This AI startup just raised $7.5m to fix commercial insurance for America’s 24m underprotected small businesses

1Fort announced today a $7.5 million seed funding round to improve how small businesses obtain commercial insurance through its AI-powered platform. The New York-based startup, which has experienced 200% month-over-month revenue growth in 2024, aims to automate the outdated, manual processes that have left millions of small businesses underinsured.

Bonfire Ventures led the oversubscribed round, with participation from Draper Associates, Ramp founder Karim Atiyeh, and existing investors Village Global, Operator Partners, 8-Bit Capital, Character VC, and Company Ventures. This latest investment brings 1Fort’s total funding to $10 million.

“Brokers handle insurance for 70% of businesses, yet 75% of those companies remain underinsured, with their brokers bogged down by decades-old, manual workflows involving email threads, PDFs, and spreadsheets,” Anthony Marshi, 1Fort’s co-founder and CEO, said in an exclusive interview with VentureBeat. “1Fort solves this problem by automating the entire insurance placement process for brokers. It collapses weeks of manual back-and-forth into a lightning-fast workflow that delivers the right coverage for clients without the usual hassle.”

How 1Fort’s AI slashes insurance paperwork from hours to minutes

1Fort leverages artificial intelligence to eliminate the most time-consuming aspects of commercial insurance processing. The platform enables brokers to enter client information once, then automatically completes applications, retrieves carrier quotes, analyzes coverage options, and processes binds and payments.

“Think of 1Fort’s AI as an autopilot for insurance submissions,” Marshi explained. “It handles the grunt work at lightning speed – autofilling tedious applications, pulling instant quotes from carriers, cross-comparing coverage options, and processing premium payment and financing.”

According to the company, brokers using the platform save up to two hours per submission and increase their bind rates by up to 20 percent. These efficiency gains appear to drive the platform’s rapid adoption among insurance professionals.

“Brokers are adopting 1Fort en masse because it delivers tangible results,” Marshi said. “They’re completing submissions in record time, binding far more deals, and securing better coverage for their clients.”

Multi-carrier platform bridges coverage gaps across all 50 states

1Fort has tackled the fragmentation challenge in commercial insurance by partnering with over a dozen leading brokerages and A-rated carriers, including Arch, Tokio Marine HCC, and Markel. The platform now offers coverage across multiple business lines and is licensed in all 50 states.

What began as a cyber insurance solution has expanded to include technology errors & omissions, professional liability, management liability, general liability, and workers compensation coverages.

“1Fort isn’t a narrow point solution tackling a single step – it’s a full-stack platform covering everything from quoting to binding to risk management and financing,” Marshi said. “Unlike some insurtechs that try to cut brokers out, 1Fort is purpose-built to empower brokers and their clients at every step.”

This broker-centric approach distinguishes 1Fort from direct-to-consumer insurance platforms. Rather than replacing brokers, 1Fort enhances their capabilities – a strategy that’s resonating with industry professionals.

Travis Hedge, co-founder of Vouch, a broker for startups, endorsed the platform: “1Fort has been a great resource for our team, allowing us to move even faster and deliver great products for our clients.”

1Fort’s growth reflects a broader shift in the insurance industry, where artificial intelligence and automation increasingly replace decades-old manual processes.

Jim Andelman, Bonfire Ventures co-founder and managing director, highlighted this opportunity: “Building AI-powered, service-as-software solutions to modernize legacy workflows in the insurance vertical is one of today’s most exciting opportunities.”

The commercial insurance market represents a massive opportunity, generating hundreds of billions in annual premiums in the U.S. alone. Yet much of the industry still relies on outdated technology and manual processes.

“After wading through many insurtech tools that have come and gone and let them down over the years, when brokers finally see a platform seamlessly handle complex workflows, it feels almost unreal,” Marshi noted. “In an industry awash with hype, that ‘it just works’ reaction has been the ultimate validation of 1Fort’s approach.”

1Fort’s ambitious vision: Building the ‘operating system’ for commercial insurance

With fresh capital in hand, 1Fort plans to enhance its AI capabilities, expand its team, and establish additional carrier partnerships. The company has set ambitious goals for the coming years.

“Our vision is to become the sole AI operating system for commercial insurance,” Marshi said. “That means fully automating every aspect of a broker’s workflow across all major commercial lines. Brokers will spend their time advising clients and building relationships, while 1Fort’s platform handles all the heavy lifting in the background.”

The funding will accelerate development efforts to enhance the platform’s intelligence and automation. “This new funding has accelerated everything 1Fort was already doing,” Marshi explained. “It will fund further investments in our AI, pushing its automation and underwriting intelligence to new levels.”

As small businesses face increasingly complex risks related to technology, data privacy, and cybersecurity, platforms like 1Fort could play a crucial role in closing the insurance gap. By streamlining the process for brokers, the company aims to make comprehensive insurance coverage more accessible to the millions of small businesses that currently remain vulnerable.

“The endgame: obtaining insurance becomes as simple as a few clicks,” Marshi said, “with 1Fort’s AI running the entire process behind the scenes.”

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