By Raj Nair, Head of Financial Services, Gorilla Logic
Your insurance product might be invisible to your next customer — not because it’s bad, but because they’re buying coverage inside someone else’s app.
Insurance distribution is being rebuilt around ecosystems and marketplaces: inside banking apps, payroll systems, travel platforms, and agent tools. As embedded models scale, MGAs and delegated underwriters are reshaping distribution, GenAI is moving from pilots into underwriting and claims, and new product lines (cyber, parametric, telematics) are redefining product economics.
The incumbents that win will treat insurance as APIs + experiences, not just policies.
I wrote this because so many carriers and insurtechs we talk to are realizing that distribution, not product, is where transformation is accelerating.
1) Embedded Insurance Becomes a Mainstream Channel — Inside Other People’s Products
Customers are buying protection where they already transact. Think Nubank × Chubb (millions of in-app policies), Allianz Partners embedded across travel and e-commerce, and SMB coverage offered directly inside platforms like QuickBooks, Square, and Gusto.
Forecasts put embedded P&C sales at tens to hundreds of billions by 2030, depending on scope — Deloitte’s estimates illustrate how fast this is scaling.
Why it steals share: the platform (bank, payroll, checkout) owns the moment of need and the customer relationship. If you’re not integrated, you’re invisible. McKinsey notes distribution is “getting closer to the customer” as insurance becomes part of broader purchase journeys — a structural shift, not a fad.
2) Agents Still Matter — Now Super-Powered by Small-Commercial Marketplaces
On the commercial side, agent-centric exchanges like Bold Penguin, Tarmika (Applied), and Semsee are turning small-business quoting into a multi-carrier marketplace. That directs premium toward carriers with the right appetite, price, and API readiness — not necessarily the biggest brand.
Recent deployments show continued adoption of these “single-entry, multi-quote” rails across agencies. In our recent conversations with mid and large MGAs and regional carriers, we’re hearing the same concern: if you’re not API-ready for these marketplaces, you’re simply not getting the submissions.
Signal to watch: MGA/DUAE growth. U.S. MGAs wrote over $114B of direct premium in 2024 (+16% YoY), continuing to outpace the broader P&C market. AM Best reports similar double-digit growth. Capacity sits behind fronting carriers and reinsurers, but distribution power is concentrating in the marketplace/MGA layer.
3) GenAI Moves from Hype to Measurable Productivity (with Guardrails)
Surveys of large insurers point to 10–20% productivity gains and 1.5–3 pts improvement in technical results as GenAI scales — especially when paired with domain-level transformations (not just isolated bots).
Expect the fastest payback in:
- Claims intake and triage
- Document intelligence
- Subrogation
- Agent and service tooling
- First-line underwriting support
Compliance lens: Regulators are hardening AI governance. The NAIC Model AI Bulletin is being adopted in multiple U.S. states, while the EU AI Act classifies pricing and underwriting in life and health as high-risk — requiring documentation, bias testing, and human oversight.
Build both: the marketplace and the model-risk playbook.
4) Core Platforms Are Becoming App Stores
Cloud cores are now ecosystems. Guidewire Marketplace has surpassed 110+ cloud-native integrations (and thousands of partner downloads), while Duck Creek recently launched a Payments Marketplace to cut integrations from months to weeks.
For carriers, this shortens the path to plug in new AI, payments, data, and distribution partners — the critical plumbing for any marketplace strategy.
5) New Products, New Economics: Cyber, Parametric, Telematics
Cyber continues to scale globally despite a 2023 U.S. pause, with S&P forecasting ~$23B in premiums by 2026 and reinsurers such as Munich Re highlighting growth and large-loss dynamics.
Parametric insurance is expanding into flood and climate perils (e.g., FloodFlash U.S. expansion) and community solutions — valuable for fast payouts and regions with capacity strain.
Telematics and UBI are regaining momentum as connected vehicles and fleet platforms make data easier to ingest. Adoption metrics underscore the shift to usage-based pricing.
Even with small base premiums, Tesla Insurance posted triple-digit growth — a clear example of distribution moving closer to the product maker. Expect more OEM- and platform-led plays ahead.
Where the Wallet Share Is Moving (and Why)
Platform marketplaces — from banking to travel — own discovery and checkout, achieving attach rates traditional remarketing can’t touch.
- Platform marketplaces: Nubank–Chubb, NEXT Connect embedded in QuickBooks, Square, and Gusto.
- Agent marketplaces: Small-commercial platforms shifting premium toward API-ready carriers (Tarmika, Bold Penguin, Semsee).
- MGA/DUAEs: Capturing growth by innovating on product + distribution while renting balance sheets.
Distribution power is moving to the edges of the insurance ecosystem, where data, APIs, and partnerships define who wins.
Why This Matters to Your Technology Strategy
To compete in this new insurance marketplace model, technology leaders need more than a policy system — they need composable, API-driven architectures that can plug into ecosystems quickly and safely.
At Gorilla Logic, we help insurers and fintech innovators:
- Modernize legacy cores for API-enabled insurance distribution.
- Build product factories that ship new embedded or marketplace-ready offerings in weeks.
- Integrate AI and automation safely, with governance aligned to NAIC and EU AI standards.
- Stand up analytics and data pipelines that power personalization and risk insight.
A Playbook to Build (or Join) a Marketplace
- Pick your edge moment. Where does your customer already complete a job — payroll, checkout, trip booking, vehicle delivery, account opening? Make insurance one click from that moment.
- Decide “join vs. build.” Join existing exchanges (for immediate volume) or embed via partner SDKs/APIs (Chubb Studio, NEXT Connect) when you own distribution.
- Modernize your core and APIs. Adopt cores like Guidewire or Duck Creek that shorten integration cycles to weeks, not quarters.
- Stand up a product factory. Cross-functional pods shipping embedded offers each sprint.
- Operationalize GenAI — safely. Focus on claims ingestion, document intelligence, and agent assistance with strong bias testing and oversight.
- Measure the right KPIs. Attach rate, conversion at checkout, time-to-bind, partner NPS, and incremental LTV vs. cannibalization.
- Secure capacity early. Align fronting and reinsurance partners before launching new embedded channels.
Assess Your Marketplace Readiness
The next wave of InsurTech isn’t about who has the biggest book — it’s about who plugs in fastest.
Ready to assess your marketplace readiness or modernize your insurance core?
Gorilla Logic helps insurers, MGAs, and fintech innovators build the API-driven platforms, AI-enabled workflows, and partner ecosystems that power the future of digital insurance.
If you’re exploring how these marketplace shifts apply to your organization—or if you’re already feeling the pressure to move faster—I’d love to connect.