AI insurance broker i23 raises £4.9m seed round from UK investors

i23, an AI insurance broking start-up co-founded by former City minister Bim Afolami and PrimaryBid co-founder Anand Sambasivan, has raised $5.5m (£4.9m) in an oversubscribed seed round, Sky News reported on 28 October.

The raise puts a well-connected new entrant into the UK commercial broking market with a stated plan to use AI for brokers' routine administrative work. Sky News reported that i23 is expected to buy an existing insurance broker in the coming months, citing insiders.

Outward VC, Seedcamp and Insiders VC were among the UK venture firms leading the round, and Four Cities Capital jointly led it, according to Sky News.

The company says it is developing an agentic operating model that will take on routine administrative work from insurance brokers while increasing revenue for clients.

"It's obvious that AI is going to have a profound impact on all industries: we have a view about how to use it to help commercial insurance businesses be the best version of themselves," Afolami, who will serve as president, told Sky News. "Fundamentally that's about supporting the human broker much more."

Sambasivan told Tech.eu: "We are building an AI-native insurance broker."

Afolami served as economic secretary to the Treasury in Rishi Sunak's government. Sambasivan co-founded PrimaryBid, which gives retail investors access to public company fundraisings.

Related coverage: CoverGo raises $6m in Series B1 led by Betatron for AI-native core platform and Brazil's Alice raises $40m led by IFC for AI-run health plan.

Sources

• Ex-City minister raises millions for insurance AI start-up i23, Sky News, 28 October 2026
• Ex-City minister raises millions for insurance AI start-up i23, Sky News via Yahoo Finance, 28 October 2026
• Former UK government minister Afolami raises £5M for AI insurance broker startup, Tech.eu, 29 October 2026

CoverWire is a news and information service. Nothing here is investment advice.