and Europe.
“We are thrilled to make this announcement, which signifies one of the most powerful partnerships in the commercial space,” said Jason Liu, chief executive officer of Zywave. “Not only does the Advisen acquisition further broaden and deepen our product portfolio, but it also significantly bolsters our ongoing expansion into both the P&C and international markets.”
Founded in 2000, Advisen is headquartered in New York City, with additional offices in the United Kingdom and Philippines. It serves an impressive client roster of more than 300 enterprises across the commercial insurance value chain and is comprised of three business segments, including:
- Data – An extensive, proprietary database, offering nearly 1 million low-frequency, high-severity loss records across major property and casualty lines of business, all industries and all geographies, all of which are organically sourced and curated. The platform maps loss events to companies and exposures, and links them together through common cause of loss, which enables powerful analysis and modeling based on corporate risk profiles. Additionally, the database includes premium, limit and retention benchmarking via an extensive contributory database.
- Media – An engaging content platform launched in 2005 that reaches an audience of more than 175,000 in the commercial insurance industry via Front Page News daily editions. The news source features thoughtfully curated top stories impacting the insurance marketplace, along with contributed content, proprietary news stories, and a wealth of original content. Advisen is also the leading host of commercial and specialty P&C conferences and webinars that address casualty, property, and cyber, as well as other lines of business.
- Web Connectivity Ltd. (WCL) – Advanced technology that helps automate currently manual workflows by enabling real-time digital communications and technical software solutions for the global commercial reinsurance and broker market. Based in London, WCL increases efficiency for brokers, carriers and other insurance parties, enabling them to manage policy administration, accounting and claims communications utilizing ACORD Global Reinsurance and Large Commercial Standards.
Zywave Product Vision
Overall, Zywave plans to align Advisen’s solutions with the modern user experience within Zywave’s product cloud portfolio. Zywave will leverage Advisen’s data offering to further enhance its existing market-leading insurance database, and plans to further expand upon its data analytics and benchmarking tools. Zywave’s enriched database will enable more advanced modeling and provide even more complete pictures of corporate risk profiles, granting exclusive insights to insurance professionals.
“The combination of Zywave’s existing database with Advisen’s loss and policy data will offer insurance professionals the most unique corporate risk profiles available,” added Eric Rentsch, senior vice president of product management for Zywave. “These insights will help inform smarter, more strategic business decisions.”
In addition, Zywave will enhance its industry-leading content and communications platform even further with Advisen’s media services, notably Front Page News. Bringing Front Page News into Zywave’s Content Cloud will open new opportunities to enhance the delivery, coverage and overall reach of this trusted resource.
Zywave plans to expand the WCL model and technology platform, and seeks to broaden and serve additional global markets. With the acquisition, Zywave will significantly increase its footprint and technology solutions in the United Kingdom and Europe and has subsequently named a new vice president of international operations, Jon Maury, who alongside Jeff Cohen, president of Advisen, and James Willison, managing director of WCL and executive vice president of Advisen, will lead international growth efforts.
Integration & Operations
Over the next several months, Zywave and Advisen leadership teams will work together on integration operations.
“On behalf of the Advisen board and senior management, I would like to convey our excitement and enthusiasm about joining forces with Zywave,” said Ron Adiel, chief executive officer of Advisen. “I’m confident this is the right move for our company for all the right reasons, in particular, the strategic synergies across all our businesses. We look forward to achieving even greater growth as a combined entity.”
The Advisen acquisition marks Zywave’s largest to date and fourth in just over two years, reinforcing Zywave’s continued commitment to the insurance industry. It coincides with the announcement of Zywave’s new investor relationship with Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. and their shared vision to invest in the long-term strategic growth of the company, both organically and through M&A.
“Zywave has continued to heavily invest in our operations, technology and portfolio of solutions over the past several years to bring the industry’s best tech to our partners, empowering them with the tools they need to grow their business,” said Liu. “To provide them with the best solutions in the industry, we are simultaneously investing in our existing products, while also bolstering our product portfolio with new acquisitions. At the same time, our team is continuing to improve product integration to provide seamless, end-to-end solutions for our partners, all on one platform.”
Houlihan Lokey served as financial advisor to Advisen. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
For more information on Zywave, visit www.Zywave.com.
About Advisen
Advisen is the leading provider of data, media, and technology solutions for the commercial property and casualty insurance market. Advisen’s proprietary data sets and applications focus on large, specialty risks. Through Web Connectivity Ltd., Advisen provides messaging services, business consulting, and technical solutions to streamline and automate insurance transactions. Advisen connects a community of more than 200,000 professionals through daily newsletters, conferences, and webinars. The company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in New York City, with offices in the United States, United Kingdom and Philippines. Visit www.advisenltd.com to learn more.
About Zywave
Zywave leads the insurance tech industry, fueling business growth for its partners with cloud-based sales management, client delivery, content and analytics solutions. Offering a technology platform embedded with robust data and the most comprehensive content portfolio available, we empower smarter business decisions throughout the entire customer lifecycle. More than 6,000 carriers, HCM service providers, agencies and brokerages worldwide—including all of the top 100 U.S. insurance firms—use Zywave solutions to enhance client services, achieve business growth and promote greater health, wellness and safety. Additional information can be found at www.zywave.com.
Contact: April Larsen
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