Ep 107 David Walsh and Graeme Newman of CFC Underwriting: Build your own

Today’s podcast is a really lively one. As I was listening back I
found that there are parts of this recording that are almost
breathless. That’s entirely down to the energy levels of who I am
interviewing. When I met David Walsh (Group CEO, picture left)
and Graeme Newman (CEO, picture right) of London-headquartered
MGA CFC Underwriting they were still buzzing after a significant
fundraise that has given their business a valuation of roughly
three and a half billion dollars on a multiple that makes CFC
look more like a tech company than an insurer. To put this into
context, this valuation is 10 times the what it was in the last
investment round just over four years ago and probably more than
double when they were first on the show just over a year ago.
David and Graeme had also just come through a calendar year in
which they had posted 50% GWP growth and in which they had set up
a Lloyd’s Syndicate to support their underwriting, which is
projected to breach the $1bn GWP barrier in 2022. We talk about
the pair’s ambitious growth plans in the ultra-dynamic and
dislocated cyber insurance space and how they feel the market is
bifurcating between those carriers that are doubling down on the
product and really grappling with the ransomware epidemic and
those that frankly are not. But perhaps more interesting than the
all the valuable details, in this podcast we get a deep view into
this duo’s growth mindset and their firm’s almost unique
relationship with technology that makes it one of the industry’s
very few native insurtechs. From what follows if anything the
business’s growth looks likely to accelerate more from here.


NOTES: I mention an interesting report on systemic cyber loss
costs. This indeed came from CFC itself and was attributed to
CFC's head of Cyber, James Burns, speaking at his company's Cyber
Forum in December 2021. It was reported by the Insurance Insider:
(Subscription needed)
https://www.insuranceinsider.com/article/29eg3lhzopfx8r3rvr2f4/cfc-real-life-systemic-cyber-events-challenging-model-assumptions?utm_content=189971317&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-129610827


LINKS We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo:
https://www.advantagego.com/


We also thank Claims Direct Access (CDA) for their support today:
https://www.claimsdirectaccess.com/