Arch Insurance to Buy Coastal Commercial Property MGU Ventus Risk Management

Arch Insurance North America has agreed to acquire Ventus Risk Management, a technology and analytics-driven managing general underwriter that specializes in providing coastal commercial property insurance solutions to small and mid-sized enterprises.

Ventis, founded in 2016, has 30 employees and offices in Atlanta, Columbia, S.C., Houston, and Richmond, Va. Ventus provides commercial property insurance from several carrier partners Including XL. Its proprietary technology improves automation, efficiency and risk selection by augmenting data submitted by insureds with third-party sources and proprietary algorithms. It also reports on risks in real-time, which the firm says makes risks more attractive to both traditional (re)insurers and capital markets investors.

The parties said that integrating Ventus into the Arch platform will enable third-party capital to provide capacity alongside Arch’s product offerings.

“Ventus is an insurtech company that has successfully deployed its offerings to support its underwriters, deliver best-in-class analytics and modeling capabilities and provide a superior customer experience,” said Matt Shulman, CEO of Arch Insurance North America. “When combined with the scale of our E&S property portfolio and breadth of our relationships, we will bring enhanced value to our wholesale distribution partners.”

George Reeth, a Ventus co-founder, announced his retirement with the sale of the company.

Co-founder Stuart Mercer will become the CEO of Ventus upon the close of the sale.

TigerRisk Capital Markets & Advisory acted as financial advisor to Ventus.

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Commercial Lines Business Insurance Property Insurance Wholesale Risk Management