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Insurtech combines with Top 100 brokerage

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Spike Lipkin, Kurt de Grosz and Brian Hetherington

Insurtech brokerage Newfront Insurance Inc. said Thursday it has agreed to merge with established brokerage ABD Insurance and Financial Services Inc.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

San Mateo, California-based ABD is the 40th largest brokerage of U.S. business, with $112.5 million in 2020 brokerage revenue, according to Business Insurance’s latest ranking.

The combined companies will be called Newfront and headquartered in San Francisco, according to a joint statement.

Spike Lipkin, CEO of Newfront, will head the combined company. Kurt de Grosz, president of ABD, will be executive chairman, and Brian Hetherington, chairman of ABD, will be president of Newfront.

Newfront was founded in 2017, and its lead investors are private equity firms Founders Fund LLC and Meritech Capital Partners LP. The company raised an additional $100 million in capital last year. It has about 200 staff and provides commercial property/casualty and employee benefits coverage.

ABD, which has about 370 employees, was founded by Mr. de Grosz and Mr. Hetherington in 2011. About half its revenue is derived from commercial retail business, and about 40% is employee benefits.