Next Insurance - Report: 44% of US Small Businesses Have Never Had Insurance

Survey conducted by Next Insurance of over 30,000 applicants from 16 classes of US small businesses shows alarming trends for consumer safety and confidence

News provided by

Next Insurance

Jan 23, 2018, 09:02 ET

PALO ALTO, California, Jan. 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Next Insurance, the leading digital insurance company for small businesses, released today a national snapshot of the state of small business insurance. From a survey of over 30,000 small businesses from 16 different classes of business, Next discovered that 44% of applicants who have been in business for a year or more have never had insurance – raising concern for both the small business owners operating without insurance, and the consumers interacting with these businesses.

The survey also revealed that:

Infographic – Next Insurance Report: 44% of US Small Businesses Have Never Had Insurance

Many SMBs Operate Without Insurance:

Of those applicants who have been in business for at least a year,

44% have never had insurance
21% recently had insurance but have now been uninsured for more than two months
Another 13% have recently had insurance but have now been uninsured for less than two months
Only 22% are currently insured

SMBs Want Coverage Now:

74% of applicants wanted to start coverage within one week
Half of those wanted to start coverage on the same day

"Consumers today have high expectations of the businesses that service them, and that includes assuming that they have proper insurance coverage in case of a problem. Relationships between consumers and small business owners require a certain modicum of trust and confidence, yet our data indicates that almost half of small businesses have never had insurance – putting valuable relationships at risk of collapse," said Guy Goldstein, CEO of Next Insurance. "Individual consumers as well as commercial organizations hiring small businesses should verify that their service providers are adequately insured in order to provide both the business and the customer with the confidence to succeed."

The legacy small business insurance market is failing new businesses, largely operating through offline agents who sometimes lack expertise in their client's specific business vertical and its insurance requirements. With no full-service solution to buy and maintain insurance online, businesses are left waiting weeks for even the simplest policy updates or requests to be processed, often accompanied by exorbitant service fees.

"These findings offer a glimpse into the market of SMB insurance and the relationship that businesses have with traditional insurance providers", said Alon Huri, CTO of Next Insurance "Small businesses are suffering when it comes to insurance because the policies on the market today are not relevant or overpriced. Until now. Next focuses on quickly delivering easy, affordable and transparent insurance policies to the widest swath of small businesses - all of which have specific requirements – to give them the confidence to take advantage of every opportunity."

For more information, view our accompanying blog post here and infographic.

About the Data:

This data was drawn from 30,000+ small businesses requesting an insurance quote through Next Insurance's online insurance platform. The classes of business involved in the survey include professional service providers such as personal trainers, contractors, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, painters, landscapers, photographers and more.

About Next Insurance:

Next Insurance is transforming small to medium business insurance with its tailored, personalized approach. Revolutionizing traditional insurance processes, Next Insurance has partnered with trusted insurance providers to offer small businesses policies that are tailored to the specific elements of each small business sector. Utilizing big data technology, Next Insurance utilizes valuable insights into consumer behavior to offer customized, affordable policies, a process which leads to satisfied customers.

Founded in 2016 by a team of serial entrepreneurs, the company is headquartered in Palo Alto and has received a total of $48 million in venture capital funding from Ribbit Capital, TLV Partners, Zeev Ventures, Munich RE Ventures, Markel, Nationwide, American Express, and others. For more information, visit Next-Insurance.com.

CONTACT: Brandon Weinstock, [email protected] ,+1-914-336-3878

SOURCE Next Insurance