Scout InsurTech Interview with District Cover

District Cover is an MGA focused on bringing modern commercial coverage to America's urban business communities. By combining block-level risk data with deep underwriting expertise, the company provides flexible coverage to the restaurants, retailers, and multi-location operators that traditional carriers often overlook. Chris Luiz sat down with Head of Community Karnina Szymanski to learn how District Cover is redefining access to insurance in overlooked city neighborhoods.

Who are your clients?

"District Cover primarily distributes its products through wholesale insurance partners, working with wholesalers and retail agents that have strong relationships and local knowledge in the urban markets we serve.

But our approach to distribution extends beyond the traditional insurance ecosystem. We also build relationships with organizations that are already deeply connected to local businesses and understand the challenges they face.

For example, in Los Angeles, we partner with BizFed, a coalition representing more than 240 business organizations across the region. In Oakland, we work with ICA Fund, which invests in local small businesses and recognizes that access to appropriate insurance can be critical to securing financing, signing a lease and ultimately growing a business.

Those relationships help us better understand what businesses are experiencing on the ground, while also creating connections between communities and the insurance professionals who can serve them."

What does your product do?

"District Cover offers an E&S package designed to provide broad, practical coverage for businesses in urban markets. It functions more like a traditional BOP than many E&S products, including coverage for theft and assault and battery, without a riot exclusion.

The product continues to evolve around the needs we see in these communities. District Cover recently introduced mixed-use coverage, recognizing how common it is in urban neighborhoods to have residential units above restaurants, retailers and other commercial spaces.

We’ve also expanded our property capacity to $10 million TIV and introduced standalone property coverage for risks such as strip malls. That allows us to serve a broader range of businesses and property owners, including the lower end of the middle market—an area we believe can fall between traditional large-account solutions and small commercial platforms."

How much capital have you raised?

"We have raised over $13 million to date. The most recent round, which closed in 2026, raised an additional $6 million, following a $7 million raise the year prior."

Was the company born from within or outside of the industry?

"District Cover was born from within the industry. Founder and CEO Patrick Girouard built his career at Guy Carpenter, and the broader team brings decades of underwriting and claims experience across multiple regions and market cycles.

That experience shaped our decision to operate in the E&S market. Because traditional insurance data can be limited or overly generalized in many urban communities, E&S provides the flexibility to evaluate risk more precisely and adapt coverage and pricing accordingly.

Underwriting remains at the core of the company. District Cover has more underwriters than any other function, combining deep industry expertise with new data and technology to make more informed decisions about risks that traditional approaches can overlook."

What growth metrics have you accomplished over the last 12 months?

"We expect to 3x our volume in 2026 over 2025, our first full year in operation. To date, we've received over 24,000 insurance submissions and are writing over $2M of premium monthly - the majority of which is in the exact zip codes that historical carriers have avoided. We are doing this profitably with loss ratios outperforming historical industry expectations, reinforcing the thesis that urban risk can be written profitably."

Within your domain, what is the current challenge the industry is facing, and how does District Cover take a unique approach to providing value?

"Distribution is a persistent challenge for any newer company trying to gain visibility with wholesalers. For District Cover, that challenge is compounded by our focus on overlooked urban communities, where wholesalers historically have less reach into local retail agents.

The businesses we serve often face language barriers and limited insurance options. Retail agents in these communities frequently support twice as many clients as their non-urban counterparts, making it harder to provide the education and support those clients need. District Cover addresses this by partnering with local associations and community groups and by working alongside wholesale partners to reach agents directly in these neighborhoods, staying regional and locally present even while operating across 23 states. 

Our underwriting approach also sets us apart. Rather than relying on ZIP code-level data, which can obscure meaningful differences in risk from block to block, District Cover underwrites at the block level. This allows the team to evaluate a business on its own merits instead of writing off an entire ZIP code as uninsurable."

What inspired the team to start the company?

Founder and CEO Patrick Girouard recognized that traditional carriers often assess risk too broadly, writing off entire ZIP codes without distinguishing between varying levels of risk within them. He saw an opportunity to underwrite more precisely and profitably by evaluating risk at the block level instead.

The idea was also shaped by personal experience. Girouard grew up in the Minneapolis area, and in the aftermath of the 2020 George Floyd protests, nearly 1,500 businesses across the Twin Cities were damaged by fire, vandalism or looting, totaling roughly $500 million in local property damage. An estimated 60% of that damage went uncovered by insurance, leaving many affected businesses unable to rebuild. That gap, combined with a belief that insurance should be accessible to everyone when done correctly, led Girouard to found District Cover alongside longtime industry colleagues who shared the same vision."

Can you share any goals for the next 12 months?

"We are targeting 3x growth over 2025. Beyond that, we want to prove a test case at the city level. Recently we published an Urban Risk Report, which drew on industry research, market trends, and proprietary data to highlight how insurance capacity is shifting, why traditional models are falling short, and what the future of urban underwriting looks like. 

While writing policies and bringing capacity to overlooked urban neighborhoods remains core to the business, we believe lasting resilience for these communities will require more players in the ecosystem to get involved. Leading that conversation is a key goal for the year ahead."

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