Counterpart
AI Agentic Insurance platform for SMB management liability
Website: https://yourcounterpart.com/
Cover Block
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| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name | Counterpart |
| Tagline | AI Agentic Insurance platform for SMB management liability |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, USA |
| Founded | 2019 |
| Stage | Series B |
| Business Model | B2B |
| Industry | Insurtech |
| Technology | AI / Machine Learning |
| Geography | North America |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Solo Founder |
| Funding Label | Series B (total disclosed ~$40,000,000) |
Links
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- Website: https://yourcounterpart.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/counterpart
- X / Twitter: https://twitter.com/yourcounterpart
Executive Summary
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Counterpart is an AI-powered insurtech platform seeking to modernize the underwriting and servicing of management liability insurance for small and mid-sized businesses, a $20 billion market where legacy processes still dominate [Private Equity Wire, retrieved 2026]. Founded in 2019 by solo founder Tanner Hackett, the company has built a proprietary system that analyzes company culture, compliance, and financial data to price and mitigate risk, operating as a managing general agent (MGA) backed by a network of A-rated carriers [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, 2026]. Hackett brings a background in venture-scale tech, having co-founded the mobile commerce platform Button and served in executive roles at Rocket Internet, though his public record does not yet show prior insurance underwriting experience [TechCrunch, 2015] [Forbes, undated].
The company’s recent $30 million Series B, led by Vy Capital and bringing total disclosed funding to $40 million, signals investor confidence in its digitization thesis for a complex, broker-mediated corner of commercial insurance [dot.la, April 2026]. Counterpart’s business model rests on partnering with wholesale brokers, claiming a network of 2,800 and over 35,000 policies written, while aiming to differentiate through faster, data-driven underwriting and a 4.7 CSAT on claims handling [InsuranceNewsNet, retrieved 2026] [Counterpart Blog, retrieved 2026]. Over the next 12-18 months, the key watchpoints will be the scalability of its "Agentic Insurance" platform against established competitors like Next Insurance, the validation of its loss ratio performance as it scales, and the depth of operational talent it can attract to support its expansion in management liability.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Core company facts and funding are confirmed; traction and product claims rely on single or company-affiliated sources.
Taxonomy Snapshot
| Axis | Classification |
|---|---|
| Stage | Series B |
| Business Model | B2B |
| Industry / Vertical | Insurtech |
| Technology Type | AI / Machine Learning |
| Geography | North America |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Solo Founder |
| Funding | ~$40,000,000 (disclosed) |
Company Overview
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Counterpart is a Los Angeles-based insurtech founded in 2019 by Tanner Hackett [Valor Equity Partners]. The company operates as a tech-enabled managing general agent (MGA), focusing on management and professional liability insurance for small and mid-sized businesses [Valor Equity Partners, BusinessWire, March 2025]. Its founding was positioned at the intersection of rising claims costs in the SMB segment and the potential for data-driven underwriting.
Key operational milestones follow a path of capital infusion and platform development. An initial seed round of $10 million, led by Valor Equity Partners, provided the capital to build its initial underwriting systems and broker network [Insurtech Insights, pre-2025]. The company launched its core AI-powered platform, branded Agentic Insurance, in March 2025, integrating underwriting, risk mitigation, and claims management into a single system [BusinessWire, March 2025]. This was followed by a $30 million Series B round led by Vy Capital in April 2026, with participation from existing investors Valor Equity Partners and Felicis Ventures [dot.la, April 2026].
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Founding details and funding rounds are confirmed by multiple sources; specific operational dates and the MGA structure are inferred from company profiles and press releases.
Product and Technology
MIXED Counterpart’s product is a digital platform for underwriting, distributing, and servicing management and professional liability insurance for small and mid-sized businesses. The company describes its approach as “Agentic Insurance™,” a system that integrates artificial intelligence across the insurance workflow, from initial risk assessment to claims resolution [BusinessWire, March 2025]. The core proposition is to replace manual, paper-based processes with a data-driven model that aims to improve both pricing accuracy and policyholder experience.
The platform’s underwriting engine uses proprietary software to assess a range of non-financial risk factors. According to company materials, this includes analyzing company culture, compliance posture, and financial data to generate a more nuanced risk profile for pricing and to recommend mitigation strategies [Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, 2026]. This data-centric approach is designed to address complex liability lines like Directors & Officers (D&O), Employment Practices Liability (EPLI), and fiduciary insurance, which have traditionally relied heavily on subjective judgment. The technology stack is not detailed publicly, but open roles for Risk Engineer and Insurance Operations positions suggest a backend built on modern cloud infrastructure with a focus on data pipelines and analytics (inferred from job postings) [Greenhouse, retrieved 2026].
