Western & Southern Completes Acquisition of Fabric to Accelerate Digital Expansion

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Jan 14, 2022, 6:30 am

(US and Canada) Western & Southern Financial Group has completed the acquisition of Fabric Technologies Inc. and its subsidiary, Fabric Insurance Agency LLC, which provide a fully digital life insurance platform and mobile app that is serving over 60,000 families and has placed billions of dollars in life insurance coverage. W&S and Fabric share a vision of offering the mass market easy-to-use digital solutions to purchase insurance and other financial services.

The deal brings a fully automated and customer-friendly digital platform developed by Fabric, founded in 2015 and headquartered in Brooklyn, N.Y., to a Cincinnati-based company that began selling life insurance door to door 134 years ago as The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company and is now one of the strongest life insurance groups in the world.

“We are delighted to welcome Fabric to our diversified family of financial services businesses,” said John F. Barrett, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Western & Southern Financial Group. “This highly innovative company and its entrepreneurial spirit are an excellent fit for Western & Southern, which has always been dedicated to offering tailored and straightforward financial solutions for our clients. Together, we continue our common mission of providing financial security to the middle market using a unique, fully-digital experience.”

“By joining forces with Western & Southern, we are able to accelerate our mission to protect millions of families with modern and affordable financial security products,” said Adam Erlebacher, co-founder and CEO of Fabric. “We are thrilled to combine our fully digital one-stop shop offering with the financial strength and stability that Western & Southern has delivered to its customers for over 100 years.”

Steven Surgnier, co-founder and chief technology officer of Fabric, added, “I’m inspired by the Fabric team’s use of new technologies to solve meaningful problems, and I’m excited for us to continue building as a part of Western & Southern. The support of Western & Southern will fuel our continued investment in creating innovative products that customers love.”

Through its customer-friendly, secure digital platform and mobile app, Fabric offers affordable term life insurance, a free last will and testament, tools to organize family finances, and – in partnership with other providers – additional solutions such as college savings plans. The life insurance application takes about 10 minutes to complete, with immediate approval for qualified applicants through Fabric’s digital underwriting process.

For Western & Southern, the move is an opportunity to accelerate a digital strategy aimed at providing financial wellness for families with a suite of simplified solutions delivered through a superior customer experience. A cornerstone of that strategy was the 2018 acquisition of Gerber Life Insurance, a leading direct-to-consumer life insurer.

True to its history of people helping people, Western & Southern plans to leverage its industry-leading capital strength and the iconic Gerber Life brand to make a multiyear investment in Fabric’s digital platform and team, providing the resources necessary to maximize the platform’s value to current and prospective customers.

Western & Southern was represented by Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, and legal counsel was provided by Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. Fabric was represented by Perella Weinberg Partners LP and Goodwin Procter LLP. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.