By Chris Munro

May 22 - (The Insurer) - Foxquilt has undergone a leadership change with Karim Jamal appointed CEO and Mark Morissette moving into a role focused on the company’s future development, which includes extending its reach in the U.S.

Morisettes founded Toronto-headquartered Foxquilt in late 2016 and was joined by Jamal shortly afterwards, with the pair bringing the insurtech MGA’s suite of small business-focused general liability products to market in its native Canada in 2018.

Foxquilt utilises a data and analytics-backed underwriting platform to support its proprietary commercial insurance products.

Those products are targeted at an array of solo workers and businesses split across three verticals.

The first vertical is contractors, the second is e-commerce sellers such as those who trade on Amazon, eBay, Etsy and Wayfair, and the third is personal services.

After launching in Canada, where it currently writes business on paper provided by Greenlight Innovation Syndicate 3456 and Markel, Foxquilt went live in the U.S. in May 2021.

Its business in the U.S. is underwritten on the AM Best A rated capacity of State National, which is in turn reinsured by the fronting carrier’s parent Markel.

Following the CEO transition, Jamal will focus on Foxquilt’s day-to-day operations, while Morissette will work on the MGA’s go-forward business strategy.

Talking to Program Manager, Jamal said the insurtech is “in a really good place”.

“We are seeing significant demand everywhere we launch,” Jamal stated.

Currently, Jamal said Foxquilt writes “thousands of customers a month throughout Canada and the U.S. and we’re getting seven figures of premium a month in new business”.

“As we get into new states, that number will obviously go up. Every month that we continue is a new best month that we have in terms of new business growth,” Jamal noted.

Morissette said that over the next 36 months, Foxquilt has ambitions to launch new products that complement its existing offerings, along with bringing on new capacity providers.

The company also plans to enter new markets. Alongside its product suite across Canada, Foxquilt writes its general liability coverages in 25 U.S. states on an admitted basis.

Morissette said Foxquilt is in the process of securing the licences necessary to begin offering its products in additional states, with a particular focus on the West Coast.

As Jamal explained, Foxquilt does not currently have a West Coast presence. It has been approved “in a few” West Coast states already, but rather than expanding through the region in dribs and drabs, the MGA intends to do it in one move.

That expansion is just within Foxquilt’s current product set though, and Jamal said the insurtech is working on new products that complement its general liability offerings to further support its growth plans.

Foxquilt’s newly appointed CEO said there are voids in the marketplace for the insurtech’s clients, with Jamal noting that workers’ compensation for new ventures, sole proprietors and the like is “very hard”.

“A lot of companies find it hard for commercial auto too,” said Jamal.

“So we’re looking at a few things, and we’ll try to find best-in-class partners or carriers to (support) new products on the platform which we have the capability of doing.

“But it’s also about trying to find ways to build new products as well.”

Jamal said that latter element is more of a longer-term strategy, but one that is still front of mind for Foxquilt.

The MGA accesses clients in two ways, either directly via a consumer or network portal, or through a broker.

“Our strategy has always been wherever the customer wants to purchase, so whether it's through a broker or a network that they're joining, we want to be an option for them,” explained Jamal.

Foxquilt is “growing quite rapidly” in the broker/agent space in the U.S., while the company is also expanding the portfolio of partners in its enterprise portfolio.

“We’re continuing to add bigger, more dynamic enterprises throughout Canada and the U.S.,” said Jamal.

“We want to be point of sale, so the friction point for getting your customer on the network is gone,” he said.