Cytora‘s announced their new platform includes agentic AI
And ServiceNow. For these guys it was less a product announcement – more the fact they’ve recruited ex-Peloton instructor (🤷) and now, ex-Googler, Nigel Walsh to the family. That’s a big recruit. I’m excited to see where he can take them.
If you’re exploring AI agents – whether to assist in decision-making, to automate complex tasks, or to streamline claims/servicing/underwriting – give us a shout.
The Sønr research team has mapped the space, and carried out a load of scouting and assessment on all the players. And there are some gems in the mix.
AI’s role in customer engagement
Keeping with AI and a somewhat more balanced perspective from Ali Safavi, Co-Founder and CEO of COVU.
“We believe the future of insurance is in collaboration between AI and human expertise. Insurance is not just about transactions – it’s about trust, protection, and high-quality service.”
These guys are operating in the customer management and risk advisory space, and this week upped its Series A to $22m.
Originally planned as a $4m extension, strong investor interest led to an oversubscribed $10m raise. And hey, if it’s on the table, it’s a hard one to say no to right now.
Another fundraise this week was Berlin’s muffintech which brought in €3.5m to further develop its AI-driven solutions for answering customer queries, searching policy details, handling objections, and providing benefit arguments.
Whilst still early on their journey, their AI is pre-trained on over 30,000 insurance conversations and has successfully passed the 34D exam.
But it’s not just the tech vendors pushing boundaries.
Great to see our much-loved client PZU Group launching Self-Service NEXT – Poland’s first GenAI powered process designed to accelerate payments for property damage.
The AI determines coverage based on policy terms, enabling payouts in under 24 hours for simple claims, while referring complex cases to human advisors. Nice.
And whilst GenAI will be put to work handling 12,000 claims annually, PZU sees this as the first step toward broader automation, improving efficiency amid rising extreme weather events. Well done team.
Another bit of client news week – Willis, a WTW business, and Global Parametrics have made their first payout under the parametric insurance policy they set up to support coffee farmers in Vietnam. I remember writing about this and great to see it come full circle.
As you’d probably imagine, they use satellite data to track precipitation levels in key coffee-growing regions, and the insurance is automatically triggered when rainfall falls below a predefined threshold. Super simple. Super valuable.
Oh and Vietnam is the world’s second-largest coffee producer. Who knew?
Reproductive and maternal health
Let’s get into a bit of health.
A couple of announcements with a particular focus on minority groups.
ISC Group, set up to drive businesses towards equal representation, is launching a forum in partnership with Juniper to tackle the reproductive health gap head-on.
Designed exclusively for ISC Group members, the initiative creates a safe, open space to discuss reproductive health and wellbeing in the workplace.
The goal? To support women throughout their careers, and help organisations build truly inclusive, empathetic workplace cultures. Gets my vote.
The other, Delfina, is an AI-driven maternal health company which just brought in a $17m Series A.
Set up to tackle the US maternal health crisis, especially the higher risks faced by Black women, they’ve already seen drops in preterm births and NICU admissions 🙏
Before I leave health, keep an eye out for a CareVoice announcement next week.
I can’t say much (yet!) but there’s talk of a new CareVoiceOS and a few new innovations which will be pushing the embedded health play further.
Big boats. Small boats.
Good to see Helvetia Global Solutions Ltd (HGS), the global division of Helvetia Group, join forces with Breeze.
The partnership will use Breeze’s tech and combine it with Helvetia’s expertise in international transport insurance. Dreamy.
The goal – to provide enhanced protection for global cargo shipments.
And on a smaller boat scale, Ahoy! Insurance, which specialises in marine insurance, has announced its expansion into the Florida market.
This move aims to provide Florida’s boating community with flexible and user-centric insurance solutions.
And hey, just as I learned about Vietnam being the second largest coffee producer, it appears Florida is home to the world’s largest boating community. Every day’s a school day.
Insurtech Australia flying the flag
A shout to Insurtech Australia who pulled off a super successful #InsurtechLIVE25 – their annual industry event.
From what I’ve heard, a couple of great keynotes from Bryan Falchuk and Stephen Barnham, and congrats to myVal on winning the PitchLIVE competition.
In other news Sønr and Insurtech Australia have been working on something fun. Maybe outrageously valuable is a better phrase.
We can’t wait to share it with you in the coming weeks. Stay tuned! 🚀
One other bit of news from Down Under this week – Australia’s digital-first commercial insurance broking company, UpCover raised a $19m Series A.
Its aim is to secure a greater share of the local $20bn sector, currently dominated by just four major insurance companies and thousands of small business insurance brokerages.
Random bits
Right, I really have to wrap this up.
I had a night out with friends last night and I’m feeling it. That’s the truth.
Two things before I sign off.
Congrats to the Renew Risk team – risk modelling and analytics for renewable energy assets – on their successful £5m raise
And Zyphra unveiled some new kit which is capable of cloning your voice with as little as five seconds of sample audio. And it’s impressive. I played around with it earlier and it’s frighteningly good.
Done. Done. Done.
Have a great weekend all.
And don’t forget if you’re exploring new markets, wanting to deep-dive into a particular trend (Agentic AI for example 🤷), or you’re scouting for a potential tech partner, please drop me a line.