Harper Insure, an AI-native commercial insurance brokerage, announced it has raised $47 million in combined seed and Series A funding to expand its technology-driven approach to commercial insurance. The company said the round marks the largest publicly disclosed Series A ever raised by a Black founder.

Based in San Francisco, Harper Insure was founded to modernize the way businesses secure commercial insurance by combining artificial intelligence with traditional brokerage expertise. The company aims to streamline a process that has historically been manual and time-consuming, replacing weeks of back-and-forth calls and paperwork with automation and faster turnaround times.

Over the past 13 months, Harper Insure has served more than 5,000 businesses across the United States, including manufacturers, healthcare providers, hospitality groups, transportation fleets, and construction firms. The company works with more than 165 insurance carriers and underwriters, enabling it to place a wide range of commercial coverage.

The Series A round was led by Emergence Capital, with participation from Y Combinator, Peak XV, Antler, 10X Founders, Fellows Fund, and Outset Capital. The new funding will be used to expand the company’s engineering, account management, and operations teams, deepen carrier partnerships, and further invest in the AI systems that power its brokerage services.

Harper Insure’s proprietary AI models automate tasks such as reading insurance applications, routing submissions, following up with underwriters, and managing client communications. According to the company, this enables businesses to receive coverage in 24 to 48 hours instead of waiting weeks.

The company emphasizes that it operates as a brokerage rather than selling software to traditional brokers. By owning the customer relationship and embedding AI directly into its workflows, Harper Insure aims to deliver high-quality service at scale while improving efficiency and transparency in commercial insurance.

With the fresh capital, Harper Insure plans to continue building what it describes as a modern insurance brokerage designed to serve businesses of all sizes with the speed and sophistication typically reserved for large enterprises.

KEY QUOTES

“Insurance always got in the way. The landlord needed a COI. The bank needed proof of coverage. Every time, it meant weeks of calls, paperwork nobody understood, and brokers who made you feel like you were bothering them.” “We raised this money because of what we’ve built… Every business in America needs insurance, and there’s enough capacity across carriers to cover every single one.” “AI changes that. Harper isn’t selling software to legacy brokerages and hoping they figure it out. We are the brokerage. We own the customer relationship. We do the work.”
Dakotah Rice, CEO & Co-Founder, Harper Insure