NEXT Insurance Workers' Compensation Insurance

NEXT Insurance was founded in 2016 in Palo Alto, California, and built its business around instant online insurance quotes for small businesses and the self-employed. The company became a licensed insurance carrier through its own underwriting subsidiary, Next Insurance US Company, and it has since expanded distribution to include independent agents in addition to its direct digital channel. In March 2025, Munich Re's ERGO Group agreed to acquire NEXT Insurance; the transaction closed in July 2025, and the company has been rebranding as ERGO NEXT Insurance since then while continuing to serve U.S. small businesses under its existing licensed carrier and agency operations.

On September 16, 2025, AM Best announced that NEXT's rated underwriting entity earned a Financial Strength Rating of A+ (Superior) and a Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of aa (Superior), a rating the company highlighted alongside reporting it was approaching 750,000 small-business customers. The acquisition by ERGO Group is expected to give NEXT additional access to Munich Re's global reinsurance and underwriting resources as it continues to grow its U.S. small-commercial book.

NEXT's workers' compensation product is aimed at small commercial accounts and the self-employed, with an emphasis on a fast, largely automated online application that can issue a policy without extensive manual underwriting for straightforward risks. A business can access NEXT's program alongside other carrier options through a licensed agency, which can also help with accounts that fall outside NEXT's fully automated underwriting criteria or that need a policy structured differently than NEXT's standard digital offering, such as a multi-state program with varied class codes.