Vancouver, BC, June 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apollo Insurance Solutions (“Apollo”), Canada’s largest online insurance marketplace, officially launches today, unveiling an industry-first monthly small business insurance subscription available in Canada through the groundbreaking Apollo Exchange – an ecommerce marketplace that enables brokers and their small business clients to instantly quote and purchase insurance products entirely online. The announcement follows Apollo’s angel round of funding, which, after the completion of beta testing on April 1, 2019, successfully closed at $1 million CAD with support from notable investors, including Drew Green, Matias Marquez, Kim Kaplan, and Tim Gamble. This news comes at a critical time when the existing process for insurance policies lacks efficiency and results in gaps in suitable coverage, particularly for small businesses.
“Today’s launch is a defining moment in the Apollo story, and a memorable day for the entire team,” said Jeff McCann, Co-founder and CEO of Apollo Insurance Solutions. “We wanted to make it easier for Canada’s small businesses to operate, and a major pain point with starting and growing a small business is insurance. With the small business insurance subscription, we make it fast, easy to access, and affordable, empowering insurance brokers by streamlining their workflow so that they can spend more time offering strategic advice and counsel. It seems simple considering we subscribe to almost everything else, but it has yet to exist – until today.”
Current insurance policies require long application forms and wait times for quote turnaround, manual renewal or reapproval by a broker upon expiration, and limited access given 9-5 office hours – major pain points for small businesses. Apollo offers a simple solution that streamlines the process and alleviates the labour intensive paperwork for both brokers and their small business clientele.
“Incidents of complex new risks such as cyber breaches, natural disasters, massive supply chain inefficiencies, and a lengthy application process, are having a negative impact on Canada’s small businesses,” added McCann. “As it stands, it currently takes roughly six weeks to process an insurance application through to policy issuance and payment settlement. By leveraging innovation and technology, Apollo is able to expedite the entire process to just five minutes.”
Apollo helps insurance brokers close deals faster, accelerate revenues, and reduce costs. By simplifying the insurance application, quoting, and buying process through digitization – all of which is currently done on paper or PDF – brokers can access multiple insurance products, covering over 500 classes of business (from studios, to retail stores, to accountants, and hair salons) on one central platform, freeing up to 45 per cent of brokers’ time from administrative tasks. Since launching Beta testing, over 300 registered individual broker users have signed up on the Apollo Exchange marketplace, transacted 800 small business policies, and processed over 3,600 digital insurance applications.
The company is led by Insurance Broker Magazine’s Top 10 Under 40 recipient and former broker, Co-Founder and CEO, Jeff McCann. The Apollo leadership team is made up of award-winning journalist, Co-Founder and Editor in Chief, David Dyck; Co-Founder and CTO, Justin Hamade; and 2018 Young Gun of the Year, Head of Broker Engagement, Margo Lyons. Supported by some of Canada’s top entrepreneurial talent, Apollo’s Board of Directors includes Drew Green, CEO of Indochino; Tim Gamble, Founding Partner at Thunderbird Entertainment; and Steve Albiani of Stratum Advisory Group.
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About Apollo Insurance Solutions
Headquartered in Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood, Apollo Insurance Solutions is Canada’s largest online insurance marketplace. Co-founded by Jeff McCann, David Dyck, Justin Hamade, and Drew Green, Apollo was created to empower brokers to better serve small businesses by giving them 24/7 access to digital insurance.
Apollo Exchange offers Canada’s brokers access to multiple insurance providers, with over 500 classes of insurance. Unlike the traditionally lengthy insurance policy and application process – which can take up to six weeks – Apollo users can quote, pay, and have their policy documents issued online in just under five minutes, allowing them to focus on the important stuff: building trusted relationships and offering strategic, thoughtful counsel.
Following the completion of its Beta testing in April 2019, Apollo has successfully closed its angel round of funding, raising $1 million CAD with the support of notable investors, including Drew Green, Matias Marquez, Kim Kaplan, and Caliber Ventures. Acting members of Apollo’s Board of Directors are leading industry and entrepreneurial figures Drew Green, Steve Albiani, Tim Gamble, and Jeff McCann. In June 2019, the company launched a first of its kind, digital, monthly subscription service. For more information, visit: http://story.apollocover.com/
EDITOR NOTES:
Board of Directors
- - Drew Green, CEO, President & Director of Indochino
- - Steve Albiani, Managing Partner at Stratum Advisory Group Inc.
- - Tim Gamble, President & CEO of Thunderbird Entertainment
- - Jeff McCann, Co-Founder & CEO of Apollo Insurance Solutions
Board of Advisors
- - Matias Marquez, previously President of Buyatab Online Inc.
- - Jeff Setterington, Director of Specialty Solutions, National Sales at Intact
- - Kim Kaplan, VP of Product Management, Revenue Optimization & Marketing at Plenty of Fish
- - Kenndal McArdle, Ex-NHL player and VC Associate at PenderFund Capital Management
- - Curtis White, President of Caliber Ventures