Ascend and Honor Capital Announce Agreement to Merge, Creating the First Complete Financial Operations Platform for Insurance

Combined platform will power the financial operations of insurance from collection to close, unifying AI-powered accounting automation, embedded payments and native premium financing to deliver customers both market-leading technology and financial services.

Ascend, the leading financial operations platform for the insurance industry trusted by over 4,000 businesses, including over half of the 50 largest brokers nationally and Honor Capital, the fourth largest premium finance company in the US, entered into a definitive agreement to merge. Upon closing, the combined company will be the industry’s first fully vertically integrated financial operations platform, unifying the financial workflows of insurance from collection to close in a single solution: AI-powered accounting automation alongside invoicing automation with fully embedded payments and premium financing. Premium financing will continue to be provided by Honor Capital, which is authorized in all 50 states.

“Insurance businesses have been stuck managing their financial operations across separate tools: an AMS, a ledger, payments vendors, software providers, premium finance companies —  each coming with their own cost and separate, inefficient workflows,” said Praveen Chekuri, CEO of Ascend. “Ascend’s complete solution consolidates all of this into a single tool that enables complete visibility, end to end automation, and the highest ROI for our customers.”

“Honor Capital brings more than 75 years of collective premium finance heritage, built on deep operating expertise and long-standing relationships with agents, insureds, and partners,” said Tony M. Perez, Co-President.” Together with Ascend, we are defining a new category for insurance financial operations by combining AI-powered accounting automation, payments, and premium finance into the first complete platform experience built for the insurance industry.”

“We started Ascend because insurance businesses deserve better software and tools,” said Andrew Wynn, Co-President. “This merger helps deliver on that. For the first time, insurance businesses can manage the complete depth of its financial operation in one place: payments, reconciliation, payables, cash tracking, and premium financing.”

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The combined Ascend platform delivers end-to-end workflow automation, including:

• AI-powered workflow automation. Streamlined operational finance and accounting workflows, including cash application, direct bill commission processing, carrier payables and client invoicing — helping teams reduce manual effort, improve accuracy and save time across routine processes — saving insurance businesses thousands of hours annually.
• Embedded payments and native premium financing. Payments and premium financing built directly into the accounts receivable workflow, with financing available nationwide.
• Full Financial Visibility from Collection to Close. Faster reconciliation and month-end close with a single layer across all AR / AP empowering teams to realize revenue quicker with an AMS-agnostic architecture allowing all teams and systems to be consolidated under one system.

Ascend, through its various business entities will lead the combined platform post-merger with Praveen Chekuri as CEO with Tony M. Perez and Andrew Wynn as Co-Presidents. Wynn and Chekuri co-founded Ascend in 2021 and have spent the past five years building it to be the market-leading insurance financial operations platform. Perez led Honor Capital for more than a decade, growing it into one of the largest premium finance companies in the country.

Customers of both Ascend and Honor Capital will continue to be served without disruption. The transition to the combined platform will be phased over the coming months, with dedicated support through the process. Merger is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

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