Novella announced a $21 million capital raise to expand across the United States, recruit brokers, and continue developing proprietary AI agents designed to help insurance professionals become “super-producers.”
The New York-based company said the funding will support the opening of additional regional offices and the continued advancement of its AI platform, which automates operational workflows across the wholesale insurance process. In 2026, Novella opened offices in Miami and Houston, with additional expansion planned for Southern California during the second quarter.
Founded in 2024, Novella operates as an AI-native wholesale insurance broker focused on Excess and Surplus (E&S) lines. The company said it is licensed in all 50 U.S. states and has appointments with nearly 100 specialty carriers and MGAs. More than 3,500 retail agencies currently send business through the platform.
Max Kane, who previously spent nearly four years at Lemonade, said Novella’s AI agents automate placement, binding, form comparison, policy review, subjectivity collection, inspections, billing, endorsements, and renewals. According to the company, this enables brokers to spend more time focused on client relationships and business growth.
The company was co-founded by Kane alongside Michael Tsibelman and Alex Broome. Tsibelman previously led software teams at companies including Microsoft, Gigya, and DoControl, while Broome previously held brokerage roles at The Baldwin Group and ReShield.
The financing round was led by Brewer Lane Ventures, with participation from Box Group, Crystal Venture Partners, SV Angel, Avid Ventures, Verissimo Ventures, Blank Ventures, and global insurer Arch. Novella also participated in the Lloyd’s Lab startup accelerator program at Lloyd’s.
Kane said the company believes AI will augment rather than replace insurance producers by automating back-office tasks surrounding the sales and placement process. He added that Novella aims to become a top five U.S. wholesale E&S broker with $10 billion in premium volume within the next decade.
KEY QUOTES:
“We believe pairing world-class producers with world-class AI is the recipe for success. AI will make the best producers far better at their job, enabling them to better serve clients and focus on building bigger, more profitable books of business.”
“AI won’t replace insurance producers, it will turn the best ones into super-producers, and the industry will concentrate around the people and firms that use AI to empower the best human capital. Novella sees this as a template for how AI transforms other relationship-driven legacy industries: don’t replace the human, automate the back office that surrounds them.”
Max Kane, Founder and CEO, Novella
“Wholesale broking, at heart, is about human relationships. Our producers need to be close to our retail brokers, so we will be expanding strategically across the country over the coming years. Novella is the first wholesaler to effectively blend AI and talent.”
“Wholesalers spend years building relationships. Novella makes them better at it, that’s why top brokers are joining the team, and how they’re changing specialty insurance.”
Chris Downer, General Partner, Brewer Lane Ventures
