Bolt Today
Bolt offers a cloud-based platform that we believe, through its unique product and technology connectivity, is changing the way insurance is sold. The platform provides:
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• large commercial and personal property and casualty insurance carrier-agencies with a means to enable all of their captive agents to meet the needs of their customers by giving them instant access to a wide range of commercial and personal property and casualty insurance products from a variety of other prominent carriers;
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• independent commercial and personal property and casualty insurance agents with a means to meet the needs of their customers by giving them instant access to a wide range of commercial and personal property and casualty insurance products from a variety of prominent carriers;
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• non-traditional sellers of commercial and personal property and casualty insurance products with a means to meet the needs of their customers by giving them instant access to a cloud-based distribution network and a wide range of commercial and personal property and casualty insurance products from a variety of prominent carriers; and
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• commercial and personal property and casualty insurance carriers with a variety of additional distribution channels that foster a richer flow of business across their commercial and personal property and casualty insurance product lines.
Bolt is able to provide its platform-subscriber customers and partners, which include large insurance carrier-agencies, independent insurance agents and other insurance-based organizations, with access to a wide array of commercial and personal property and casualty insurance products through its agency appointments from various prominent insurance carriers. Any loss by Bolt of one or more of these agency appointments or one or more of its large platform customers would have a negative impact on Bolt’s business, financial results and condition, but Bolt does not have any agency appointment or customer the loss of which would have a materially adverse financial impact on our vertical cloud business as a whole. Bolt’s platform customers pay both subscription and transaction-based fees (commissions) for use of its platform; the insurance carriers whose products are sold on the platform pay Bolt on a commissions basis for products sold. Bolt sells the periodic (usually multi-year) platform subscriptions to its customers and establishes and manages its carrier agency relationships directly through its internal sales team. In addition to the revenue Bolt derives from providing access to its platform, Bolt also operates as an independent insurance agency and sells commercial and personal property and casualty insurance products directly to consumers online through its platform; those sales represent a relatively small percentage of Bolt’s business.
The insurance intermediary business is highly competitive, and numerous firms, some of which have substantially greater financial and other resources, name recognition and market presence than Bolt, actively compete with Bolt for customers and insurance markets. Competition in the insurance business is largely based on innovation, quality of service and price. A number of insurance companies directly sell insurance, primarily to individuals, and do not pay commissions to third-party agents and brokers. In addition, the cloud has increasingly become a source for the direct placement of personal business lines. We believe that Bolt’s unique platform and the product and technology connectivity that it offers allows Bolt to compete in the insurance market. During the nine months ended September 30, 2016 , Bolt spent approximately $2.7 million on research and development activities.
As of September 30, 2016 , Bolt had 188 employees.
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