Franchises · 2026 FDD · Wisconsin DFI filing 641593
Brightway Insurance franchise cost, unit revenue and closures
Opening a Brightway Insurance cost $43,425 to $186,900 in the 2026 FDD; the franchisor's revenue disclosure has no single unit figure; 66.3% of franchised units closed over three years.
Franchisor: Brightway Insurance, LLC. FDD issued 2026-04-30. Fiscal year end 2025-12-31. Figures re-found on the cited page 2026-11-03.
What a unit costs to open
single Agency.
What a unit pays the franchisor
| Initial franchise fee | $25,000 lump sum, or $35,000 in installments | Item 5, p. 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Royalty | commission split: Brightway keeps 20% of Sales Commissions on New Business and 50% on Renewal Business (the franchisee keeps the rest) | Item 6, p. 9 |
| Advertising fund | not read in this pass | Item 6, p. 9 |
2025 fees actually paid ranged from $0 (existing agents moving their book) to $35,000.
A share of commissions, not a percentage of sales, so it is not comparable with a royalty.
What a unit sells
Item 19 is optional and is the franchisor's own representation. It is shown here as filed, with the franchisor's measure, sample and period, and nothing is estimated where it is missing.
Item 19 present, no single unit figure. 2025 Gross Commissions per location by number of producers (Table 1-A): 1 Producer average $98,913, median $63,601; 2 Producers $224,283 / $138,134; 3 Producers $620,172 / $512,497; 4 Producers $782,157 / $650,930; 5+ Producers $1,739,710 / $1,544,605; top and bottom 25% averages also given; no all-location row (Item 19, p. 49, 50).
Sample: 272 Brightway Locations open the entire 2025 calendar year with at least one full-time producer; locations opened during 2025, locations with no full-time producer and one agency selling restricted products are excluded. Period: 2025 calendar year.
Revenue to investment
Undefined: Item 19 is split by producer headcount with no combined figure.
How many units open and close
| Franchised units | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start of year | 285 | 333 | 337 |
| Opened | 106 | 68 | 81 |
| Terminated | 18 | 16 | 23 |
| Not renewed | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ceased, other reasons | 39 | 48 | 40 |
| End of year | 333 | 337 | 351 |
| Company-owned, end of year | 2 | 3 | 3 |
Item 20, Table 1 p. 55; Table 3 totals p. 59.
Closures are the franchisor's Item 20 counts of units terminated, not renewed, or ceased for other reasons, summed over 2023–2025 and divided by franchised units at the start of 2023. Units the franchisor reacquired are not closures. This is an Item 20 count, not a failure rate.
all three rows sum; high churn on both sides, with 255 openings and 189 closures in three years.
Source and method
Every figure above comes from the Brightway Insurance Franchise Disclosure Document issued 2026-04-30, as filed with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (filing 641593, registry record). The PDF is the franchisor's and is not hosted here; the item and page beside each figure is where to check it. Item 7 and Item 20 tables were read cell by cell; Item 19 was read by hand; each Item 20 year was checked to sum (start + opened − exits = end) before it was recorded.
An insurance agency franchise: the franchisee's revenue is commissions, and the franchisor keeps a share of those commissions instead of charging a royalty on sales..
Informational only, not professional, legal or investment advice. Unitnomics computes from the filing and does not advise on, rank, or refer to any franchise. Last reviewed: November 2026.