Tampa insurance startup takes over $400M in premiums from downgraded Florida insurer

The Tampa insurance startup Slide is acquiring $400 million in premiums from St. Johns Insurance Co., adding coverage to an estimated 150,000 policyholders, the company announced Tuesday.

St. Johns Insurance Co. served Florida and South Carolina residents for nearly 20 years from their headquarters in Orlando. As one of Florida’s largest property insurers, policyholders were at risk of being forced to find new coverage when a ratings agency withdrew St. Johns’ “A” rating assessment in February.

Slide petitioned the Office of Insurance Regulation to take over St. Johns’ policies on March 1. Slide is an “insurtech” company designed to build custom policies based on giant caches of detailed underwriting data. The company closed on $100 million in funding late last year.

This latest move will allow Slide to offer voluntary appointments to more than 2,700 agents in Florida and South Carolina, according to a news release.

Slide is expected to launch in five states this year and hopes to expand to 100 employees in the Tampa area.

Co-founder Bruce Lucas also founded Heritage Insurance in 2012, which raised $60 million in early funding and went public in 2014, and now has hundreds of employees.