COLUMBUS, OHIO, February 9, 2021 – Bold Penguin, a commercial insurance technology provider focusing on the small business quote and bind experience, announced today class and coverage expansion with Markel Specialty, a division of Markel Corporation. This marks another year of successful expansions between the two companies and further enhances the digital capabilities of Markel’s admitted and non-admitted products available through the Bold Penguin Exchange.

“Markel has the breadth of coverage and the technical excellence we look for in a carrier partner,” said Jim Struntz, Chief Operating Officer of Bold Penguin. “Markel’s ability to handle harder to place risks, in addition to the more main street businesses, allows for each individual small business to seamlessly traverse through the application process. This has the very positive impact of increasing the quote yield for our customers.”

Bold Penguin’s Exchange is the largest of its kind and connects businesses, agents, and carriers to the right quote quickly and efficiently. The SaaS platform can cut the quote-to-bind time by close to 92%. The company has been selectively adding carriers to the Exchange to ensure users can access a comprehensive selection of options to meet their customers’ coverage needs. In addition to onboarding carriers, Bold Penguin offers its technology to a variety of distribution users who are looking to build storefronts, offer multi-product and multi-carrier experiences to its small business end customers, and overall have a more streamlined quoting experience.

“By partnering with Bold Penguin, Markel has another distribution point to reach small business owners looking for insurance, especially those in niche markets or with unusual or hard-to-place risks. Bold Penguin and Markel share a common goal to help small business owners obtain the risk protection policies they need and deserve, and this innovative technology platform helps us achieve that,” said Jeff Ritchie, Director of Alternative Distribution Business Development at Markel Specialty.

In early 2020 the two organizations launched a fully digital E&S experience offered through Markel Specialty and have seen an uptick in usage and activity in excess and surplus demand.

About Bold Penguin

Bold Penguin is where technology enhances the human touch in commercial insurance. With a heavy focus on agents, Bold Penguin upgrades the user experience for businesses, creates an easy tool for agents, and offers a streamlined process of underwriting for carriers. Bold Penguin was founded in 2016 by a group of entrepreneurs who spent their early days working with Allstate, Nationwide and Progressive alongside regional carriers and established insurance agencies. For more details, please visit www.boldpenguin.com.

About Markel Corporation

Markel is a diverse financial holding company serving a variety of niche markets. The company’s principal business markets and underwrites specialty insurance products. In each of the company’s businesses, it seeks to provide quality products and excellent customer service so that it can be a market leader. The financial goals of the company are to earn consistent underwriting and operating profits and superior investment returns to build shareholder value. Visit Markel on the web at markel.com.

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