Independent agency owners weighing a sale are working with a smaller list of buyers than they were two years ago, even as the number of agencies looking for an exit keeps growing.
That widening gap is the setting for American Growth Insurance's (AGI) acquisition of Baltimore's Heller-Kowitz Insurance Advisors, the first deal in a strategy AGI says will build a network of operator-led agencies starting in the Mid-Atlantic.
Backed by Rockbridge Growth Equity and Atomic, financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed.
The buyer side of that equation has been thinning for four straight years. The number of unique acquirers active in agency M&A fell from 104 in 2024 to 95 in 2025, according to OPTIS Partners, even as the firm estimates roughly 30,000 independent agencies with revenues below $1.25 million remain in operation, most without a succession plan in place.
For an owner in that position, fewer buyers competing for the same pool of sellers changes the leverage on price and terms, and changes how much weight a new entrant's pitch can carry.
Overall deal volume tells a similar story. OPTIS Partners data puts the trailing 12-month total at 646 agency transactions, the lowest rolling count since early 2019, even though private equity-backed and hybrid buyers still accounted for 75% of those deals and 80% of everything closed in the second quarter of 2026 alone. Of the 68 unique buyers active in the first half of 2026, 37 were private equity-backed, including six making their first-ever agency acquisition, a group AGI now joins as established consolidators slow their pace.
Heller-Kowitz, founded in 2014 by Steve Heller and Brian Kowitz, holds Reagan Consulting Best Practices agency status and writes personal lines, commercial lines, employee benefits and life insurance. Kowitz said the agency had drawn acquisition interest for years, and that most offers looked interchangeable.
"We've received interest from many potential acquirers over the past several years, but their proposals were largely the same," he said.
He said AGI's structure stood out from that pattern. "AGI's approach stood apart. We recognized a unique opportunity to combine operational excellence with purposeful leadership; creating a long-term strategy that prioritizes our clients' well-being while leveraging state-of-the-art technology and AI-driven innovation," Kowitz said. "We believe this partnership positions us to deliver even greater value, efficiency, and service for our clients for years to come."
Heller framed the decision around what happens to the agency's operations and culture after a sale closes, a question every owner weighing a similar move has to answer for themselves.
"We are committed to adopting technology that drives scalability and operational excellence without compromising the culture that defines who we are," he said.
He added, "We believe the most successful organizations combine innovative technology with talented, engaged people. By using technology to streamline routine processes, provide actionable insights, and improve service delivery, we enable our teams to spend more time focused on clients, collaboration, and growth."
What that looks like in practice, according to AGI, is a model built before this deal rather than around it. The company said it spent roughly a year developing and testing its technology with 10 agencies, and has said that pilot lifted average agency profitability by more than 50% through revenue and productivity gains. AGI has also described a governance structure in which partner firms retain a seat in shaping strategy and technology decisions.
AGI's case rests partly on a scale gap it says smaller agencies can't close alone. Citing MarshBerry data, the company has said the 50 largest US brokers account for 96% of industry revenue, leaving independent firms with comparatively limited resources to compete on technology or growth without outside capital.
AGI CEO Brian Morgan pointed to that combination of operator experience and shared technology as the pitch to agencies still deciding whether to sell.
"We believe the future of insurance will be built by combining great operators with great technology," Morgan said. "Heller-Kowitz is exactly the kind of agency we want in our network: strong client relationships, deep expertise, and a reputation for service. The real value is becoming an AI-native company, not just using AI point solutions."
Heller-Kowitz is not the only Mid-Atlantic agency finding a new home this year. Ensurise LLC, a Greater Washington advisory firm, merged with WSMT Insurance, a Maryland personal and commercial lines agency, in March 2026, adding to a platform Ensurise has grown through partnership deals since 2014.
That regional activity sits inside a wider national count of 241 announced US brokerage deals through the end of May 2026, down 5.1% from the same point a year earlier, with private capital-backed buyers responsible for 70.5% of that total, according to MarshBerry. For an owner in the region, that means AGI is one option among several active buyers, not the only one making a case.
With its first acquisition complete, AGI said it plans to continue adding brokerage operators seeking greater scale, automation and access to a wider carrier network, while maintaining the client relationships that drive each acquired agency's business.
Those plans, like the figures behind AGI's pilot program, remain the company's own account of what comes next. Whether that pitch holds up against a shrinking field of buyers and an even larger field of agencies weighing their own exit will be the question worth watching as AGI's next deals close.
