Outmarket, a startup that applies artificial intelligence to insurance paperwork, said it raised a $34.5 million Series B round led by SignalFire. Fika Ventures, Permanent Capital Ventures, TTV Capital and Dash Fund also participated in the round. The financing valued the company at $355 million, according to a person familiar with the investment. The round arrived four months after Outmarket's $17 million Series A.
The company was started in late 2023 by Vishal Sankhala, who previously led product at the digital life insurance distributor Ethos and had worked at Facebook and Uber. Outmarket's software automates administrative tasks for insurance agencies and brokers. Sankhala said agents still sell the vast majority of insurance in the United States and worldwide, and he described the current process as heavily manual. He called the insurance industry a large opportunity.
Outmarket concentrates on commercial insurance, where policies are tailored to individual businesses and involve many coverage types, including general liability, workers compensation and directors and officers liability. Sankhala said more than 250 coverages exist depending on a business and its risk profile, and that each one carries a different process, application form and set of documents to read. The company's AI handles those tasks so brokers, including organizations such as Marsh and Aon, can evaluate and recommend policies faster and spend time on work that requires human judgment, such as responding to customers during emergencies.
Outmarket has signed more than 300 insurance agencies as customers since launching a new product 14 months ago, including 25 percent of the top 100 agencies, according to the company. Sankhala said that growth is fast for an industry that typically does not move quickly. Other startups working to build an AI operating layer for insurance brokerages include Fulcrum AI and Further AI.
Sankhala pointed to the size of the U.S. property and casualty insurance market, which he said exceeds a trillion dollars in annual premiums, as room for Outmarket to grow by helping agencies work faster and smarter. The company's focus on commercial coverage places it in a segment where applications, documents and underwriting requirements vary widely by business and risk.
More company and startup news from TechManNews.
