Good morning, ! It’s Wednesday and we’re diving into the $29.9B bet on cyber insurance as digital worlds became riskier. Bain Capital to inject $2B of liquidity in preferred equity to Acrisure Insurance broker, AI Hype Meets Human Hesitation in InsurTech niche.

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DATA DIVE

Cyber Insurance 2025: Covering the Cost of Clicks Gone Wrong

From $15B in 2024 to $29.9B by 2030, cyber insurance is sprinting toward ubiquity. Why? Because cybercrime is expected to hit $15.6T by 2029—yes, trillion. SMEs remain exposed, allocating just 10% of IT budgets to cyber, while hackers armed with AI and zero-days don’t care about budget cycles. The manufacturing sector, the most attacked (25.7%), still underfunds defenses—leaving insurers with both risk and opportunity. Meanwhile, coverage demand is spiking in hot zones like the UK (4,783 victims per million users). As threats evolve and regulators tighten up, expect cyber insurance to shift from “optional line item” to “line of defense.” (Read or Listen to Full Report)

TREND OF THE WEEK

The Plateau in Insurance Broker Deal Volume

After a record-breaking 802 deals in 2021, M&A activity in the insurance broker space has cooled, but not collapsed. Deal volume fell to 475 in 2024, marking the third straight year of decline and a 40% drop from the 2021 peak.

Still, context matters. The current level is roughly double the volume of 2013, underscoring a structurally higher baseline driven by consolidation trends, private equity interest, and succession-driven sales. What’s changing now is the pace, not the playbook.

Rising financing costs, tougher valuations, and a more selective buyer universe are putting pressure on marginal deals. Strategic buyers and sponsor-backed platforms are still active, but with sharper pencils and longer timelines.

Why it matters: The broker M&A boom may be past its peak, but the sector remains a magnet for capital. For buyers, discipline is back in vogue. For sellers, especially aging principals without succession plans, the window may still be open—but the terms are no longer 2021’s. (More)

PRESENTED BY BUILD WEALTH

WSJ Bestselling Author Walker Deibel’s BuildEnergy Fund Leverages 4-Decade Track Record (Over 80% Subscribed!)

​B​uildEnergy Fund I is officially open to accredited investors​! This $100 million cashflowing fund offers family office terms and 30%+ IRR to its investors. 

Why ​i​nvest? ​Walker Deibel, the serial entrepreneur, WSJ bestselling author, and founder of Build Wealth sees this fund as hitting all facets of his Growth Predictor Framework:

• Experienced Operating Team – A 4-decade / 6-fund track record of strong returns, including IRRs averaging 50%

• Attractive Returns – Prior fund is already cash flowing 15% cash-on-cash, and estimated 35% IRR only 18 months in.

• Institutional-Level Terms – Direct access to a $5M family office buy-in structure, reflecting a 7% immediate paper gain on a minimum $50,000 investment.

• Focused Sector Approach – A strategic, supply / demand imbalance play, acquiring $100 million roll-up of oil wells during a buyer’s market.

​If you’re an accredited investor, you can get access to the data room here:

Discover the deal 

For questions, reach out to Mike Brown, Head of Investor Relations: [email protected]

MARKET MOVERS

INSURTECH CORNER

AI Hype Meets Human Hesitation

AI may be revolutionizing back-end underwriting and fraud detection, but frontline buy-in remains uneven. Financial services reps still aren’t sold on AI’s client-facing potential.

Only 12% believe AI will speed up transactions, and less than a third think it can help clients earn money (29%), save money (27%), or boost financial literacy (26%). Even as firms pour capital into AI tooling, frontline skepticism suggests a lag in perceived value, or usability.

The most agreed-upon benefit? “Improving relationships with financial institutions.” But even that tops out at just 31% agreement. The dominant sentiment across categories is neutrality or outright doubt.

Why it matters: For InsurTech founders and investors, adoption isn't just a tech problem, it’s a trust one. If advisors and reps aren’t champions of AI, customer-facing innovation risks becoming shelfware. Bridging that trust gap may be the real frontier in financial AI. (More)

DEAL OF THE WEEK

Acrisure Gets a Liquidity Boost—PE-Style

Bain Capital is in advanced talks to inject $2B in preferred equity into Acrisure, one of the world’s largest independent insurance brokers. This fresh capital would partly cash out BDT & MSD Partners, who led a $3B round in 2021, and deepen Bain’s expanding insurance footprint. Acrisure, which pulled in $4.8B in revenue, calls itself a fintech, but this deal smells more like a secondary recap dressed in IPO-shy clothing. If closed, it could mark one of 2025’s largest secondary transactions—and a loud signal that private equity is retooling insurance cap tables without waiting on public markets. (More)

TOGETHER WITH REPUBLIC

Private Markets Aren’t Just for the 1% Anymore.

Institutions invest billions into private markets because they may provide superior market positions and steady cash flow, even in a shaky market–now you can too.

For the first time ever, elite private assets are available to all investors for as little as $500 with Hamilton Lane Private Infrastructure Fund.

Learn How You Can Invest Today.

_{*Source: Hamilton Lane data, Bloomberg as of January 2024. Past performance is not a guarantee of future returns.
All securities come with specific risks not limited to a total loss of your investment. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Please review the risks specific to this investment on the HLPIF deal page hosted on Republic.com/hlpif}

MACROECONOMICS

Growth on Mute: The GDP Chill in 2025

The U.S. economy is cooling faster than a pre-deal NDA, with 2025 GDP growth forecast at 1.2%—down from 2.8% in 2024. The bounce seen in Q1 was more tariff panic than real momentum, as industrial production now heads for a 1.5% contraction. Core drags? Higher tariffs, vanishing fiscal tailwinds, and the kind of policy uncertainty that spooks even the boldest CapEx committee. Despite resilient private balance sheets, business investment is shrinking under the weight of macro whiplash and rising costs. The Fed is staying cautious, while export demand slows. In short: it’s not a recession, but it sure feels like one in boardrooms. (More)

INTERESTING ARTICLES

Warren Buffett is stepping aside at Berkshire Hathaway — what does he believe will happen next?

How does J.P. Morgan explain the recent shift in insurance pricing and market momentum?

Are insured losses from natural catastrophes on track to reach 145 billion USD in 2025?

What should cargo owners know about marine risk insurance?

What do the April 27 China EV insurance registrations reveal about market performance for Nio Onvo Tesla and BYD?

TWEET OF THE WEEK

"The biggest challenge after success is shutting up about it."

Criss Jami