Guidewire (NYSE: GWRE) has agreed to acquire hyperexponential, a London company that sells pricing and underwriting software to commercial property and casualty insurers, for a base price of $1.7 billion in cash. Guidewire will pay up to $400 million more if the business hits recurring revenue targets after the deal closes, the company said on October 27.
The base price in the Guidewire hyperexponential acquisition is about 34 times the £37.6 million (about $50.1 million) of revenue hyperexponential booked in the 12 months to March 31, 2026, by SaasBuzz's calculation from the two sets of group accounts it filed at Companies House in July and August. Revenue in February and March rose 55% from the same months of 2025, the company said in the second filing.
The deal's main numbers, from Guidewire's filings and the accounts:
What Guidewire is paying for
Insurers, reinsurers and managing general agents use its platform, known as hx, to create pricing models, evaluate complex risks and manage their portfolios, Guidewire's investor presentation says. Guidewire's announcement lists Aviva, Allianz, Beazley, Markel and Cincinnati Financial among hyperexponential's customers and says the platform has been used in underwriting decisions on more than $75 billion of annual commercial premium.
Hyperexponential Ltd moved its year-end from January to March in 2026, so its latest accounts cover a full year to January 31 and then two months to March 31. They show a loss for the year and a small profit in the two months:
Hyperexponential Ltd (£M) | Year to January 2025 | Year to January 2026 | Two months to March 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
Revenue | 24.4 | 34.8 | 7.9 |
Operating result | Loss of 5.4 | Loss of 6.2 | Profit of 0.06 |
Net result | Loss of 4.2 | Loss of 4.5 | Profit of 0.26 |
Cash and liquidity funds at period end | 32.5 | 35.1 | 42.8 |
Source: Hyperexponential Ltd group accounts for the year ended January 31, 2026 (filed July 21, 2026) and the two months ended March 31, 2026 (filed August 19, 2026), Companies House.
Guidewire expects the deal to add at least 650 basis points to its growth in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in fiscal 2027, which ends July 31, 2027. Against the $1.237 billion of ARR Guidewire reported at the end of fiscal 2026, that implies at least $80 million of ARR from hyperexponential by then, by SaasBuzz's calculation, which would put the base price at no more than about 21 times that figure. From fiscal 2028, Guidewire expects the business to lift its organic ARR growth by at least 150 basis points.
How Guidewire will pay
Guidewire expects to fund the purchase with a new $1.0 billion term loan, committed by Bank of America and Citibank, and cash. Guidewire held $1.215 billion in cash, cash equivalents and investments on July 31, according to its annual report for fiscal 2026.
The base price will be adjusted for working capital, cash, debt and certain retention amounts, Guidewire's 8-K says, and the presentation says it includes a pool to keep hyperexponential's employees. The filing also says the purchase is not subject to any closing conditions. Guidewire expects to complete the hyperexponential acquisition in the second quarter of fiscal 2027, which ends January 31, 2027, expects no effect on its guidance for the quarter ending October 31, and will update its full-year forecast in December.
Why Guidewire wants it
Guidewire sells the core systems insurers run for policies, billing and claims. The company presented the deal as a step into what it calls agentic underwriting, in which software agents assess and price risks alongside underwriters and actuaries. Insurance is an industry "where the quality of risk decisions has an immense impact on business outcomes," Mike Rosenbaum, Guidewire's chief executive, said in the announcement.
With hx and Guidewire, insurers will be able to respond to submissions faster and, more importantly, improve loss ratios and allocate capital more effectively.Amrit Santhirasenan, CEO and co-founder, hyperexponential
Earlier ties between the two companies
The two companies already work together: hyperexponential is a member of Guidewire's PartnerConnect technology alliance program. Marcus Ryu, a Guidewire co-founder and former chief executive, has been a director of hyperexponential since December 2023, Companies House records show. He joined the board when Battery Ventures, where he was a partner, led the company's $73 million Series B, hyperexponential said in January 2024, describing him then as Guidewire's chairman. Ryu told Guidewire in June 2024 that he would not stand for re-election, and he left its board at the December 2024 annual meeting.
Guidewire's recent acquisitions were far smaller. The company paid about $27.9 million in net cash for Quantee, a Polish maker of dynamic pricing software, in April 2025, and about $33.4 million for ProNav Technologies, a Canadian knowledge management platform for insurers, in November 2025, according to its fiscal 2026 annual report.
What it means for customers
Guidewire's announcement did not say whether the hx brand will continue or what roles hyperexponential's founders, Santhirasenan and Michael Johnson, will take. In April 2025, hyperexponential announced a partnership with Duck Creek Technologies and a planned integration between the two companies' platforms. Guidewire's annual report names Duck Creek as a competitor, and the deal announcement did not say what happens to that work.
