Zurich Insurance Group, the Schaumburg-based finance and insurance giant, has acquired a Dallas-based insure-tech startup as it aims to remain competitive in an insurance industry that is quickly becoming digitized.
Zurich announced Monday that it now owns Sea Pine Technologies, which has built “digital applications” for marketing vehicle protection products, such as insurance.
The deal closed in January, but its terms have not been disclosed. Zurich said the move will help it expand its offerings to the automotive industry. Zurich initially began its relationship with Sea Pine last year when they collaborated on a pilot program with automotive dealers testing the startup’s service.
"Zurich continues to invest in the businesses and customer segments where it sees the best opportunities for excellence," said Kathleen Savio, the CEO of Zurich North America, in a statement. "This acquisition builds on our strengths by delivering competitive capabilities for us in North America and accelerates our delivery of innovative and valued solutions to our customers.”
The acquisition comes at a time when insure-tech around the U.S. and specifically in the Chicagoland area has been heating up. Legacy insurance companies are making strides to innovate how they do business, whether it’s through acquisitions like Zurich’s or in-house startups like Allstate tech spinout Arity.
Additionally, several insure-tech startups have popped up around Chicago, like Kin Insurance and Dais. And many of the city’s insurance tech startups are founded by those that used to work at corporate insurance companies.
