Bold Penguin has acquired SquareRisk, a specialty insurance marketplace built to discover, quote, and bind MGA products across more than 45 carriers through a single interface.
The deal expands Bold Penguin’s commercial insurance reach beyond admitted products and into specialty and excess and surplus lines, aimed squarely at harder-to-place business risks.
With the acquisition, Bold Penguin users gain direct access to non-admitted markets alongside existing offerings.
The company also picks up ready-made wholesale scale, accelerating integration timelines and widening its footprint in specialty distribution. For agents, that means fewer dead ends when standard markets say no.
Peter Settel, Bold Penguin’s president and CEO, said the move strengthens the platform’s ability to place complex risks without breaking workflow.
He said the two companies aligned quickly around a shared goal: reducing friction in specialty placement and giving agents viable market options when coverage gets complicated.
Together, with the leadership of SquareRisk, we saw and seized this opportunity to join forces and make meaningful impact to provide a seamless, comprehensive solution for hard-to-place risk.” Settel continued
Bold Penguin President and CEO, Peter Settel
By folding SquareRisk into its platform, Bold Penguin can now place risks across both admitted and non-admitted markets, Settel said, giving customers broader choice and more consistent outcomes for business owners seeking coverage.
“By leveraging all of Bold Penguin’s capabilities, bolstered by SquareRisk’s specialty and E&S market access and wholesale operations, we can place more risks in the admitted and non-admitted spaces, ensuring our customers have markets for the businesses they work with to provide coverage,” Peter Settel says.
SquareRisk launched in 2022 after its founders ran into wholesale bottlenecks firsthand. The company set out to rebuild P&C wholesale distribution with a digital-first model.
That marketplace now opens specialty access across thousands of business classes, spanning contractors, transportation, hospitality, manufacturing, and other complex sectors.
Under the deal, Bold Penguin users can tap directly into SquareRisk’s carrier and MGA network without leaving the core platform. Submissions, quotes, and binding all stay in one place. Speed matters here. So does certainty.
SquareRisk founder and CEO Monesh Jain said Bold Penguin offered both technical depth and industry scale. He said integrating SquareRisk’s marketplace with Bold Penguin’s broader ecosystem shortens the path for agents trying to place difficult risks and improves how underwriters respond.
According to a recent Conning study, the excess and surplus market achieved a 21% compound annual growth rate over the past five years.
We are witnessing unprecedented momentum in the specialty, non-admitted space as risks become more complex and demand for creative solutions accelerates.
Nicole Farley, Bold Penguin’s Senior Vice President, Chief Insurance Officer
“The acquisition of SquareRisk accelerates Bold Penguin’s vision for digital wholesale – broadening carrier access, streamlining placements, and solidifying our leadership as the industry’s most comprehensive, tech-enabled solution for agents, carriers, and partners,” Nicole Farley says.
Nicole Farley, Bold Penguin’s senior vice president and chief insurance officer, pointed to market momentum behind the move.
She cited a Conning study showing the excess and surplus segment posting a 21% compound annual growth rate over the past five years. Risks are getting more complex. Demand for specialty capacity keeps climbing.
Farley said adding SquareRisk pushes Bold Penguin’s digital wholesale strategy forward by expanding carrier access, simplifying placements, and reinforcing its position as a tech-driven platform serving agents, carriers, and distribution partners.
According to Beinsure analysts, the acquisition reflects a broader shift toward embedded wholesale capability inside agent-facing platforms, especially as E&S lines absorb risks that no longer fit traditional underwriting boxes.
Bold Penguin operates a commercial insurance platform covering the full lifecycle, from prospecting to binding, with tools built around data and automation.
SquareRisk brings a focused specialty marketplace model and wholesale execution layer. Together, the companies are betting that scale plus specialty access wins the next phase of commercial distribution.
