Insurtech broker Meshed has raised £950,000 ($1.98 million) in a funding round backed by Aviva, Haatch and other investors.  

The Scottish business plans to create a new commercial insurance brokerage model, using artificial intelligence to cut manual processes and administrative costs, and with lower commissions and customer premiums.

Insurance is “still too reliant on paperwork, underinsurance is far too common, and fees are often higher than they should be”, Meshed CEO Mark Costello says.

“After nearly 20 years in the industry, I’ve seen just how little has changed. We built Meshed to bring SMEs’ costs down, give them the right protection and make the whole process faster, simpler and more transparent.”

The Meshed platform includes AI “agents” for quoting and data collection, freeing brokers to focus on relationships and high-value advice.

Meshed says early customers reported up to 52% savings on cover it offers such as property and liability, professional indemnity and cyber.

“It was pretty easy for us to get on board,” Aviva chief innovation officer Arslan Hannani said. “We always want to be on the leading edge of enabling our customers to protect themselves as much as possible.”

Meshed is an appointed representative of Champion Insurance Group.