Rebecca Ince & Mark Oldroyd: Carbon: Carbon’s next chapter: Growth equity and the future of delegated underwriting (415)

Introduction:   Growth equity can open the door to the next stage of an MGA’s growth. But the bigger question is how that capital can be used to strengthen underwriting, accelerate technology and build a delegated business that can compete at greater scale.  Joining Robin Merttens on the podcast, Rebecca Ince, Chief Operating Officer at Carbon Underwriting, and Mark Oldroyd, Chief Technology Officer at Carbon Underwriting, explain what comes next following Carbon’s growth equity investment from FTV Capital.  Rebecca explains why finding the right investment partner was about more than funding. With Carbon growing from £150 million of premium in 2023 to £450 million this year, its next phase requires greater investment in technology alongside ambitions to expand further into the US. FTV’s experience across financial technology and US insurance made both areas important factors in the decision.  The discussion explores how that investment could accelerate Carbon’s technology strategy, particularly its proprietary Graphene analytics platform. Mark explains why centralised, structured data provides a strong foundation for AI and where the technology is already creating practical value, including claims matching. He also argues that MGAs need to distinguish between technology they should build themselves and capabilities they can buy, while protecting the underwriting expertise, workflows and intellectual property that differentiate them.  They also discuss why bordereaux are unlikely to disappear anytime soon, despite widespread appetite for richer and more frequent data exchange. Rather than waiting for the entire ecosystem to change, Mark explains why the opportunity is to remove friction from collecting and standardising data, allowing insurers to focus more attention on the insights and decisions that come from it.  Looking ahead, Rebecca explains why Carbon plans to remain focused on delegated underwriting while expanding into new classes and geographies, particularly the US. They also explore how analytics can help identify rate-adequate opportunities as conditions soften and what it takes to protect culture as a business rapidly scales beyond 100 people.  In this episode you’ll learn:  Why Carbon chose growth equity and what it looked for beyond capital when selecting an investment partner  How centralised, structured data creates a stronger foundation for applying AI across underwriting and claims  Where AI is already delivering practical value within Carbon’s insurance workflows  How MGAs can decide which technology capabilities to build and which to buy  Why proprietary underwriting expertise, workflows and data are becoming increasingly important sources of differentiation  Why bordereaux are unlikely to disappear from delegated underwriting in the next three to five years  What is preventing carriers and MGAs from exchanging richer, more frequent data  Why Carbon sees the US as its next major growth opportunity  How analytics can help underwriters find rate-adequate business as market conditions soften  What rapidly growing MGAs can do to protect their culture as they scale  Hear more from Carbon at The Golden Age of MGAs  Carbon is sponsoring InsTech’s upcoming The Golden Age of MGAs? Building to win in any market cycle event on 24 September. Rebecca will moderate the Capital diversification and the resilient MGA panel, joined by Carbon Co-Founder and Managing Director Ben Laidlaw, CFC Underwriting’s Philippa Berry and Gallagher Re’s Jane Fenton. They’ll explore practical approaches to multi-carrier strategies, long-term capacity agreements, fronting, reinsurance access and patient capital structures that can withstand a full market cycle.  Find out more and register here. Career opportunities at Carbon  Carbon is continuing to grow its team and is looking for people interested in helping shape the future of delegated underwriting across underwriting, technology, data and operations.  View current opportunities at Carbon.   If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn.  Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.