(Image source: ClarionDoor homepage.)
Zywave (Milwaukee, Wisc.), a provider of distribution-related SaaS solutions to the insurance industry, has announced the acquisition of Santa Barbara, Calif.-based ClarionDoor, a provider of product distribution software available to the property/casualty market. Zywave characterizes the combination of its configure, price, quote (CPQ) solutions for insurance agencies and brokers, and ClarionDoor’s digital distribution solution for carriers and MGAs as solidifying Zywave’s market positioning for the end-to-end CPQ technology, from rating and quoting through presentation to binding and issuance.
Karlyn Carnahan, Head, The Americas, Property Casualty, Celent.
“The distribution space has seen increasingly significant changes driving growth as digital innovation is adopted,” comments Karlyn Carnahan, Head, North America Property Casualty, Celent. “Astute carriers are becoming more adept at evaluating distributors and integrating with agency management systems, comparative raters and stand-alone rating engines to help drive the next evolution of digital products and distribution strategies. The acquisition of ClarionDoor by Zywave puts them front and center in the digital distribution space with an opportunity to better connect carriers and distributors.”
“Digital quoting is one of the fastest growing categories within the insurance industry,” comments Jason Liu, CEO, Zywave. “Zywave has doubled down in this space, becoming the first InsurTech provider to offer CPQ solutions across all lines of business. With the acquisition of ClarionDoor, we also gain an exclusive distribution technology for carriers.”
Jason Liu, CEO, Zywave.
Founded in 2010, ClarionDoor serves more than 70 customers globally across all P&C lines, ranging from traditional lines to emerging markets. A Zywave statement describes ClarionDoor’s technology as one of the industry’s first cloud-native, API-first, no-code, software as a service rating engines. Serving carriers, MGAs, brokers, and program administrators, ClarionDoor addresses the challenges of the product distribution process from product innovation to policy generation, issuance and lifecycle management.
Tech-Enabled Vision for Insurance Distribution
Michael DeGusta, CEO, ClarionDoor.
“For far too long, typical insurance systems focused entirely on the back office and neglected the insurer’s needs of developing innovative products and getting them out to the marketplace,” said Michael DeGusta, ClarionDoor’s chief executive officer. “What makes this partnership so exciting for ClarionDoor and our customers is that ClarionDoor and Zywave share a more open, collaborative and tech-enabled vision for insurance distribution. Together, we will fundamentally transform the way insurance organizations do business.”
The ClarionDoor acquisition is the latest in a series of several by Zywave over the last few years. Zywave was itself acquired by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (Santa Monica, Calif.) in 2020. Calling that acquisition a “game changer” for Zywave, CEO Jason Liu said it would “enable us to both accelerate our growth organically and increase our pace of acquisitions moving forward.”
Previous acquisitions in this space include Modgic and IBQ Systems (2021), Insurance Technologies Corporation (2020), RateFactory (2019), and Code SixFour (2018).