Planyear, a San Francisco–based company building an AI-native platform for benefits consultants, announced it has raised $12 million in seed funding led by True Ventures. The financing will accelerate the expansion of BEACON, Planyear’s flagship automation platform designed to eliminate the administrative bottlenecks that dominate the employee benefits consulting industry.
Founded by a team of benefits industry veterans, Planyear was created to solve a challenge they experienced firsthand: consultants spending more time processing data than advising clients. Emerging from a working brokerage, the company combines deep domain expertise with modern AI automation to overhaul the workflows that occupy up to 70% of a consultant’s day.
Planyear’s BEACON platform automates high-volume, repetitive administrative processes such as document handling, RFP management, employee inquiries, census standardization, and renewal workflows. By doing so, the platform enables consultants to redirect their attention toward strategic client relationships, improving both efficiency and job satisfaction.
The company’s AI-native approach comes at a time when the benefits consulting industry—responsible for managing over $1.4 trillion in annual healthcare spending—remains constrained by legacy systems and manual processes. By integrating automation directly into the consultant’s workflow, BEACON modernizes the client experience while dramatically improving operational performance.
Planyear’s technology is already making an impact across the industry. The company reports partnerships with six of the top ten brokerage firms, and early customers have achieved up to 75% reductions in manual data entry, a 50% faster renewal process, and nearly double the client capacity within their first year using the platform.
The funding round will allow Planyear to expand its product capabilities and enhance support for brokers, employers, general agents, and insurance carriers. The company also plans to grow its sales and engineering teams to keep pace with rapid technological advances and evolving client needs.
The BEACON platform’s success is anchored in its ability to bridge AI automation with real-world industry knowledge. It can manage complex administrative workflows while delivering the high-touch advisory experience that modern employers demand. The company’s leadership believes that this shift from manual processing to intelligent automation represents not just a productivity gain but a cultural transformation for the benefits consulting sector.
KEY QUOTES:
“AI has begun to transform the underlying economics of insurance brokerage. Using AI, firms will increase the efficiency and accuracy of their interaction with clients and insurance carriers with significantly improved control of data and awareness of pricing and coverage trends. This will reduce response times and increase profitability at the same time. The result will be an improved client experience with a greater focus on consulting and streamlined administration.”
— Craig Hasday, President, National Employee Benefits Practice, EPIC
“Benefits consultants entered this industry to help people navigate healthcare decisions, not to wrestle with data entry. We’ve lived the late nights during renewal season, the frustration of manual processes, and the missed opportunities when you’re too buried in administration to focus on strategy. BEACON gives consultants their most valuable resource back: time.”
— Tariq Hilaly, CEO, Planyear
“The benefits industry is ripe for transformation, but it needs solutions built by people who understand the nuanced challenges consultants face daily. Planyear’s team combines deep industry expertise with sophisticated AI capabilities to create genuine operational leverage. They’re not just automating tasks—they’re restoring the strategic advisory role that makes benefits consulting valuable.”
— Puneet Agarwal, Partner, True Ventures
