Payment fintech Zelis has pushed its Advanced Payment Platform (ZAPP) beyond healthcare, stepping into the property and casualty (P&C) insurance space through a new partnership with Duck Creek Technologies.
The tie-up links ZAPP directly into Duck Creek’s Payment Marketplace and Orchestrator.
The goal? Strip down payment complexity, ditch the paper trails, and give insurers, providers, and policyholders a faster digital experience.
The P&C sector’s been slow to modernise its payment stack, and pressure’s mounting. Everyone wants real-time, trackable, automated disbursements – not week-long settlement lags.
ZAPP acts as a connective digital layer for scalable payment orchestration. More speed, less friction, tighter control – all inside existing IT setups.
Once integrated, it lets P&C insurers digitise both claims and premium payments, offering flexibility across multiple payment types.
The integration window’s been crushed from the usual 9–18 months to about a week or two. That’s a major shift. Insurers get full visibility into transactions, plus the ability to adapt to market or regulatory changes without rebuilding their infrastructure.
According to Yusuf Qasim, president of payments optimisation at Zelis, the partnership makes life simpler for carriers.
“By teaming up with Duck Creek, we’re making it easier for property and casualty insurers to handle claims and premium payments more efficiently,” he said.
We’re combining our experience in simplifying complex payments with Duck Creek’s trusted insurance platform, so insurers can enhance how they work – without overhauling what already works.
Yusuf Qasim, president of payments optimisation at Zelis
Duck Creek’s chief payments officer, Allan Lacoste, called the collaboration “a pivotal step” toward giving carriers end-to-end agility.
“Integrating ZAPP into Duck Creek Orchestrator and Payment Marketplace expands access to diverse payment methods, increases control, and slashes implementation timelines.”
We think this move signals where the P&C industry’s headed – toward instant payments and cloud-first systems that actually talk to each other. Maybe overdue, definitely inevitable.
Zelis, founded in 1995 as Stratose and headquartered in Boston, builds technology for healthcare payments, claims pricing, and provider network management. It’s one of those companies most patients never hear about but every insurer depends on.
The fintech now serves more than 750 payers, including major national health plans, regional Blue Cross/Blue Shield affiliates, self-insured employers, and millions of providers and consumers. Zelis says its mission is to modernise the financial side of healthcare—simplifying how money moves, cutting confusion, and removing unnecessary drag from payment cycles.
Private equity sits deep in its structure. Bain Capital and Parthenon Capital Partners hold majority control, while investors such as Mubadala Investment Company, Norwest Venture Partners, and HarbourVest Partners own minority positions.
CB Insights lists Zelis’s recorded raise at just $20.46 mn, though that figure hardly reflects the scale of the business. The company has gone through rounds of private-equity recapitalisation and acquisitions that don’t show up in typical venture databases.
In December 2024, Zelis sold a minority stake to Mubadala and partners, keeping Bain and Parthenon as lead owners. By late 2024, the company’s valuation hit around $17 bn as it prepared for a public offering. Sources said Zelis had already filed confidentially for a 2026 IPO with Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan heading underwriting.
We think the numbers tell the story: a quiet but massive insurtech that’s grown through private markets rather than splashy VC rounds. The valuation gap between its modest “raised” figure and $17 bn market talk reflects years of PE backing and steady cash flow.
