Next nets further investment as $4bn-valued InsurTech eyes global expansion
A subsidiary of MS&AD Insurance Group has invested in Next Insurance just four months after a $250mn Series D funding round brought the US InsurTech’s valuation up to $4bn.
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (MSI), a subsidiary of the Japanese group, said its investment in the small business insurer would help gain insight into Next’s strategy in serving company owners across 1,300 industries including accountancy, contracting, restaurants and retail.
MS&AD had previously invested in Next in September last year through its corporate venture capital arm MS&AD Ventures, set up in Silicon Valley to invest in, and forge alliances with, overseas start-ups that are innovating on a global scale.
This second investment in Next via MSI will help the Japanese group apply insight from the InsurTech’s use of machine learning for risk-based pricing to its business in Japan and overseas.
“As a result, we will further enhance our insurance underwriting, sales, claims payment and service provision,” MS&AD said in a statement.
The MSI subsidiary has been a prominent investor in US InsurTechs, having backed Hippo with a $350m investment in November last year to support the home insurance provider’s product rollout in more US states.
This helped fuel Hippo’s expansion in the build-up to its planned listing on the New York Stock Exchange next month, which will be undertaken via a merger with Reinvent Technology Partners Z, in a special purpose acquisition company deal.
For Next, the extra layer of funding from MSI comes just four months after its $250mn funding round in March, which was led by FinTLV Ventures and Battery Ventures.
Next CEO told Inside P&C in April that the InsurTech has ambitions to be the largest small-business insurer in the US and “potentially the world”.
(Source: [https://www.insuranceinsider.com/article/28tkilgkm8awo01jk4h6o/next-nets-further-investment-as-4bn-valued-insurtech-eyes-global-expansion](https://www.insuranceinsider.com/article/28tkilgkm8awo01jk4h6o/next-nets-further-investment-as-4bn-valued-insurtech-eyes-global-expansion))
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