Cowbell launched OMNI, an AI-native Decision Intelligence System for specialty insurance, with initial use on faster underwriting for SMEs and a reported 53% increase in new business since deployment. OMNI runs on the Cowbell Platform and uses AI agents plus human underwriters to review submissions, gather internal and external risk intelligence, generate coverage and pricing recommendations, and manage workflows across underwriting, claims, cyber services, customer engagement, and product development. The system reduces quote turnaround to minutes for eligible non-admitted business and cuts product deployment time from about eight months to as little as six weeks, which can improve broker response speed, carrier underwriting efficiency, and capacity for higher-volume small-account specialty business.
Mentioned: Peter Sonner, Jack Kudale, Rajeev Gupta
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Gradient AI said on Jul 29, 2026 that it refreshed its brand identity after raising $56 million in Series C funding and growing from startup to a broader insurance decision-intelligence platform. The company said its software uses its own insurance data lake, covering tens of millions of policies and claims, and fits into existing insurer operating systems and workflows for underwriting, claims, and actuarial work. The change matters because it positions the platform to support carrier decision quality and underwriting efficiency across complex risks, which can improve portfolio results and reduce friction for brokers and alternative risk workflows.
Mentioned: Peter Sonner, Stan Smith, Deidre Watts
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Munich Re Specialty and the Insurance Information Institute released RiskScan 2026, a survey of more than 1,700 insurance professionals, business decision makers, and consumers in the U.S. and U.K., with AI and generative AI cited by 70% as the most impactful emerging technologies and cyber incidents, business interruption, and natural catastrophes ranking as the main risk concerns. The survey uses responses from across the insurance value chain, supported by RTi Research, to measure how cyber, climate, inflation, legal pressure, and technology risks interact across carriers, brokers, small businesses, and consumers. The findings matter because they point to higher P&C pricing pressure, more claim volatility, and greater demand for integrated underwriting and risk transfer structures that can preserve broker margins, improve carrier efficiency, and support alternative capacity for cascading losses.
Mentioned: Sean Kevelighan, Michel Léonard, Jeff O’Shaughnessy, Sabrina Hart, Cathy Smith, Kathleen O. Zortman, Yana Keller, Nataly Kramer
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Xceedance, an insurance technology firm founded in 2013, says it will launch its agentic AI platform Ian, after building and testing it internally across operations that now include more than 5,500 employees and 350 global clients. The platform uses AI agents to automate workflow triage and other insurance-service tasks, and Xceedance says clients will be able to plug into the platform or have new workflow agents built quickly on it. The change is intended to let the firm and its clients grow without a linear rise in headcount or servicing cost, which should improve broker margins and carrier servicing efficiency in softer markets with higher submission volumes.
Mentioned: Gavin Lillywhite, George McDade, Arun Balakrishnan, Michael Phillips
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Bestow announced Bestow Labs, a dedicated AI-native product team, alongside an expanded platform that now supports term, whole life, and indexed universal life, and the company said ARR has grown more than 100% year over year for three straight years. The platform uses a modular architecture across the full policy lifecycle, integrates illustration tooling and embedded quote-to-bind workflows, and keeps Labs separated from production systems so AI experiments do not affect regulated carrier infrastructure. The change matters because Bestow says carriers have raised conversion rates by as much as 300%, which can improve broker placement, reduce manual work in underwriting and administration, and give carriers a lower-friction way to add products without re-platforming.
Mentioned: Melbourne O’Banion, Jonathan Abelmann, Cindy De Armond, Meagan Ward, Chad Hersh
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NatWest launched a home insurance service with Uinsure that gives quotes in under 60 seconds and is available to customers and non-customers through app, web, phone, and branch channels. The service also includes the Home Insurance Tracker in the NatWest app, which lets users upload details of an existing policy, compare cover and price over time, and receive renewal reminders and alerts on better value using policy data already held by the bank. The launch is aimed at reducing review and switching friction in home insurance, which can improve quote conversion and retention for distributors while increasing automation and quote speed for the underwriting platform.
