Kalepa
by Kalepa
AI underwriting platform for commercial and E&S insurers, from submission intake to quote, bind and portfolio
Kalepa is an AI underwriting platform for commercial insurers and MGAs that digitises submissions, checks them against appetite and guidelines, and gives underwriters one view of each risk through quote and bind. It is for carrier underwriting and operations leaders who need more premium per underwriter without adding headcount.
Kalepa is a New York company founded in 2018 by Paul Monasterio (CEO, an MIT computational physics PhD formerly at Applied Predictive Technologies and Facebook) and Daniel Hillman (COO). Its platform, sold to carriers as the Copilot underwriting workbench, covers the commercial underwriting flow in seven modules: Submission Ingestion classifies submissions and extracts data from many document types; Clearance checks conflicts and completeness, runs sanctions screening and confirms appointed producers; Triage ranks submissions by likelihood to bind and fit with appetite; Risk Analysis gives underwriters one view of exposures, controls, terms and communications; Rating pulls in pricing models from spreadsheets, external raters or internal systems; Quote and Bind generates documents; and Portfolio Management links account and portfolio decisions in real time. An AI Ensemble Engine selects models per task and enriches submissions with third-party data, while the underwriter keeps the final decision. On November 5, 2026 Kalepa announced a $75 million Series B led by Updata Partners at a $470 million valuation, with IA Ventures and Inspired Capital participating, bringing total funding to $91 million. Reuters reported that platform work volume grew fourfold in a year, and Coverager reported that revenue and customer count tripled and the company has been cash flow positive for over two years. Customers include W. R. Berkley, Bowhead Specialty, AmRisc, Munich Re Specialty North America and James River. It competes with Sixfold, Federato and Gradient AI.
A Chief Underwriting Officer or COO at a commercial or E&S carrier or MGA whose underwriters spend most of their time keying and clearing submissions
Faster quotes and more premium per underwriter; customers report 30% to 60% more premium per underwriter and a 58% cut in quote time
At a Glance
- Category
- Industry & Government
- Pricing
- Subscription, Contact for pricing
- Target Market
- Chief Underwriting Officers, Insurance COOs, CIOs, MGA Leaders
- Deployment
- Cloud-only
- Founded
- 2018
- Headquarters
- New York, United States
- Team Size
- 51-200
Key Features
- ✓Submission Ingestion
Classifies incoming broker submissions and extracts structured data from many document types so underwriters stop rekeying.
- ✓Clearance
Checks conflicts and completeness, runs sanctions screening, confirms appointed producers and routes submissions to the right desk.
- ✓Triage
Prioritises submissions most likely to bind and aligns each one with the carrier's appetite and underwriting guidelines.
- ✓Risk Analysis
Gives the underwriter a single view of exposures, controls, terms and communications enriched with third-party data.
- ✓Rating and Quote & Bind
Uses the carrier's own pricing models from spreadsheets, external raters or internal systems, compares scenarios and generates quote and binder documents.
- ✓Portfolio Management
Connects account-level underwriting decisions to portfolio-level views in real time for referral and appetite steering.
Capabilities
Use Cases
- •Submission backlog reduction
An E&S carrier ingests and clears broker emails automatically so underwriters only open files that fit appetite and are complete.
- •Faster quoting
Underwriters work from one enriched risk view and generate quotes faster; Kalepa customers report a 58% reduction in quote time.
- •Underwriting capacity growth
A specialty MGA writes more premium with the same team, with customers reporting 30% to 60% more premium per underwriter.
- •Portfolio steering
Underwriting leaders see how individual accounts move portfolio mix and adjust triage and referrals, reported as a 960 basis point combined ratio improvement.
Ideal For
Best For
- ✓E&S and specialty carriers processing high volumes of broker submissions by email
- ✓MGAs that need clearance, sanctions screening and appetite triage before an underwriter opens a file
- ✓Primary casualty, property, commercial auto and management liability lines
- ✓Carriers that want to keep their own rating models while automating intake and risk analysis
Not Ideal For
- ✗Personal lines insurers, since the product lines and customers are all commercial and specialty
- ✗Carriers wanting fully autonomous underwriting decisions, because Kalepa keeps the underwriter as the decision maker
- ✗Buyers who need published pricing or third-party security certifications listed up front; neither appears on the site
Deployment
Market Analysis
Pros
- ✓Large named commercial carriers and MGAs, including W. R. Berkley, Bowhead Specialty, AmRisc and Munich Re Specialty North America
- ✓Reported revenue and customer count tripled in the past year, and the company says it is cash flow positive
- ✓Works with existing rating models and core systems instead of replacing them
- ✓Customer-reported outcomes cover premium per underwriter, quote time and combined ratio
Cons
- ✗Performance figures such as 30% to 60% more premium per underwriter are customer-reported via the vendor, not independently audited
- ✗Employee reviews cited by Teardown say parts of the product rely on third-party tools, in-house patches and human reviewers
- ✗Faces consolidation pressure as Applied Systems bought Planck and Cytora, and core vendors like Guidewire could add similar intake features
- ✗No security certifications, named core-system connectors or pricing are listed on the public site
Pricing
Enterprise
Contact for pricing
- ✓Submission ingestion
- ✓Clearance and triage
- ✓Risk analysis
- ✓Rating, quote and bind
- ✓Portfolio management
Kalepa publishes no prices and the only call to action is a demo request. Teardown describes subscription pricing quoted per carrier that may be partly performance-linked, typically starting with one line of business and expanding across lines and affiliates.
Security & Compliance
Connect
Sources
This page was written from 4 sources, 3 on domains other than kalepa.com.
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