NMS Capital Group, a family office-backed private equity firm, launches Ascendra Specialty, a managing general agency (MGA) and programme manager writing bespoke insurance programmes across defined market segments on behalf of carrier partners.
Ascendra has partnered with Moonshot Foundry, an insurance venture studio, and will use Moonshot’s technology platform and carrier and retail agency network. According to NMS, the arrangement gives Ascendra licensing and appointments to write business in all 50 US states, backing from multiple rated and alternative risk carriers, and more than 1,200 active retail and wholesale broker relationships.
Ascendra will initially focus on approximately eight lines: professional liability, workers’ compensation, transportation, cyber, construction, property, environmental, and small business and specialty.
Moonshot’s family of companies includes InsureCap Insurance Solutions, which specialises in captive insurance and alternative risk strategies.
Jeff Brown, chief executive officer of Moonshot Foundry, says: “Our Sherpa team is working side by side with Ascendra to accelerate their launch, connecting them with the full strength of Moonshot’s ecosystem, from our AI-enabled platform and digital distribution capabilities to operational support, innovative financing, and captive management solutions.”
The launch extends NMS’s insurance sector strategy of building dedicated platforms to deploy capital across targeted segments of the insurance and reinsurance markets. Trevor M. Saliba, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of NMS Capital Group, says the launch follows extensive market and sector research.
