Kin Insurance, a Chicago home insurance startup, is canceling its previously announced SPAC deal that would have valued the company at more than $1 billion.
Kin and special purpose acquisition company Omnichannel Acquisition Corp. announced Wednesday afternoon that they have mutually agreed to terminate their planned merger, which was announced in July.
Omnichannel is led by Matt Higgins, co-founder and CEO of RSE Ventures and an occasional investor on Shark Tank.
The companies citied "unfavorable market conditions" as cause for the termination.
"We worked tirelessly over the better part of a year to bring this combination to fruition, but we have collectively decided that current market conditions are simply not conducive to Kin becoming a public company at this time," Kin CEO Sean Harper said in a statement.
Harper added that the startup would not rule out another attempt at going public down the road.
"We have a bright future ahead of us — one that will involve accessing the public markets when the time is appropriate," he said.
Founded in 2016, Kin's insurance platform allows it to make underwriting decisions quickly based on data from satellite images, public records and other sources. Kin sells insurance directly to homeowners, rather than through outside agents. Removing the middleman offers Kin the ability to price its insurance plans at lower rates, the company says.
Kin finished 2021 with $104 million in total managed premium, which was up from $25 million in 2020. It has raised over $150 million in funding from investors like Senator Investment Group, Hudson Structured Capital Management and professional golfer Rory McIlroy.
