Guidewire, a cloud software provider serving more than 570 property and casualty (P&C) insurers worldwide, has agreed to acquire London-based underwriting technology company hyperexponential, known as hx, in a deal worth up to $2.1bn.
Under the definitive agreement, Guidewire will pay $1.7bn in cash, subject to adjustments, with a further $400m in contingent consideration tied to recurring revenue targets. The company plans to finance the transaction through $1bn in new term loan financing and existing cash reserves, with Bank of America and Citibank providing binding debt commitments.
The acquisition is intended to strengthen Guidewire’s position in agentic underwriting, an approach in which AI agents work alongside underwriters and actuaries to assess risks, calculate prices and support underwriting decisions. The combined technology is expected to help insurers process more submissions at greater speed, apply underwriting expertise more consistently and direct specialists towards complex cases.
Guidewire expects the technology to support insurers across both specialty risks and high-volume commercial business. It believes the combination could help carriers improve underwriting profitability, enter new lines of business and make better use of human expertise.
Financially, Guidewire expects the acquisition to accelerate annual recurring revenue (ARR) and revenue growth while maintaining its long-term margin objectives. The company forecasts that hx will contribute at least 650 basis points to ARR growth in fiscal 2027 on an inorganic basis, followed by at least 150 basis points annually to organic ARR growth from fiscal 2028.
Founded in London, hx provides an AI-native underwriting and pricing platform for commercial P&C insurers. Its software supports submission triage, risk assessment, pricing, rating and portfolio management, and has been used in underwriting decisions covering more than $75bn in annual commercial premiums.
Its customers include insurers, reinsurers and managing general agents such as Aviva, Allianz, Sompo, Beazley, Markel, HDI, Cincinnati Financial, Convex and Bowhead. The company has established a presence among UK commercial and specialty insurers and is already part of Guidewire’s PartnerConnect Technology Alliance programme.
Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Guidewire serves insurers across 44 countries and reports more than 1,700 completed implementation projects.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of Guidewire’s fiscal 2027 year. It will not affect the first-quarter guidance issued on 3 September 2026, with updated forecasts due at the company’s December 2026 earnings call.
Centerview Partners and Latham & Watkins are advising Guidewire, while J.P. Morgan and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (UK) are advising hx.
The announcement also cited research from Celent on the impact of AI-driven reductions in time-to-quote on insurer revenue. Celent noted that AI can improve underwriting efficiency in complex commercial lines and reduce loss ratios by helping insurers use previously unstructured information, including telematics, satellite imagery and loss history.
Guidewire CEO Mike Rosenbaum said, “We’re delighted to welcome Amrit Santhirasenan and the team at hyperexponential to Guidewire. There isn’t another company in the world whose passion for insurance, technical ambition, and vision for the potential of AI in insurance align so closely with our own. Insurance is a distinctly complex industry, where the quality of risk decisions has an immense impact on business outcomes. Guidewire and hyperexponential are uniquely positioned to deliver industry-specific AI solutions that will transform commercial underwriting. Together we will bring greater and more scalable intelligence to the insurance decisions that will help underwrite the risks of tomorrow.”
hyperexponential CEO and co-founder Amrit Santhirasenan added, “We founded hyperexponential on the conviction that underwriting judgment is the highest-leverage work insurers do. Guidewire is the most trusted name in P&C insurance technology, with deep expertise in managing and safeguarding the policy and risk information insurers rely on throughout the insurance lifecycle. Together, we’ll bring insight from submission to bind and from the individual risk to the entire portfolio. With hx and Guidewire, insurers will be able to respond to submissions faster and, more importantly, improve loss ratios and allocate capital more effectively.”
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