Kin Insurance, an online homeowners insurance company, is talking to advisors for its second attempt at a public listing, according to CEO Sean Harper.

The Chicago-based firm would like to file an S-1 in mid-2025 and launch an initial public offering in 2026, he said. It is aiming for a valuation of at least USD 2bn, Harper said.

Kin doesn’t have a preference between the NYSE or Nasdaq, but the firm will not seek a public listing through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, he said.

The insurer had agreed to merge with Omnichannel Acquisition in the summer of 2021 before terminating the deal in January 2022 after redemptions drained the SPAC’s trust account. While SPAC deals are often touted as more expedient, it took approximately seven months for the SEC to sign off on its proposed merger with Omnichannel. “That’s actually not faster,” Harper said.

Kin on 5 February announced USD 15m in additional equity funding from Activate Capital. It previously raised USD 33m in a Series D extension announced in September 2023 that valued it at a little more than USD 1bn. Kin may raise more funding prior to an IPO, Harper said.

Its investors include QED Investors, Geodesic Capital, Hudson Structured Capital Management, Flourish Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Avanta Ventures, August Capital and Allegis Capital.

Kin fields inbound buyout offers from strategics and private equity firms, Harper said. However, he said he and the founders want to continue to grow and run the business independently. The last startup he exited, “died inside the bowels of the bigger company,” Harper noted. Competitors include PURE Insurance, HCI [NYSE:HCI], Universal [NYSE:UVE], Heritage [NYSE:HRTG] and Palomar [NASDAQ:PLMR].

While it wasn’t profitable every quarter last year, Harper said Kin is projecting to be profitable for the full year 2023. On 30 September 2023, Kin reported year-to-date direct written premium of USD 214.1m, up from USD 130.7m in the first three quarters of 2022. Net written premium for the period was USD 27.9m compared to USD 38.9m in the first three quarters of 2022, with the decline owing mostly to a larger portion of ceded premium last year.

Kin is licensed in 48 states and sells homeowners’ policies in seven catastrophe-prone states, where premiums are higher, Harper said. The insurer has bound 160,000 policies since its inception in 2016. It managed to grow its book in Florida, a problematic market for insurers due to unusual storm repair regulations, because Kin uses technology to better select customers, he said. The insurer also sells directly to consumers and doesn’t have to pay commissions to agents, Harper added.

In December 2021, Kin acquired an inactive insurance carrier that held licenses in 43 states. Kin takes an opportunistic approach to M&A and it is interested in targets that could help it develop policies for autos, boats or umbrella insurance, or related financial products such as mortgages, Harper said. The firm would also be interested in a sales platform with “a novel angle,” according to the executive.

Kin has about 575 employees.

Gunderson Dettmer provides legal services to Kin and Deloitte is its accountant. Kin’s commercial bank is BMO and it has a syndicate of lenders led by Runway Growth Capital and Avenue Capital.