Jeff McCann (pictured), founder of APOLLO Insurance, is at the forefront of Canada's insurtech revolution, leading a company that’s not only transforming how insurance is sold and managed but also tackling broader challenges within the multifamily property insurance market. At the heart of this transformation is his belief in the power of APIs and embedded technology to create seamless customer experiences while solving persistent inefficiencies in the industry.
"For me, the vision has always been that insurance will be included," McCann told IB. "This was something we set out and really believed in – this sort of embedded or included thesis – and APIs certainly enable that. I remember working at a brokerage that would load up our postage machine with $50,000 and mail out every single renewal and application just for one program. It was still a paper-based world, taking checks and not accepting credit cards.”
And, despite the progress, McCann revealed that many insurers still lag behind.
"Even today, in the Canadian market, a lot of companies only surface a quote or an indication. You can't even check out," he said. For APOLLO, the mission wasn’t just about moving from paper-based processes to online systems but advancing to fully integrated solutions.
"We wanted to go from paper to quote, bind, issue – and be able to go through that whole lifecycle,” McCann said. “[It’s about] just being so customer obsessed – I hate going into a bank and they ask you your name five times. You know what my name is – I’m already a customer here. And so, the cool thing about APIs is our ability to extract data and alleviate different questions, while still maintaining a strong underwriting profile.”
A great example of this, McCann told IB, is in APOLLO’s renters’ insurance product for the multifamily market.
“We know your building information, your address, and a lot of other factors that allow us to skip asking redundant questions. It’s all about making it so much more simple and slick for the end customer, while still delivering a full underwriting portfolio. We’ve had some early success in embedding insurance directly into the lease. It’s like, when you’re moving in, you get asked a simple, frictionless question: ‘Would you like to enrol in the package?’ The technology pulls all the data, creates a policy, manages the payments, and handles everything behind the scenes."
Looking ahead, McCann sees this innovation as just one step in a broader journey.
"The adventure continues," he said. "There’s always going to be another use case or problem statement to solve to make things a little better and easier for both partners – the tenant and the landlord. We’ve gone from paper-based processes to online, from mail-in checks to digital payments. But where it gets really interesting is when you look at subscription models.” Here, McCann drew inspiration from consumer trends, noting how services like Netflix have conditioned people to prefer monthly payments.
"At the time, we asked ourselves: why can’t you subscribe to your insurance? Everything else is training customers to pay monthly; we had to respond to that. There are only a couple of premium finance companies in Canada, and they had significant barriers. First, they didn’t have the technology to make it seamless and surface premium financing directly to the customer. Second, they wanted to take half the payment upfront. And we were relentless. We said, ‘No, it has to be 12 equal payments.’ This was before buy-now-pay-later took off, but we borrowed the same thinking. If you can pay for a T-shirt in instalments, why not insurance?"
To make this a reality, APOLLO had to innovate beyond just its insurance offering.
“We had to set up our own premium financing company as a subsidiary. Last year, we raised $18.5 million to capitalize it with debt and facilitate this loans product,” McCann said. “The infrastructure around it was a lot of work, but we started with the customer and worked backward. Today, we’re probably the only company offering 12 equal monthly payments as a distribution – not as a primary carrier. And renters, in particular, appreciate it. They’re already outlaying so much cash – first and last month’s rent, movers, and other expenses. The ability to spread out their insurance payments makes a huge difference.
“When you move, you have so many financial expenses. We’re asking, ‘What else can we do to make renters’ lives easier?’"
For instance, APOLLO has partnered with Zenbase, a company that helps tenants split rent payments and report them to credit bureaus.
"This benefits everyone,” McCann said. “Tenants build their credit, landlords get more qualified tenants, and APOLLO gets to be part of a broader financial solution. We love finding relationships with vendors that align with our broader vision of making life easier for renters. Insurance is just one way we’re solving pain points, but we’re constantly looking at what’s next."
But it’s McCann’s passion for solving customer pain points that’s inevitably palpable throughout his approach to business.
"The idea that you still can’t buy insurance online from many providers baffles me," he said. "But it’s not just about selling insurance – it’s about doing it well. It’s about rethinking the entire process to match modern customer expectations."
