Kalepa Secures $75M Series B to Scale AI-Powered Underwriting for Global Insurers

Kalepa has secured $75 million in Series B funding at a $470 million valuation to scale its AI-driven underwriting platform. For carriers and MGAs grappling with softening prices and the need for operational efficiency, the investment highlights a shift from experimental AI to proven tools that significantly increase premium throughput and reduce quote turnaround times.

What was announced

Kalepa’s $75 million Series B round brings the company’s valuation to $470 million. The capital is earmarked for the global expansion of its AI-powered underwriting technology, which is designed to help commercial insurers manage mounting losses and improve efficiency. The company currently works with major industry players, including W.R. Berkley, Bowhead Specialty, and AmRisc.

The platform’s impact is quantified by significant performance gains. Users are seeing between 30% and 60% more premium processed per underwriter, alongside a 58% reduction in the time required to generate a quote. These metrics suggest that the technology is delivering measurable bottom-line improvements for commercial lines at a time when the industry is facing growing pressure to do more with less.

The funding follows a period of aggressive talent acquisition. Kalepa has recently recruited leadership from high-profile technology firms such as Palantir and Addepar. This includes the appointment of Garrett Schlesinger as Chief Technology Officer, who joins the firm from Affirm, where he was instrumental in developing underwriting models. The focus remains on applying sophisticated data science to the complex task of commercial risk assessment.

The companies involved

Kalepa is a technology provider focused on the commercial insurance sector, positioning itself as an AI insurance company. Unlike generic AI vendors, Kalepa specifically targets the underwriting process, providing tools that help carriers and MGAs identify risks and price them more accurately. The company does not have a corporate parent and has maintained its brand identity since its inception, with no former names on record.

The firm has established a significant footprint in the North American and international markets, partnering with diverse entities ranging from traditional carriers like W.R. Berkley to specialized MGAs. By integrating vast amounts of external data with an insurer's internal guidelines, Kalepa aims to provide a copilot for underwriters that automates the routine aspects of risk selection while surfacing critical insights that might otherwise be missed in manual reviews. This approach places the firm at the intersection of traditional risk management and modern data science, serving a market that is increasingly looking to replace legacy core systems or augment them with specialized intelligence layers.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has tracked Kalepa’s growth through 14 previous reports, noting its steady expansion into new partnerships and leadership tiers. Recently, we covered how Kalepa Appoints Former Affirm Engineering Leader Garrett Schlesinger as CTO, a move that signaled its intent to deepen its technical capabilities in predictive modeling.

In terms of market adoption, we reported on how Church Mutual Selects Kalepa AI to Streamline CM Vantage Underwriting Operations, demonstrating the platform’s utility for specialized mutual insurers. The company has also been active in the MGA space; earlier this year, Bishop Street Underwriters Expands Partnership with Kalepa to Support London-Based MGAs Avid and Landmark, highlighting Kalepa's growing influence within the London market. Additionally, the firm bolstered its product strategy with the news that Kalepa Appoints Audrey Howell as Head of Product.

What this means from an insurtech perspective

This funding round signals that the hype cycle for AI in underwriting is maturing into a period of hard ROI. For carriers, the pressure is no longer just about adopting AI, but about matching the efficiency gains of competitors who can now quote twice as fast. This puts significant pressure on incumbent legacy vendors whose static rules-engines cannot compete with dynamic, data-rich platforms. As loss ratios remain under scrutiny, the ability to increase premium volume without a linear increase in headcount becomes the primary differentiator. The focus on global adoption suggests that the next battleground for AI-driven underwriting will be the complex, multi-jurisdictional risks of the international reinsurance and specialty markets.