The InsurTech Joshu raised $3.7 million in seed funding to advance its digital tools designed to help carriers and MGAs bring their commercial insurance business online.

Blumberg Capital led the round, though Engineering Capital, Correlation Ventures, Innovation Endeavors and Sure Ventures also participated.

Joshu CEO Roy Mill, and Shimi Bornstein, Joshu’s chief technology officer, launched their latest venture after stints at cyber insurance InsurTech startup At-Bay. Mill was At-Bay’s vice president of Product from July 2017 to January 2020, after serving in two product management roles at genealogy company Ancestry four years before that, according to his LinkedIn page. Bornstein was vice president of Research & Development at At-Bay from Nov. 2016 to January 2020, his LinkedIn page noted.

Mill said in a prepared statement that he and Bornstein gained useful insights about selling insurance digitally from their previous startup experience.

“We … saw where software can become an enabler and the immense opportunity for digital transformation within the commercial insurance industry at large,” Mill said.

Joshu, which is based in Menlo Park, Calif., said its platform enables clients to sell insurance digitally through various distribution channels and also automatically underwrite insurance. Joshu claims the technology lets insurers and MGAs quickly and independently set up insurance products online, including application forms, rating rules, complete quote and policy document generators, online store administration, reporting and integration functionality.

Commercial insurance is still generally enacted manually, Joshu argues, with a reliance on emails and PDF attachments, and the company asserts that there remains “ample opportunity to enhance digital offerings” in the space.

Source: Joshu