Envelop Risk raised $6 million in new venture financing, money that will help fuel expansion for the UK-based cyber underwriting and risk analytics startup.

AI-specialist investor Alpha Intelligence Capital led the Series A round, which also included existing investors MS Amlin and Dymon Asia Ventures.

Envelop Risk CEO Jonathan Spry said that the company has an important role to play, particularly during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“The current COVID crisis is posing important questions for the insurance industry, and we believe cyber [insurance and reinsurance] will benefit from demand for risk mitigation, allowing Envelop to become the partner of choice for insurers as growth opportunities and emerging risk business ensue in the new normal,” Spry said in prepared remarks.

Envelop Risk’s underwriting products are focused on the global cyber reinsurance market, using artificial intelligence and data analytics. Although the company is based in Bristol, England, it operates as a managing general agent in Bermuda, which gets its capacity from MS Amlin and other undislosed insurers. (MS Amlin also owns a minority stake in the firm.)

Envelop Risk plans to use its new venture financing for increased investment in proprietary machine-learning and data-driven underwriting activity in London and Bermuda. The cash infusion will also fuel growth into new markets globally, it said.

Envelop’s financing comes during a period where new venture funding is dropping as the pandemic rages on. Venture Scanner estimated $760 million in InsurTech venture capital investments during the 2020 first quarter, about 50 percent lower than the same period a year ago. Investors are focusing more on saving existing investments rather than new ones, though some VCs are still following through with investments already in the pipeline. Other experts believe new InsurTech startups will increasingly rely on bootstrapping while venture financing remains tight.

Source: Envelop Risk

*A version of this story ran previously in our sister publication Insurance Journal.