Distribution and claims handling are also digitized components of the platform. Counterpart operates exclusively through a wholesale broker channel, which it reports has grown to include 2,800 brokers [InsuranceNewsNet, retrieved 2026]. Brokers use the system for application submission, binding, and policy management. On the back end, the company partners with five A-rated insurance carriers and reinsurers, including named partners Aspen, Markel, and Westfield Specialty, who provide the actual insurance capacity [rutlandherald.com, retrieved 2026]. For claims, the company cites a customer satisfaction score of 4.7 out of 5 and claims its process resolves claims 50% faster than traditional methods, though the baseline for this comparison is not specified [Counterpart Blog, retrieved 2026] [Great Place to Work, undated].
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Product claims are sourced from company announcements and a third-party briefing; traction metrics (policies, brokers) are from single, unverified sources.
Market Research
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Management liability insurance, a historically opaque and manually underwritten corner of commercial insurance, is seeing structural demand growth as litigation trends and governance expectations rise for small and mid-sized businesses. Counterpart's reported $20 billion target market for private company management liability insurance [Private Equity Wire, retrieved 2026] suggests a specialty segment that is both sizable and underserved by traditional carriers optimized for larger enterprises.
Demand for directors and officers (D&O), employment practices liability (EPLI), and fiduciary coverage is being driven by several converging forces. Litigation against private company boards and executives has increased, partly fueled by a more active plaintiff's bar and broader definitions of fiduciary duty. Simultaneously, the proliferation of venture capital and private equity investment into startups has created a larger population of funded companies with formal boards, amplifying their exposure. A third driver is the heightened focus on workplace culture and compliance, which makes EPLI a near-standard purchase for companies with employees, even at sub-100 headcounts.
Adjacent and substitute markets provide context for the scale of the opportunity. The broader commercial insurance market for small businesses is massive, but highly fragmented across property, casualty, and professional lines. Companies like Next Insurance and Vouch have built large businesses focusing on general liability and business owner's policies (BOPs), demonstrating the appetite for digitized SMB insurance. Counterpart's focus on management liability represents a more complex, higher-stakes wedge into that same customer base, with policies that typically carry higher annual premiums and require more sophisticated risk assessment.
Regulatory and macro forces present a mixed picture. On one hand, a hardening insurance market in recent years has led carriers to tighten underwriting and raise premiums, particularly for management liability lines, which could create a favorable environment for a new entrant with a data-driven approach. On the other hand, the insurtech sector faces persistent scrutiny from state insurance regulators, requiring licenses and adherence to complex, state-by-state filing rules. Any platform that actively prices risk, as Counterpart's software is described as doing, must navigate this regulatory landscape as a managing general agent (MGA) or similar entity.
Private Company Management Liability Market | 20 | $B
The single cited market size figure, while not broken down by sub-segment or growth rate, anchors the analysis in a concrete, venture-scale opportunity. It indicates that even a fractional share of this niche represents a credible target for a specialized platform.
Data Accuracy: ORANGE -- Market size from a single, undated industry report; corroborating third-party sizing data not present in captured sources.
Competitive Landscape
MIXED Counterpart operates in a crowded SMB insurtech segment, but its focus on complex management liability lines and its AI-driven underwriting engine carve out a specific niche against both digital-first challengers and traditional incumbents.
| Company | Positioning | Stage / Funding | Notable Differentiator | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Counterpart | AI-powered MGA for SMB management/professional liability (D&O, EPLI) via brokers. | Series B ($40M disclosed) [dot.la, April 2026] | Proprietary software for culture/compliance risk assessment; "Agentic Insurance™" platform integrating underwriting and claims. [BusinessWire, March 2025] | |
| Next Insurance | Full-stack digital carrier for broad SMB commercial lines (GL, property, professional). | Late-stage (raised $880M+) [Crunchbase] | Direct-to-business model with instant quoting and binding; wide product portfolio. [Insurtech Insights, pre-2025] | |
| Vouch | Digital insurer for startups and tech companies, focusing on D&O and E&O. | Series C ($185M) [Crunchbase] | Deep integration with startup ecosystem (VCs, accelerators); risk management services. | |
| Embroker | Digital insurance platform and MGA for commercial lines, including management liability. | Series C ($146M) [Crunchbase] | Tech stack for brokers and businesses; emphasis on digitizing the entire insurance lifecycle. | |
| Coterie Insurance | Digital MGA for small business commercial insurance, distributed through partners. | Series B ($141M) [Crunchbase] | Focus on simplicity and speed for micro-businesses; embedded distribution via platforms. | |
| SageSure | Insurance-focused software and MGA for property insurance, primarily homeowners. | Majority-owned by Flexpoint Ford [Crunchbase] | Specialization in catastrophe-exposed property; proprietary pricing and distribution platform. |
The competitive map splits into three layers. Legacy carriers like AIG and Chubb dominate the high-end corporate management liability market, but their processes are often manual and broker-dependent, creating an opening for digitization in the lower-middle market. The primary challengers are the venture-backed, digital MGAs and carriers,Next, Vouch, Embroker, Coterie,each attacking different slices of the SMB commercial insurance pie. Counterpart’s specific wedge is its exclusive focus on the more complex, low-frequency, high-severity lines like directors and officers (D&O) and employment practices liability (EPLI) for small businesses, a segment often underserved by both legacy players and generalist insurtechs. Adjacent substitutes include embedded insurance platforms and payroll/HR software providers that could bundle simple policies, though they lack the underwriting expertise for specialty liability.
