By now, you’ve likely heard us mention BrokerTech Ventures (BTV). If not, let me do a quick refresher.

What Is BTV?

BTV is a company Holmes Murphy co-founded in mid-2019. It literally began with a whiteboard and dry erase markers and has been growing incrementally month over month ever since.

In the simplest of terms, BTV is the first broker-led platform focused on delivering innovation to the insurance broker industry. There has never been another company like BTV dedicated to the broker side of the insurance innovation equation. Basically, BTV provides a venue for the best minds in insurance and technology to collaborate and bring to market leading-edge ideas and solutions. On top of this, BTV invests in the research and testing for chosen startups, provides access to veteran industry mentors, and helps scale the technology to market through broker distribution channels.

While it’s likely best known for the Accelerator, BTV is actually so much more. We have five towers in all — the Accelerator, Early-Stage Investments, Innovation, Capital, and Media/Communications.

While I won’t go into all of that for purposes of this blog, as I looked back on 2020 and ahead for 2021, I began to truly visualize BTV’s success. While we are proud of what we’ve built and continue to build, we recognize that one of the greatest metrics of success lives within the data. So, for this blog, that’s what I’m going to focus on!

BTV Accelerator

Our BTV Accelerator launched in the fall of 2019 with an announcement made during the InsureTech Connect Conference in Las Vegas and followed by representation at the Insurance Leadership Forum (CIAB) in Colorado Springs. The sheer brand placement between these two pinnacle insurance events allowed us to achieve global insurtech company Accelerator applications above 50. One year later, we approached nearly 100 applicants from around the world.

Through our Accelerator pipeline and rolling from 2019 to 2021, we are pleased to see expanded diversity — in terms of founder and team makeup, line of business, geography, and product journey.

We believe that our BTV Accelerator is unlike any in the industry, and the world, for that matter. We aspire to continue to grow this model within the USA and beyond.

Agency + Insurance Company Relationships

It began with five…sounds like the beginning of western novel, doesn’t it? Well, indeed BTV did begin with five broker agencies as the original owners — Holmes Murphy, M3, ABD, PayneWest, and Conner Strong. We slowly expanded our brokerage partnerships, and BTV now proudly represents 13 independent brokerages spanning from Silicon Valley to New Jersey.

Once we assembled a blue-ribbon roster of agencies, we then expanded our relationships in an official capacity with insurance companies. As we deployed our BTV 2021 Accelerator on March 1, we now represent 11 multi-regional and international insurance companies, including Travelers, Zurich North America, the best agent and broker-focused carriers, top three wholesalers, and one of the most innovative insurance benefits carriers.

Effectively, BTV has constructed a team including 24 of the most notable brands in the insurance industry, and we are just getting started!

Investment Expansions

Through our BTV Accelerator, each year we commit $50,000/per participating and selected insurtech startup companies in the form of a SAFE note. Given the initial investments in the inaugural 12 companies in our 2020 cohort, we made an opening initial investment of $600,000 funded solely by our BTV agency partners.

As we moved through 2020 and into 2021, we made an investment via our Early-Stage tower in Highwing — a data exchange platform bridging transparency and communication between the broker and carrier community. In addition, we have invested through follow-along capital in four of our BTV Cohort graduates.

All said, we are nearing $4 million in investments led out for, with, and by, BTV and our agency partners. We’ve also been able to calculate inferred valuations of the insurtech companies — pre vs. post BTV. Between 2020 and 2021, we have metrics showing appreciated valuations nearing $70 million. I can’t tell you how amazing this is!

Given this, we see validating potential in standing up our BTV Capital tower in 2021 and we’re eager to fuel insurtech solutions to propel them through our funding and multi-billion-dollar distribution platform.

Our ultimate desire is to help our customers identify their risks sooner and drive down their costs, faster. If we achieve this, we’ve already modeled a metric for Holmes Murphy and BTV’s success!

Geographic Reach

BTV takes rolling conversations with brokers, insurance companies, investors, and insurtech companies year-round, with every intention to approach our opportunities with eyes wide open. This philosophical approach supported by the infinite game mentality — where we spread abundance and the work is never done — is what led to the broadening of our geographic reach from 2019 to 2020, and now from 2020 to 2021.

In November 2020, we announced our first international expansion in partnership with InsurTech Israel and Ayalon Insurance Company, creating the Israeli InsurTech Accelerator — the first broker-led Accelerator model in Israel.

We have intentions on building out similar models with broker communities in Europe and Latin America in 2021, where these platforms would perform as a feeder system into our BTV Accelerator and investment model in the United States. So, when we say BTV is going international…we truly mean it!

Media & Communication Reach

As with all success comes media attention, and we have been so excited to get awesome coverage through the likes of ITC, Agency Connect, Leader’s Edge Magazine, CalBroker Magazine, and other industry-leading trade publications.

BTV has been covered on every platform you can think of — print, digital, social, podcasts, videos, conference panels, affinity groups, and the list goes on. We have been overwhelmed by the efforts of so many outlets coming to us to learn more and spread the word. The coverage has truly been priceless to us.

BTV by the Numbers

As I mentioned in the beginning of this blog, the greatest metrics of success lives within the data. So, as I close this blog, I wanted to share the numbers we’ve seen to date.

We are so excited about the waves we are making in the industry, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds!

If you’re interested in learning more about BTV, don’t hesitate to reach out to us through our BTV or Holmes Murphy websites. We’d love to talk with you!