Kin has reported higher profitability in the first quarter of 2026, driven by a growing renewal book and disciplined underwriting across its reciprocal exchanges.
Total revenue for the three months to March 31 rose 20% year over year to $56.6 million, up from $47.0 million in the prior-year period. Gross written premium increased 20% to $177.6 million, while premium in force – a key indicator of future revenue – grew 26% to $666.8 million.
Gross profit margin held at 94%, and operating income almost doubled to $4.5 million from $2.3 million, lifting the operating margin to 8% from 5%. Baseline operating income, which strips out growth spending, rose 37% to $20.2 million, equivalent to a 50% baseline operating margin compared with 42% a year earlier.
The company said the results reflect the increasing earnings contribution from its renewal portfolio, with renewal written premium of $126.0 million versus $100.5 million a year earlier and renewal revenue of $40.8 million compared with $31.9 million.
Founder and CEO Sean Harper (picture, left) said the first quarter reflected a more stable insurance and reinsurance environment following several years of disruption between 2022 and 2024. With rates now largely reset, he noted that fewer policyholders are shopping around, which raises acquisition costs for direct players.
“This quarter we spent about $30 million on growth expenses and acquired about $16 million of new annual recurring revenue (ARR),” Harper said.
On Kin’s figures, that implies a payback period of roughly one year, assuming customers renew at first anniversary, with net churn on that ARR of around 10%.
New written premium in the quarter was $51.6 million, up from $47.8 million in the first quarter of 2025.
“Growth operating income” – operating income after growth spending – was negative $15.8 million, reflecting deliberate investment in new business. Management argued that rising baseline operating income gives the company scope to self-fund growth while continuing to improve overall margins over time.
Kin’s model centers on managing technology-enabled reciprocal exchanges, backed by reinsurance and catastrophe bonds, for homeowners in catastrophe-exposed states. Chief insurance officer Angel Conlin (pictured, right) said the group’s technology “continues to create market-beating results” for the exchanges, pointing to loss ratios that remain ahead of target and to pricing on a recent catastrophe bond that she said cleared about 300 basis points tighter than the broader market.
Conlin said non-catastrophe adjusted loss ratios in the quarter were consistent with the prior year, indicating stable underlying underwriting performance. Winter storms affected the period, but overall loss ratios at both reciprocals stayed within Kin’s target range.
Kin recently upsized its Hestia Re 2026-1 catastrophe bond to $335 million from an initial $300 million target, securing tighter spreads and extending storm protection beyond Florida. The deal was issued into an active insurance-linked securities market and adds to the company’s reinsurance and capital markets protections ahead of the 2026 hurricane season.
Chief financial officer Jerry Fadden said the 50% baseline operating margin illustrates the impact of operating leverage as earned premium grows over a largely fixed cost base. General and administrative expenses were $18.3 million, only modestly higher than the $17.0 million recorded a year earlier.
“Since our infrastructure is driven by our investments in software and AI, our general and administrative costs are mostly fixed,” Fadden said, adding that increases in baseline or G&A expenses mainly reflect investment in technology and data capabilities.
With growth expenses of $30.7 million and G&A of $18.3 million, total operating costs outside claims were $49.0 million, compared with gross profit of $53.4 million.
Kin continues to focus on homeowners in catastrophe-exposed markets, operating in 14 states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. The company said these states account for roughly half of the total addressable US homeowners insurance market.
Auto insurance and home financing, both launched in 2025, remain at an early stage, but management sees scope to deepen relationships through bundling, with home–auto packages expected to support higher conversion and auto attachment rates.
Kin’s growth comes as the US homeowners segment shows early signs of stabilizing after several years of sharp rate increases and capacity withdrawals. Analysts expect improved pricing adequacy and somewhat easier reinsurance conditions to support a gradual recovery in underwriting results, although affordability and availability remain pressure points in many of the coastal and catastrophe-prone states where Kin operates.
Traditional carriers have scaled back in some high-risk regions, creating supply gaps that technology-driven players such as Kin are competing to fill.
Against that backdrop, Kin’s latest quarter will be watched by insurers and investors assessing whether direct-to-consumer, data-led homeowners models can deliver sustained returns through a full catastrophe cycle.