Counterpart’s current edge appears to be its proprietary data ingestion and risk modeling, which it terms "Agentic Insurance." The platform is described as assessing company culture, compliance, and financial data for pricing and mitigation, a claim that, if validated, could offer more granular risk selection than competitors using more conventional actuarial models [BusinessWire, March 2025]. This technical edge is paired with a wholesale distribution strategy through a network of 2,800 brokers [InsuranceNewsNet, retrieved 2026], a channel that provides immediate reach but also means Counterpart does not own the end-customer relationship. The durability of this edge hinges on the continued performance of its AI models,specifically, whether they can maintain lower loss ratios than peers,and its ability to deepen integrations with its carrier partners, which include A-rated names like Aspen and Markel [rutlandherald.com, retrieved 2026]. Capital is not a differentiator; its $40 million in disclosed funding is modest compared to the nine-figure war chests of several rivals.
The company’s most significant exposure is to Next Insurance, which boasts vastly greater capital, a direct sales channel, and a brand increasingly synonymous with SMB insurance. Next’s scale allows it to cross-sell into management liability from its base of general liability customers, a formidable competitive motion. Counterpart also lacks a publicly articulated moat in distribution; its broker network is a strength but not an exclusive asset, as competitors like Embroker and Coterie pursue similar partner strategies. Furthermore, the company has no visible presence in adjacent commercial lines (e.g., cyber, crime), which could leave it vulnerable if customers seek a consolidated provider. The solo founder structure, with no other named executives in public materials, raises questions about bench depth to execute against these well-funded, multi-product competitors.
The most plausible 18-month scenario is one of continued niche dominance but heightened pressure on margins. If Counterpart’s AI-driven underwriting proves consistently superior, allowing it to price risk more accurately and achieve the claimed 50% faster claims resolution [Great Place to Work, undated], it could become the preferred wholesale partner for brokers in the management liability segment, forcing generalists like Embroker to cede share. The winner in this case would be Counterpart, securing its position as a specialty underwriting engine. However, if loss ratios deteriorate in a hard market or if a larger player like Next decides to aggressively price-discount in the segment, Counterpart’s capital position could become a constraint. The loser would be a similarly sized mono-line MGA without a clear data advantage, potentially being squeezed out or acquired for its broker relationships. The verdict in Analyst Notes turns on whether Counterpart’s technology edge is a durable underwriting advantage or a perishable marketing claim.
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Competitor funding and positioning are confirmed via Crunchbase and public coverage; Counterpart's differentiator claims are sourced from its own announcements and third-party profiles.
Opportunity
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If Counterpart successfully digitizes the underwriting and servicing of management liability insurance for small businesses, it could capture a material share of a $20 billion market [Private Equity Wire, retrieved 2026] by becoming the dominant technology-enabled managing general agent (MGA) for this complex specialty line.
The headline opportunity is for Counterpart to become the category-defining platform for SMB management liability, effectively setting the new standard for how this insurance is priced, sold, and serviced. This outcome is reachable because the company has already established the foundational pieces: a proprietary AI platform for risk assessment, partnerships with five A-rated carriers [Great Place to Work, undated], and a network of 2,800 brokers [InsuranceNewsNet, retrieved 2026]. The core bet is that by embedding its technology deeper into the broker workflow and carrier back-end, Counterpart can achieve superior loss ratios and service levels that competitors cannot easily replicate, allowing it to gradually own more of the value chain. The recent $30 million Series B, led by Vy Capital, provides the capital to scale this operational playbook [dot.la, April 2026].
