Bamboo Insurance, an insurance organization on a mission to make a difference in the insurance industry, has been recognized by The Salt Lake Tribune as a 2022 Top Workplace. Alongside 154 companies in the Salt Lake City area, Bamboo Insurance is being recognized for putting its employees first by driving a supportive, inclusive, and authentic culture.

The Top Workplaces award “celebrates nationally recognized companies that make the world a better place to work together by prioritizing a people-centered culture and giving employees a voice”, according to their site. Read more by visiting here or by visiting our Top Workplaces company profile here.

Bamboo Insurance, a reimagined insurance company focused on transparency, customer advocacy and a frictionless experience, has acquired certain of the assets of First American Property and Casualty Insurance Agency (“FAPCIA”) from parent company First American Financial Corporation (NYSE: FAF), a leading provider of title insurance, settlement services and risk solutions for real estate transactions that traces its heritage back to 1889. First American announced in October 2020 its intent to exit its property and casualty business and to maintain focus on its core business.

The assets acquired include over $22 million in premium in both personal and commercial lines underwritten by leading third-party carriers. FAPCIA’s staff will continue to provide excellent service to policyholders as part of the Bamboo team.

“Today Bamboo begins a new chapter in its growth,” according to CEO John Chu. “Adding full-service personal and commercial lines agency capabilities allows us to offer additional products to a much broader set of customers across the continental United States.”

Bamboo Insurance has historically offered flexible and transparent insurance options, including homeowners, dwelling fire and ancillary products in the state of California. Starting today, Bamboo’s new agency operation will be able to meet the needs of its customers by offering auto, renters, condominium, commercial lines, and a host of other insurance coverages alongside its existing products across the nation.

Adding an agency of this caliber will allow Bamboo Insurance to grow faster and expand further into the insurance value chain.

To Our Valued Customers, Agents, and Business Partners:

Given the recent failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), we suspect many of you may have questions as to the financial health of your partners, such as Bamboo. We want to take a minute and ensure you Bamboo is financially sound.

  • We have no direct exposure to SVB: We are fortunate that we have no banking relationships with SVB of any type. We continue to monitor the rapidly evolving situation closely as we are aware of 6 vendors / partners who have a banking relationship with SVB. We have been in contact with these vendors and do not expect any service interruptions at this point in time.
  • We have diverse banking relationships: Bamboo has relationships with multiple banking partners. We have our operating capital spread across these institutions. This ensures continuity of operations should such a failure impact Bamboo directly in the future.
  • We use trust accounts: As a distribution oriented business, the vast majority of funds held by Bamboo at any point in time are in trust accounts, on behalf of our customers. By definition, trust accounts provide additional safeguards in the event of a bank failure above the $250 thousand FDIC insured limit.

Should you have any questions please reach out to myself or your primary contact person at Bamboo. We look forward to working with each of you over the coming days, weeks, and months ahead.

All the best,
John Chu
CEO

Bamboo Ide8 Insurance Services, LLC (“Bamboo”), a reimagined insurance company with a commitment to simplicity, transparency and customer advocacy, announced today the $16 million close of its Series A round. Since launch, Bamboo has raised $75 million in financing to support organic growth in California, the build out of a retail agency and the launch of a Bermuda domiciled captive insurance entity. The round was led by Eos Venture Partners, a firm with deep insurance industry expertise focused on InsurTech investing, with participation from existing investors.

John Chu, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bamboo, said, “The completion of our Series A round marks an exciting inflection point for Bamboo. After successfully refining our underwriting model and distribution capabilities over the past 3 years in the California market, Bamboo will now embark on a product and geographic expansion plan while remaining true to our profitable underwriting philosophy.”

Bamboo was founded in 2018 with a focus on serving the California property market with homeowners, dwelling fire and other ancillary products. Bamboo experienced significant growth by delivering an easy and innovative insurance experience for customers. Leveraging technology to reduce inefficiencies in the market and utilizing an applied science approach, Bamboo incorporates proprietary underwriting models and leading third-party technologies to deliver industry leading underwriting results.

Zach Powell, Eos General Partner, said, “We are thrilled to partner with the experienced team at Bamboo and support their product and geographic expansion plans. Bamboo has demonstrated strong growth coupled with profitable underwriting that will ultimately differentiate InsurTech winners.”