FMH Insurance Collaborates With Start-Up FindBob to Offer Agents Perpetuation Tool

Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Co. of Iowa (FMH) has a new web-based tool designed to help FMH insurance agencies identify growth opportunities.

The new tool, called FMH Bridge, was developed in collaboration with FindBob, a tech start-up company focused on agency growth and perpetuation. The insurer launched FMH Bridge to a select group of agencies as a pilot program with plans to expand it to all FMH agents in the future.

“Providing value-added support to our agency partners is a key strategy at FMH. Looking for opportunities to grow or develop a transition plan for a book of business can be challenging for agents, and this tool is meant to ease that process as well as facilitate easier business transitions for customers,” said FMH President and CEO Ron Rutledge.

Roland Chan, founder and CEO of FindBob, said his firm’s platform helps home offices create efficiencies in a “largely frozen” mergers and acquisitions marketplace “through a personalized experience that engages and helps the agency principal achieve their transition or growth goals.”

Structured as a networking platform, FMH Bridge asks each participating agency to create an anonymous profile identifying where and how they would like to grow their business, or if they are considering selling their business. Agencies can search for other profiles and connect with each other to buy, sell, or partner on books of business.

Farmers Mutual Hail connected with FindBob through the Global Insurance Accelerator (GIA), the Des Moines-based insurtech and innovation business accelerator for the insurance industry. FMH is a founding investor in the GIA.

“Gaining the opportunity to access new insurance technologies like this platform from FindBob is just one of the reasons we invest in the GIA,” said Rutledge.

Headquartered in West Des Moines, FMH provides private and federal crop insurance, reinsurance products and services, as well as farm and ranch insurance that includes auto, property, and liability coverage.

FindBob is a provider of “transition management platforms” for the financial services industry that assist owners with continuity plans and provide opportunities for growth, mergers or partnership.

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