Growth could follow several distinct, concrete paths beyond simple market share gains. The following scenarios outline plausible routes to massive scale.
| Scenario | What happens | Catalyst | Why it's plausible |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broker Platform Dominance | Counterpart's software becomes the default underwriting and placement tool for independent wholesale brokers handling SMB management liability. | Launch of a white-labeled or API-driven broker portal that integrates directly with major broker management systems. | The company's existing broker network of 2,800 [InsuranceNewsNet, retrieved 2026] provides a ready-made beachhead. Competitors like Embroker have shown the model of building a digital MGA that serves brokers directly. |
| Carrier Infrastructure | Counterpart's "Agentic Insurance" platform is licensed to incumbent carriers to modernize their own underwriting and claims for the SMB segment. | A strategic partnership or white-label deal with one of its existing A-rated carrier partners, such as Aspen or Markel [rutlandherald.com, retrieved 2026]. | The company's model is built on partnering with carriers rather than displacing them. As loss ratios and efficiency gains are proven, carriers have an incentive to adopt the technology more broadly. |
| Product Expansion Flywheel | Success in core D&O/EPLI lines enables expansion into adjacent commercial specialty lines (e.g., cyber, crime) for the same SMB customer base. | The proprietary risk assessment dataset, built from processing over 250,000 applications [InsuranceNewsNet, retrieved 2026], reveals predictive signals for new perils. | The company's stated focus is on "management and professional liability systems" [BusinessWire, March 2025], a category that logically extends to other executive and operational risks. The AI/ML foundation is built to ingest diverse data types. |
Compounding for Counterpart would manifest as a data and distribution flywheel. Each new policy written feeds more proprietary data on company culture, compliance, and claims outcomes into the risk model, theoretically improving pricing accuracy and loss ratios over time. This creates a product advantage that attracts more brokers and favorable terms from carriers, which in turn drives more policy volume, closing the loop. Early signals of this flywheel starting include the claim of 50% faster claims resolution [Great Place to Work, undated] and a customer satisfaction score of 4.7 on claims handling [Counterpart Blog, retrieved 2026], metrics that, if sustained, would reinforce broker and carrier loyalty.
The size of the win, should the broker platform dominance scenario play out, can be framed by looking at a public comparable. Next Insurance, a direct competitor in the broader SMB commercial insurance space, was valued at approximately $4 billion at its last fundraising round. A platform that becomes the essential infrastructure for a critical, high-margin segment like management liability could command a significant premium within that valuation range. If Counterpart captured 10% of the cited $20 billion market for private company management liability [Private Equity Wire, retrieved 2026], it would be managing a $2 billion premium portfolio. At typical MGA valuation multiples on gross written premium, that could translate into an enterprise value in the hundreds of millions to low billions (scenario, not a forecast).
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Market size and growth scenario plausibility are supported by single-source industry reports. Core traction metrics (policy count, broker network) are from company-associated sources without independent verification.
Sources
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[dot.la, April 2026] Counterpart Raises $30M to Help Small Businesses Manage Risk | https://dot.la/counterpart-raise-2656821723.html
[Insurtech Insights, pre-2025] Insurtech Startup Counterpart Raises $10M in Funding Round Led by Valor Equity Partners | https://www.insurtechinsights.com/insurtech-startup-counterpart-raises-10m-in-funding-round-led-by-valor-equity-partners/
[BusinessWire, March 2025] Counterpart Introduces Agentic Insurance™, Pioneering AI-Powered Management and Professional Liability Systems | https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250312842558/en/Counterpart-Introduces-Agentic-Insurance-Pioneering-AI-Powered-Management-and-Professional-Liability-Systems
[Valor Equity Partners, undated] Counterpart - Company Profile | https://www.valorep.com/counterpart-company-profile
[Great Place to Work, undated] Counterpart Insurance - Great Place To Work | https://www.greatplacetowork.com/certified-company/7054159
[Perplexity Sonar Pro Brief, 2026] Counterpart - AI Agentic Insurance Platform | (Source embedded in research brief)
[Private Equity Wire, retrieved 2026] Market Sizing for Private Company Management Liability Insurance | (Source embedded in structured facts)
[InsuranceNewsNet, retrieved 2026] Counterpart's Broker Network and Application Volume | (Source embedded in structured facts)
[Counterpart Blog, retrieved 2026] Claims Handling Customer Satisfaction Score | (Source embedded in structured facts)
[TechCrunch, 2015] Button Raises $12 Million From Redpoint To Deep Link All Your Apps | https://techcrunch.com/2015/01/22/button-12m-redpoint/
[Forbes, undated] Chris Maddern - Button | https://www.forbes.com/profile/chris-maddern/
[rutlandherald.com, retrieved 2026] Counterpart's Carrier Partners and Team Expansion | (Source embedded in structured facts)
[Greenhouse, retrieved 2026] Counterpart Job Postings | https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/counterpart/jobs/4012706005
Articles about Counterpart
- Counterpart's AI Agentic Insurance Lands on a 2,800-Broker Network — The Los Angeles insurtech has processed 250,000 applications for management liability, betting its risk models can win in a crowded SMB market.