Overview
Seeing great potential for growth, we worked closely with Kingsbridge founder, Steve Wynne, to develop the strategy, enhance the management team and build a digital product and brand. During our investment period Kingsbridge acquired Larsen Howie, a specialist online provider of insurance and IR35 and tax related services, and InsurTech pioneer Dinghy. Dinghy launched the first ever on-demand Professional Indemnity (PI) insurance cover, aimed at freelance professionals in the media and creative industries. These acquisitions allowed Kingsbridge to broaden its distribution channels and product offering.
The opportunity
Kingsbridge is an ambitious, high growth insurance business. We enjoyed working with this energy and enthusiasm, to help build the value of Kingsbridge and set its future direction.
To prepare for expansion, we invested in the management team, bringing in a new Chairman, Ian Owen, and Chief Executive, James Twining. Ian is a highly accomplished private-equity chairman, with extensive experience of running UK and international insurance companies. James is an ex-McKinsey consultant who has held senior roles at JLT. We also recruited a CFO, Andy Stevens, who previously held senior roles within RAC and is an experienced private-equity Finance Director.
Dunedin also helped to build Kingsbridge’s digital offering, for example by sourcing and executing the two strategic acquisitions – Larsen Howie and Dinghy.
Working together
Open, regular dialogue cemented a very close working relationship between Dunedin and the Kingsbridge team – and fostered a mutual understanding that supports our strategic involvement. As James Twining, Kingsbridge’s Chief Executive, put it, “Dunedin worked with us on our succession planning to ensure we had the right team in place for the next stage of growth. We also used their knowledge and experience to help us create and prioritise the strategy to underpin that growth, capitalising on the opportunities we created.”
Looking ahead
The market opportunity for contractor insurance remains significant. Kingsbridge is already the leading provider of insurance packages to the UK contractor industry, servicing the needs of almost 50,000 customers. With contractors becoming an increasingly prevalent component of the UK workforce, Kingsbridge can look forward to long-term growth in demand for its services. And as insurance becomes more of a standard requirement for both contractors and corporates, Kingsbridge’s growth prospects look even more robust – especially as the firm begins to cover new occupations and introduces new products tailored to the contractor market.
In March 2020 we sold our investment in Kingsbridge to Pennsylvania-based NSM Insurance Inc.
Under Dunedin’s ownership, the business achieved significant growth, doubling its client base and growing its revenues by an average of 24% per annum since 2016.
