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Harper, an AI-native commercial insurance brokerage founded by Dakotah Rice and Tushar Nair, announced $46.8 million in combined seed and Series A financing on February 25, 2026. The headline figure of $47 million is rounded; Emergence Capital led the Series A, with Y Combinator, Lobster Capital and Peak XV Partners among the named investors.
What Harper raised and why it matters
Harper said it will use the financing for engineering hiring and brand growth. The company launched in 2024 and joined Y Combinator’s Winter 2025 batch. Its pitch is that software can handle much of the repetitive coordination involved in placing commercial insurance while licensed specialists remain responsible for advice and placement.
The funding report described Harper as serving small and midsize businesses through more than 160 carriers, with workers’ compensation, general liability and professional liability among its products. TechCrunch’s February 25 report attributed those figures to the company.
Who founded Harper?
Chief executive Dakotah Rice co-founded Harper with Tushar Nair, his longtime friend and the former chief technology officer at Rice’s previous company, Poolit. Rice has said that his family’s insurance-brokerage background influenced Harper’s founding thesis. Poolit closed in 2023; Rice also acknowledged to TechCrunch that he had not worked out how to make that company profitable. That history provides context, but it is not evidence of Harper’s financial performance.
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How the AI brokerage is supposed to work
Commercial insurance submissions combine applications, financial information, loss records, vehicle or property details and other documents. Broker teams commonly spend substantial time organizing that material, finding suitable markets and chasing missing information. Harper says its systems automate parts of that workflow.
Tasks Harper described in February
- Routing submissions to appropriate markets.
- Collecting documents and following up with underwriters.
- Managing pipeline activity and quote workflows.
Rice told TechCrunch that a process taking a traditional broker five to seven days could often be reduced to one or two days, and that AI enabled Harper to handle more than 1,000 customers per month versus 20 to 30 deals per month for a typical human-led brokerage sales team. Those are company claims, not independently audited operating results.
The current human-plus-AI description
Harper’s website now says it leads with human expertise and uses AI for quote intelligence, automated workflows, carrier matching and real-time decisioning. That is a more qualified description than calling the agency fully autonomous. Public information does not establish exactly which decisions are automated in every line of business or how much licensed-professional review each account receives.
What Harper sells and who it targets
The current coverage page lists commercial general liability, professional liability and errors and omissions, commercial auto, property, cyber, umbrella, workers’ compensation, equipment coverage, liquor liability, medical malpractice, product liability and surety bonds. Its industry pages mention construction, transportation, manufacturing, childcare, hospitality, restaurants, technology, healthcare and car dealerships.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallRice has described a focus on “real-world businesses” such as daycares, manufacturers, dealerships, bars and restaurants. The company’s newer positioning also emphasizes high-hazard businesses, specialty programs and risks that standard markets decline. Harper’s privacy policy says it currently serves U.S.-based commercial businesses.
The numbers—and what they do not prove
| Metric | Publicly reported figure | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Financing | $46.8 million | Combined seed and Series A announced February 25, 2026; $47 million is rounded. |
| Customers in February report | More than 5,000 | Company claim reported by TechCrunch. |
| Customers on current site | More than 6,000 businesses | Harper website claim observed August 18, 2026; definitions and timing may differ. |
| Carrier figure in February report | More than 160 carriers | Company claim reported by TechCrunch. |
| Current specialty network | 50-plus specialty carriers and MGAs, plus access to hundreds more | Website language describing a potentially different network scope. |
There is no public, independently verified revenue, retention, placement-rate, loss-ratio, profitability or customer-acquisition-cost data in the cited material. Speed and account counts therefore show Harper’s stated operating thesis, not proof that the model has superior economics or produces better coverage.
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Where Harper fits in the competitive landscape
TechCrunch identified Gyde as another AI-native brokerage and mentioned FurtherAI and Vantel as insurance-AI companies. The comparison is not one-to-one. Harper presents itself as the broker serving the business customer; FurtherAI’s product and broker offering describe software for existing brokers, MGAs and insurers that structures submissions, assembles marketing packets, compares quotes, checks policies and supports renewals.
Traditional retail and wholesale brokerages remain Harper’s broader incumbent comparison. The investment is consequently a bet on applying automation to a labor-intensive distribution layer, not evidence that AI has solved commercial insurance placement.
What customers should check before using Harper
Confirm state and license availability
Harper’s site displays California license number 6017784 and Georgia license number 237101. Those disclosures do not establish nationwide availability. Confirm that the brokerage can place the required line in your state and for your class of business.
Judge coverage, not just quote speed
- Compare limits, exclusions, endorsements and deductibles.
- Check whether the proposed insurer and form fit your contractual and regulatory obligations.
- Ask how unusual operations, subcontractors, drivers, locations and prior losses are handled.
Understand admitted and E&S options
Harper advertises both admitted and excess-and-surplus markets. E&S insurance can address difficult risks, but forms, regulatory treatment and guaranty-fund protections can differ from admitted coverage. A licensed professional should explain the implications for your business rather than treating either market as automatically better.
Know who remains accountable
Ask who handles coverage interpretation, certificates, policy changes, renewals and claims guidance, and how to reach a licensed specialist when an automated workflow cannot resolve a question.
Review data handling
Harper’s privacy policy says it collects information connected with commercial brokerage services and hosts production systems and data in U.S. data centers. Review the policy before submitting sensitive financial, employee or driver information.
Questions brokers and agencies should ask
Harper’s wholesale broker program advertises specialty-market access, online submissions, quote tracking, white-label options and API access. The page says agencies may need credentials and an errors-and-omissions certificate, with activation typically taking 24–48 hours. It also says commissions vary by line and carrier; no public fee schedule is listed.
- Who owns the customer relationship and submission data?
- What appointment, eligibility and market-access restrictions apply?
- How are commissions, splits and compensation disclosed?
- Can data be exported, and what do the APIs actually support?
- Does automation improve placement quality or merely increase submission volume?
Current position as of August 2026
Harper’s public presentation has broadened from the February funding story’s emphasis on near-autonomous processing. The current site combines human specialists with AI, advertises admitted and E&S markets, and claims more than 6,000 business customers. It also shows a California and Georgia license disclosure rather than evidence of universal availability. These changes may reflect an evolving product, marketing scope or network definition; the February and August figures should not be treated as directly comparable without further company disclosure.
Businesses can begin through Harper’s coverage and quote flow, which requests details such as state, revenue, industry and coverage type. No public dollar pricing or subscription plan was listed. Companies with multinational exposures, complex risk engineering needs, bespoke claims requirements or a strong need for a long-established local relationship should compare a specialist broker before relying on an automated intake process.
