Herald Raises $12 Million to Revolutionize Insurance Connectivity with AI-Powered Solutions

NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Herald, the leading digital infrastructure provider for commercial insurance, announced a $12 million Series A funding round co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Brewer Lane Ventures with participation from Afore Capital and Underscore Venture Capital. The funding will accelerate Herald's development of a unified API that digitally connects insurance brokers with carriers, while enhancing the platform's AI capabilities to streamline commercial insurance workflows.

Brokerages digitizing the manual process of placement integrate Herald's API into their existing workflows, including their Agency Management System (AMS), Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) or custom-built platform, to enable their brokers to quote and bind insurance in real time. Herald works with eight of the top-25 largest brokerages and collaborates with services and technology partners who build innovative offerings for brokerages.

Herald enables brokerages to connect with 80+ insurance products from 35+ carrier partners along a number of lines of business, such as Cyber Insurance, Management Liability, Professional Liability, Business Owners Policy (BOP), General Liability (GL), and Workers' Compensation. This diverse product offering allows carriers to reach brokers efficiently and expand their digital distribution channels.

"Our API gives brokers the flexibility to work within their preferred workflows, whether it's in a CRM or a custom-built platform," said Matt Antoszyk, CEO of Herald. "This funding allows us to accelerate our mission of making broker-carrier connectivity more seamless, while expanding our capabilities to serve both sides of the market."

Building an Open Data Standard for the Insurance Industry

As the insurance industry continues to modernize, disconnected systems, duplicative data entry and inconsistent data standards have long hindered efficiency. Herald is realizing its vision of establishing a modern, open data standard for the industry. The platform eliminates redundant data entry and simplifies workflows, allowing brokers to provide more accurate information while enabling carriers to underwrite with greater precision. Herald's approach is redefining data interoperability across the insurance ecosystem, setting a new industry benchmark.

"Herald's work in building an open data standard is a crucial step toward streamlining the entire industry," said Rohan Malhotra of Brewer Lane Ventures. "By standardizing data flows between brokers and carriers, Herald is making insurance processes faster, more efficient, and more accurate. We're proud to co-lead this round and support this transformative vision."

The Role of AI

Brokers selling commercial insurance handle a high volume of complex transactions, often across disparate, disconnected systems, leading to inefficiencies. Herald's AI-powered capabilities enable brokerages and carriers to extract, transform, and load data from various formats – such as PDFs and spreadsheets – into a unified transaction standard. By automating these processes, Herald speeds up workflows and removes the burden of human input.

"Herald's focus on AI and flexible connectivity solutions is exactly what the industry needs," said Yoni Cheifetz, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. "Their technology ensures brokers can maintain their existing processes while benefiting from real-time data and faster, more accurate decisions, transforming the way carriers and brokers collaborate."

With this latest funding round, Herald plans to expand its AI capabilities, add new products, and further strengthen its relationships with carriers, positioning itself as a key driver of innovation in the digital transformation of commercial insurance.

About Herald

Herald provides the API infrastructure for connecting brokers to a wide range of insurance carriers, enabling them to quote, bind, and issue insurance products efficiently across various verticals. Herald's platform is agnostic, making it adaptable to any front-end system.

Learn more at heraldapi.com.

SOURCE Herald