Hippo

Hippo Holdings Inc., commonly known as Hippo, is a technology-driven property and casualty insurance company based in San Jose, California. Hippo got its start as a direct-to-consumer home insurer in 2015 and has since grown into a broader insurance platform. The company now combines a homeowners program, a carrier-partner business, and a digital distribution arm under one roof.

Website: hippo.com

Head office address: One Almaden Blvd, Suite 400, San Jose, California 95113

Founded: 2015, Palo Alto, California

Founders: Assaf Wand and Eyal Navon

Company type: public company (NYSE: HIPO)

Business focus: homeowners, renters, commercial multi-peril, and casualty insurance, plus insurance-as-a-service for managing general agents

Regions served: United States

History of Hippo

Assaf Wand and Eyal Navon founded the company in 2015 in Palo Alto, aiming to replace paperwork-heavy home insurance with a faster, tech-based process. It launched its first policies in California two years later. Several deals have since reshaped the business:

• 2020: Hippo acquires Spinnaker Insurance Company, adding its own carrier capacity instead of relying only on outside insurers
• 2020: it also acquires First Connect Insurance Services, launching a digital marketplace that gives independent agents access to multiple carriers
• 2021: the insurer completes a reverse merger with blank-check company Reinvent Technology Partners Z and begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange
• 2024: Centana Growth Partners buys an 80.8% majority stake in First Connect, with Hippo retaining a 19.2% minority interest
• 2025: the insurtech reports its strongest quarterly results as a public company, driven by underwriting discipline and growth outside home insurance
• 2026: the group consolidates its catastrophe reinsurance into a single, company-wide program instead of separate deals for each business line

These deals moved the company from a single-product home insurer toward a multi-segment carrier group. The Spinnaker deal gave it underwriting capacity, while First Connect added a distribution channel that reached agents outside its own direct-to-consumer base, before Hippo sold majority control of that unit in 2024.

What does the company insure?

The company built its name on homeowners coverage, but its offering has broadened well beyond that first product. Its current lines include:

• homeowners insurance, its original and still-core offering, covering fire, wind, theft, and liability risks
• renters insurance for tenants who need coverage for personal property and liability
• commercial multi-peril policies for small and mid-sized businesses
• casualty and specialty programs written through its Spinnaker carrier platform

Home insurance remains the most recognizable part of the business, but casualty and commercial lines have grown into a much larger share of Hippo’s overall book.

Hippo’s business model

The company operates as both an insurance agency and a carrier platform, a structure that sets it apart from most single-line insurtechs. Its Hippo Home Insurance Program handles direct-to-consumer homeowners policies.

Its Spinnaker subsidiary underwrites business for outside managing general agents, giving the group a second, fee-based revenue stream. Hippo also holds a minority stake in First Connect, an independent-agent marketplace it built and later sold majority control of to Centana Growth Partners.

This combination lets the firm earn revenue from underwriting, agency commissions, and platform fees rather than home insurance premiums alone. The insurer says the approach helps it manage the volatility that comes with catastrophe-exposed property coverage while it expands into steadier commercial and casualty lines.

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