A Michigan insurance company has gained the funding necessary to begin selling products underwritten by Hartford-based Sparta Insurance Co. to staffing firms nationwide.

American Staffing Assurance Co., based in Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., is offering workers’ compensation and other staffing insurance, underwritten by Sparta, through its newly licensed affiliate, American Staffing Assurance Co. of Washington, D.C.

American Staffing has entered into a risk-sharing agreement with Sparta, and raised $4 million from private investors to help support its projected writings for the first two years of the program, according to James Farber, the company’s president.

By 2013, American Staffing hopes to have raised $250 million to fund the acquisition and operation of a shell insurance company licensed in all states, Farber said in a statement.

Historically, the staffing industry has been a loser for the insurance industry, according to Farber. Staffing firms send their employees into several different work environments on the same day, which makes it more difficult to quantify, manage and accurately price the risk associated with potential claims.

American Staffing believes it can save staffing firms money by lowering their long-term claims costs while funding its own expansion, Farber added.