Akur8 Selected by NEXT Insurance to Help Scale Pricing Capability Framework

May 04, 2023 at 08:30 AM EDT

Akur8, the next generation insurance pricing solution powered by transparent machine learning, announced that NEXT Insurance, a leading digital insurtech company transforming small business insurance, has selected its Risk and Rate modeling solution to build a data-driven, high-performing and scalable predictive modeling framework for their insurance pricing process. Through this agreement, Akur8 continues its growth within the commercial insurance marketplace in the U.S.

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Developed explicitly for insurers, Akur8’s solution enhances pricing processes by using proprietary machine-learning technology. The core benefits for the commercial insurance marketplace include accelerated model building, transparent GLM outputs, and data-driven underwriting. Building on NEXT’s leading AI and machine learning capabilities, the company will leverage Akur8’s technology as the foundation for a scalable, transparent, and efficient pricing platform.

“We are thrilled to support NEXT, a modern leader revolutionizing small business insurance, and enhance its pricing process with our state-of-the-art risk and rate modeling platform. This partnership also demonstrates the relevance and attractiveness of Akur8’s solution for insurance providers targeting the small business market,” stated Samuel Falmagne, CEO at Akur8.

Brune de Linares, Chief Client Officer at Akur8 agreed, “Our partnership with such an innovative and true disruptor of the small business insurance market - a historically complicated industry - demonstrates that Akur8 is a powerful pricing solution for all types of insurance companies across all lines of business.”

NEXT, founded in 2016, is committed to helping small businesses thrive by providing a one-stop-shop to customized and affordable insurance policies. Today, the company is trusted by over 450 thousand business owners and serves over 1,300 classes of business, including restaurant owners, general contractors, accountants, fitness professionals and many more. NEXT’s seamless policy purchasing process and affordable pricing is one of the many reasons the company experienced rapid growth over the years.

“While every small business is unique, they all share a need for accurate policy pricing. We’ve long been committed to investing in machine learning and predictive analytics for superior underwriting and pricing, and this unique approach has solidified us as a technology leader in the space,” said Phil Natoli, Chief Actuary at NEXT. “Together with Akur8, we’re able to further innovate upon our current capabilities to deliver even more accuracy, speed and efficiency at scale for NEXT’s growing customer bases.”

“With Akur8’s platform, our actuarial, data science, and product teams can collaborate seamlessly throughout the insurance pricing process. It ensures higher efficiency and delivers visual insights that are explainable across a variety of stakeholders,” noted Peter Yin, Senior Actuarial Manager at NEXT.

About Akur8

Akur8 already serves 80+ customers across 40+ countries, including AXA, Generali, Munich Re, Tokio Marine North America Services (TMNAS) and MS&AD; commercial P&C insurers FCCI and HDVI; specialty insurers Canopius and MGA Bass Underwriters; consulting partner Perr & Knight; and insurtechs Manypets and wefox. Over 900 actuaries use Akur8 daily to build their pricing models across all lines of business. Akur8’s strategic partnerships include Milliman, Guidewire, Duck Creek and Sapiens.

Akur8 recently completed a new position paper on Applying Machine Learning to Actuarial and Pricing Workflows.