rewrite this title Insurtech 2026: Raising Capital, Leveraging AI, and a Look at Finovate’s Insurtech Alums – Finovate

There’s no doubt that 2026 is shaping up to be yet another year in which DeFi—from stablecoins to tokenized assets—commands its share of fintech headlines. But the innovations taking place in insurance and insurtech are also worthy of note.

From embedded insurance solutions to insurance that is bundled with loans, mortgages, or other financial products, technology is having as much impact on the insurance industry as it is in any other field within fintech. Insurtech is leveraging automation, machine learning, AI, and even blockchain technology to help improve efficiency, control costs, better manage and safeguard data, and enhance the insurance process for both retail and enterprise customers. Here’s a look at a handful of recent stories that help show where insurtech is today.

Corgi Investment Fuels AI-Powered Insurance for Startups

Corgi Insurance has secured $108 million in funding, as well as regulatory authority to operate an AI-native, full-stack insurance carrier dedicated to startup companies. Investors included Contrary, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Kindred Ventures, Leblon Capital, Oliver Jung, Seven Stars, and Y Combinator.

Also participating in the funding were Andrej Henkler and Fadwa Ouardani, Alumni Ventures, Fellows Fund, Phosphor Capital, Quadri Ventures, SV Angel, and Vocal Ventures.

Corgi Insurance will use the capital to grow its insurance offering for startups, with a focus on broadening coverage options and widening distribution. The company will also invest in its AI systems that support underwriting, claims processing, and policy administration.

“Founders shouldn’t have to choose between speed, coverage quality, and price,” Corgi Co-Founder and CEO Nico Laqua said. “We built Corgi to deliver all three in one place, so startups can get covered quickly and focus on building. This capital helps us expand coverage and keep improving the product.”

Headquartered in San Francisco, California and founded in 2023, Corgi is a full-stack carrier, overseeing the design and management of its insurance products internally. This makes it easier to adapt policies to fit startup customers as they grow. Additionally, Corgi notes that its technology enables instant quotations, pricing, and coverage that changes as businesses scale. Securing regulatory approval makes Corgi a licensed insurance carrier, providing underwriting, claims handling, and policy management via its AI-enhanced platforms.

Corgi’s insurance products include AI liability, directors and officers liability, errors and omissions liability, commercial general liability, cyber insurance, fiduciary liability, and hired and non-owned auto coverage. The company has reported annual recurring revenue of more than $40 million since securing full regulatory approval in July 2025.

Insurtech Covr Announces New C-Suite Leadership

Digital insurance solutions provider Covr Financial Technologies shared news of two major C-suite changes last week. The company announced that Sam Barnett would join Covr as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with Bob Klein taking on the role of Chief Distribution Officer (CDO). Barnett and Klein are co-founders of VIBE Insurance Services and, as part of the leadership transition, Covr will “acqui-hire” the VIBE team.

The leadership announcement also follows Covr’s recent merger with Optifino in the fall of 2025. Together, the three entities combine Covr’s operational and compliance infrastructure, Optifino’s AI-powered platform, and VIBE’s independent agency expertise and leadership to offer a comprehensive suite of insurance solutions.

“Following the Optifino-Covr merger last fall, I retained Sam and Bob’s firm, VIBE Consulting Services, to help guide our transition,” current Covr CEO David Kleinhandler explained. “As we worked together, it became clear that the opportunity was larger. Their expertise, vision, and ability to execute made them the natural choice to run the newly merged company, and I approached them about joining full-time to help author our next chapter. I’m truly excited that they accepted, and look forward to our ongoing collaboration.”

Headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, and founded in 2016, Covr empowers advisors to identify the right insurance product for their clients at the right time. The firm boasts 20 partnerships with financial institutions and banks, offers 122 insurance products, and serves more than 30,000 financial professionals and 100+ million customers. The company leverages enterprise-grade distribution, best-in-class compliance infrastructure, and advanced AI-driven planning tools to deliver faster case design, smarter product fit, and a seamless end-to-end insurance journey.

“This merger creates powerful synergies,” Covr Chief Innovation Officer Michael Doniger said. “Our institutional distribution and compliance infrastructure perfectly complements Bob and Sam’s independent channel distribution. And when you layer in our strong carrier relationships with the tech firepower of the Covr-Optifino platform, we’re giving advisors and agencies capabilities they’ve simply never had before.”

