PRESS RELEASE —

ITC LAS VEGAS CONFERENCE, (Oct. 4, 2021) – Insurtech startup Buddy (https://my.buddy.insure/) today announced expansion beyond on-demand accident insurance for the adventure community into product-agnostic insurance infrastructure for booking, registration, and ticketing. Buddy’s proprietary engine allows platform partners to manage offerings in real-time through Buddy’s interface and partner API. The no-code software means products can be edited or added without coding expertise. The technology gives partners the flexibility to sell a variety of plans, from multiple insurance carriers, for a range of time frames--from seconds to annual plans.

“We started Buddy with a mission to digitize insurance for our friends in the adventure community, making plans available for a range of experiences on any booking engine,” says Charles Merritt, Buddy co-founder and CEO. “Buddy’s enhanced focus on the technical infrastructure of on-demand and embedded insurance enables booking and registration platforms to onboard and manage insurance products in just minutes versus the current standard of weeks or months, without the cost and time of additional coding. This is a game changer for the insurance industry, opening up access to an additional $13 billion in just individual accident premiums in the US alone.”

“Working with Buddy to embed insurance in The Forge’s checkout process was incredibly simple, and our guests can now choose from contextually relevant ways to cover their experiences on-site,” said Byron Bell, General Manager at The Forge Lemont Quarries.

Game changing benefits to the enhanced Buddy software include:

• Single API to integrate: Minimize developer resources managing multiple insurance and payment integrations.
• Product Agnostic engine: Partners can offer a range of insurance plans across products including on-demand accident, ticket and registration, group accident and medical, general liability, automobile, property, travel, special events and more. Access to new plans and carriers: Partners can choose from hundreds of on-demand plans from hundreds of carriers on Buddy’s network, through a single integration
• Edit insurance offering in real-time: Buddy’s software architecture makes it easy to hot swap or expand insurance products into existing integrations within minutes, resulting in real-time updates while maintaining full compliance.
• No-code product development and customization: Partners manage their insurance solutions in-house with little to no coding expertise required.
• Customer Success: Buddy enhances the partner’s customer service offering with their own chat, email and phone support staffed by licensed insurance agents
• Compliance: Integrates with payment gateways to collect insurance premiums compliantly in a single customer-facing transaction

Buddy will be previewing it’s expanded capabilities to an invite-only audience at the ITC Conference on 10/5.

Buddy is based in Richmond, Va., and is an alumnus of Techstars and Plug and Play Accelerators. Buddy was named a 2019 outdoor innovator by Outside Magazine and an insurance innovator to watch by Digital Insurance. Buddy is funded by Atypical Ventures, Sequoia Scout Fund, CIT, Techstars, and Plug and Play, as well as angel investors.