Munich Re-owned HSB is acquiring a cybersecurity digital platform for small businesses developed by InsurTech startup Zeguro. The purchase covers select digital assets, and six Zeguro product development employees will also be joining HSB as part of the deal.
Munich Re has connections with Zeguro dating to at least 2018, when it participated in the company’s $5 million seed financing round. HSB, formerly Hartford Steam Boiler, also has a longstanding partnership with Zeguro going back three years that provides cyber insurance to small and medium businesses.
Neither side is disclosing financial details. But Zeguro founder and CEO Sidd Gavirneni explained to Carrier Management that the HSB purchase means the end of his four-year-old company.
“Although the transaction was structured as a purchase of the cyber safety platform, HSB essentially acquired the core Zeguro business and took on Zeguro’s product team,” Gavirneni said via email. “Zeguro, Inc. will not be continuing business operations.”
Gavirneni said that customers have responded well to “the Zeguro Cyber Safety” platform, but added there is more work to be done, and he will continue to help shape development.
Why did the InsurTech startup pursue this path? Gavirneni said it was simply the right fit.
“With the changing cybersecurity and cyber insurance landscape, and with our close partnership with HSB, this was the right fit for everything Zeguro has done to date,” he said.
Assets in the deal include a roster of cyber risk management tools and services. The digital platform itself is the main win: technology that provides small and mid-size businesses with integrated online access to cybersecurity training, compliance policies, and web application monitoring to identify their cyber vulnerabilities. HSB said adding the Zeguro Cyber Safety platform as well as support personnel will help boost the cybersecurity services HSB offers customers and partners through a number of insurance products.
“A business needs both cyber insurance and security,” Timothy Zeilman, vice president for HSB, said in prepared remarks. “The combination of HSB’s cyber coverage and Zeguro’s proven risk management platform offers a seamless experience for our customers to get the protection they need.”
HSB has long been in the cyber insurance space. It provides a range of comprehensive cyber coverages and services through agents, brokers, and insurance companies that partner with HSB to add cyber insurance to their policies.
Source: Munich Re/HSB
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