Industry veteran Donald Harrell, who founded Montague Risk Partners in late 2021, describes the firm’s recent deal to acquire a stake in two UK-based firms in the managing general agent (MGA) space as just the start of its three-pronged approach—and hints there will be more announcements by year-end around drawing tech-focused firms into the insurance space.

Montague Risk Partners was formed with the intention of providing private investment into insurance MGAs and other insurance-related businesses, especially technology-led businesses. Harrell, who spent almost 15 years working under Hank Greenberg at AIG and CV Starr before significant stints with Aspen and then Willis Re, teamed up with investor Cory Moulton, CEO of Omena Partners, to launch what he calls a MGA incubation and risk-sharing platform.

In August, it unveiled its first deals: in partnership with private equity investor Rcapital Partners it acquired personal lines MGA UK General Insurance and Precision Partnership, which provides support functions to a number of MGAs. Under the terms of the transaction, Montague Investment Group will take a minority stake.

Acquiring MGAs is only part of Harrell’s plan for Montague. He hints that he will be unveiling its own MGA offering very soon, which will offer a number of products in the specialty space. “We have the paper, the capacity, and we are talking to the right underwriters. It is a question of matching the two,” he said.

This is an area he is particularly excited about. He believes that good speciality underwriters can get frustrated writing the business within a larger organisation.

“We are not planning to build a traditional MGA, but we will take opportunities when they are there,” he said. “In an MGA you can give good underwriters the freedom to underwrite and pay them well when the business is profitable. That will allow us to attract the talent of individuals frustrated within large organisations.”

The third part of the plan for Montague is to identify companies not operating in the insurance space that have developed a very sophisticated use of technology. Montague will help them develop and roll out an insurance offering to complement that.

He offers an example of a theoretical trucking company that has become very sophisticated in the way it tracks its vehicles, and the quality of its drivers, even assessing wear and tear on the vehicles using remote technology.

“Such a company would have almost all the components needed to move into the insurance space with an offering,” Harrell said. “The ways businesses can now monitor risk using the internet of things is extremely sophisticated but some of them have never considered the insurance space.

“We are talking real next-generation technology in some cases. That is the future: it is not just about taking the risk, it is also about managing the risk. We want to help businesses like that build insurance solutions. We are happy to incubate such businesses: they have the technology, we teach them about insurance.”

Harrell says the company is in talks with a number of such businesses and he expects announcements by the end of the year.

His long-term goal for Montague is to have a number of separate but interconnected businesses: a mixture of its own MGA offering, MGAs it has invested in and a number of what might become insurtechs in its portfolio.

“It will be a bit like a shopping mall, with separate stores but all under the same roof,” he concluded.