Mentioned: Dalvinder Kular, Toni Powling
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Duck Creek General Manager of Underwriting Andy Moss said insurers are focusing on AI tools instead of redesigning underwriting workflows, in an article tied to Insurance Business’s Global 5-Star Technology and Software Providers 2026 recognition for Send Technology. He said AI works best inside an orchestrated underwriting flow that connects intake, triage, enrichment, pricing, referrals, and bind, with human-in-the-loop controls and governed data reuse across documents, submissions, appetite rules, and AI agents. The article says this setup can cut complex policy turnaround time by up to 80% and processing costs by up to 30%, which should improve underwriter productivity, broker response times, and insurer pricing consistency.
Mentioned: Andy Moss
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Mapfre agreed to acquire a 38.9% stake in Spanish insurtech Tuio through a direct share purchase from existing shareholders and a later capital increase, pending regulatory approvals. Tuio uses an AI-led digital insurance distribution model and was the first insurance app integrated into ChatGPT for insurance sales, with more than 20% of new clients now coming through AI assistants. The deal gives Tuio capital and access to Mapfre’s markets in Latin America and Europe, which should support digital distribution scale and improve carrier reach through faster, more automated customer acquisition.
Mentioned: Jack Willard
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ANV Group Holdings Ltd completed its acquisition of Open Lending, a transaction first announced on June 16, 2026 and approved by regulators, with financial terms not disclosed. Open Lending’s loan analytics, risk-based pricing, risk modeling, and default insurance technology will operate inside ANV as a private business and be combined with ANV’s specialty insurance platform. The deal expands ANV’s insurance-backed credit offering and may improve broker access to integrated lending and credit-risk products, while giving carriers and specialty underwriters a broader technology-enabled platform for lending support and risk selection.
Mentioned: Adam Karkowsky, Jessica Buss
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Grupo Interesse said it manages major medical insurance for nearly 500,000 covered lives and about 4% of Mexico’s insured market, with revenue up 44% last year and above 20% growth this year. It uses statistical analysis, anomaly detection, and a digital omnichannel platform integrated with telemedicine, psychological care, and AI-based underwriting to identify claim spikes, stress patterns, and cyber vulnerabilities, then adjust policy terms, provider networks, and preventive programs. This matters because it can reduce broker handling costs, speed claims processing from about seven days to minutes, and give carriers a more efficient way to underwrite corporate health, cyber, and other specialty risks.
Mentioned: Rubén Illescas
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Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick LLP published a July 30, 2026 client alert by Brian C. Focht on insurers adding AI-specific exclusions, narrower endorsements, sublimits, and revised wording to commercial policies, including ISO form CG 40 47 01 26 and related general liability forms effective in January 2026. The coverage change works by using policy language that excludes or limits claims tied to generative AI, broader AI use, or existing terms such as occurrence, professional services, cyber limits, and products/completed operations coverage. This matters because AI losses are being shifted away from standard CGL, cyber, E&O, D&O, crime, and media programs, which reduces silent coverage, increases denial risk, and pushes brokers and insureds to negotiate separate AI endorsements or alternative risk structures before renewal.
Mentioned: Brian C. Focht
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Aon launched the AI Risk Diagnostic on 30 July 2026 as an enterprise assessment for organisations to measure AI governance, maturity, and risk exposure. The tool uses client inputs and Aon’s Global Risk Consulting framework alignment with ISO standards, the EU Artificial Intelligence Act, and NIST AI Risk Management Framework to produce maturity analysis, risk taxonomy analysis, dashboards, heat maps, and prioritized recommendations. It matters because it gives commercial brokers and carriers a structured way to identify governance gaps and AI-driven operational, regulatory, cyber, liability, and business risk, which can improve underwriting decisions and risk selection.
Mentioned: Richard Waterer
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