Herald, a digital infrastructure provider for commercial insurance, announced a $12 million Series A funding round co-led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Brewer Lane Ventures with participation from Afore Capital and Underscore Venture Capital.

The funding will be used to accelerate Herald’s development of a unified API that digitally connects insurance brokers with carriers, while enhancing the platform’s AI capabilities to streamline commercial insurance workflows.

“Our API gives brokers the flexibility to work within their preferred workflows, whether it’s in a CRM or a custom-built platform,” said Herald CEO Matt Antoszyk in a company press release. “This funding allows us to accelerate our mission of making broker-carrier connectivity more seamless, while expanding our capabilities to serve both sides of the market.”

Brokerages digitizing the manual process of placement integrate Herald’s API into their existing workflows, including their agency management system, customer relationship management system or custom-built platform, to enable their brokers to quote and bind insurance in real time.

Herald enables brokerages to connect with more than 80 insurance products from more than 35 carrier partners along a number of lines of business, such as cyber insurance, management liability, professional liability, business owners policy, general liability, and workers’ compensation.

With this latest funding round, the company plans to expand its AI capabilities, add new products, and further strengthen its relationships with carriers.

Source: Herald