London-based AI startup i23 has raised £4.9 million ($5.5 million) in an oversubscribed seed funding round, co-led by Four Cities Capital, with participation from Outward VC, Seedcamp and Insiders VC.
Commercial insurance broking is highly fragmented and still heavily manual, making it viable for AI automation. i23 is targeting the commercial insurance broking market, where brokers typically spend considerable time collecting client information, processing documents and managing policy administration.
i23 is co-founded by CEO Anand Sambasivan and president Bim Afolami. Sambasivan was the co-founder of investment platform PrimaryBid, while Afolami, a British-Nigerian, was a former economic secretary to the Treasury in the UK.
The startup aims to build an agentic operating model that will use AI to take on routine administrative work while allowing human brokers to focus more on client relationships and revenue generation.
Rather than positioning itself solely as a software provider to existing brokers, i23 is reportedly planning to acquire an established insurance brokerage and deploy its AI technology directly within the business.
That approach would give it an existing client base and operational infrastructure to test its technology in. It would also mean operating a regulated insurance business, not just selling software to one.