Cyber and Specialty Insurer Cowbell Launches Growth Initiative

It’s been a busy winter for adaptive cyber and specialty insurance solutions provider Cowbell. In November, the company announced a brand refresh to reflect the firm’s growth into a broader digital protection partner in the field of commercial specialty insurance. In December, Cowbell introduced self-service capabilities for its Cowbell Resiliency Services (CRS). This enabled policyholders to query and activate risk management services directly from their policy dashboard. The new offering also expanded Cowbell’s commitment to making it easier for businesses to manage digital risk.

This month, we learned that Cowbell has announced its next stage of strategic growth, which includes an emphasis on five drivers: international cyber, financial lines, resiliency services, mid-market expansion, and franchise subscriptions. In a statement, company CEO and Founder Jack Kudale said that the new initiative marks the firm’s evolution from an Adaptive Cyber Insurance provider to a digital protection partner spanning cyber, professional, and management liability lines.

“As we enter this new cycle, parlaying our success in new products, new services, and new markets over the past 18 months, we are poised to scale responsibly and profitably,” Kudale said. “Cowbell has built a solid foundation of technology, talent, and trust. Now, we’re focusing on translating that strength into sustained growth, global expansion, and operating profitability while continuing to deliver protection that creates confidence, not complexity.”

The company’s strategic growth announcement comes as Cowbell introduces new Chief Financial Officer John Botros, who brings to the insurtech more than 10 years of financial leadership in technology and cyber risk organizations, most recently as CFO of Resilience.

Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Pleasanton, California, Cowbell is a commercial insurance company that helps make digital risks manageable. Cowbell offers cyber liability insurance to defend businesses against cyber risks before, during, and after any incident; errors and omissions coverage for technology professionals; and insurance protection for managers and leaders of small to medium-sized organizations. The firm serves approximately 30,000 SMEs around the world, representing a total insured revenue of $610 billion. Cowbell has paid over $275 million in claims since inception.

M3 Insurance Teams Up with SimplePin to Modernize its Operations

US-based insurance brokerage and risk management firm M3 Insurance has partnered with SimplePin to modernize its finance and accounting operations. SimplePin will help M3 Insurance automate its insurance receivables across multiple payment channels, accelerating processing, enhancing data accuracy, and ensuring organization-wide visibility in financial activity and performance.

“SimplePin helps us reduce manual work behind the scenes while improving the payment experience for clients, carriers, and partners,” M3 Insurance Senior Director of Finance Jamin Friedl said. “It’s a meaningful step forward as we modernize operations and keep pace with where the industry is headed.”

The partnership reflects M3 Insurance’s response to higher transaction volumes, growing complexity in payment options, and other operational pressures. Collaborating with SimplePin will enable the insurer to automate the capture, posting, and reconciliation of insurance payments. This will provide real-time visibility into cash flow and enable M3 Insurance to respond to issues and exceptions. The company praised SimplePin’s platform for its ability to reduce the amount of manual effort involved, and noted that the partnership was about more than a single technology implementation.

“We’re not looking for a traditional vendor relationship,” Friedl said. “We value partners we can collaborate with as the industry changes and new needs emerge. SimplePin stood out as a team that understands insurance operations and is aligned with the way we want to evolve.”

Headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, and founded in 1968, M3 Insurance is a private and independent insurance broker and risk management firm. The company offers a wide range of services and products including property and casualty coverage, employee benefits programs, retirement and wealth management solutions, HR services, and more.

This week, M3 Insurance announced the promotion of Erik Vandermause to Chief Information Officer (CIO). Part of M3 Insurance since 2023, Vandermause was previously Vice President of Applied Intelligence at the firm. He has served in executive roles at companies including Accenture and CUNA Mutual Group.

Meet Finovate’s Insurtech Alums

Finovate has showcased a number of fintech innovators over the years. Some of these companies provide solutions for insurance companies, while other firms leverage embedded technology to enable companies to offer insurance products to their customers. In fact, this latter group has made up the majority of those insurtechs that have demonstrated their technology live on the Finovate stage. This includes Best of Show winners like Wysh (FinovateFall 2023), startups like Amplify Life Insurance (FinovateFall 2021), and veterans like Insuritas and Gradatim. Mortgage tech Blend launched its own home insurance offering in 2018, the same year Revolut began offering travel insurance.

Also among Finovate’s insurance-related alums are UK-based insurance advisory firm Anorak and Sureify, which specializes in educating insurance consumers. Coverhound, which made its Finovate debut back in 2012, offers a rate-comparison solution to help consumers save money when buying insurance.

Photo by Vlad Deep

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