FRANK Raises €2.9M to Automate Insurance Brokers' Back-Office Work

Portuguese insurtech company FRANK has raised €2.9 million in funding from Armilar and Start Ventures to expand its AI assistant for insurance brokers.

Founded in December 2024, FRANK is building an AI Operator designed to handle administrative and back-office tasks that insurance brokers typically perform across emails, insurer portals and brokerage systems.

The fresh capital will be used to attract new clients, invest in research and development, and support the company's international expansion.

An AI operator for insurance brokers

Insurance brokers often need to work across multiple insurer portals, each with different login systems, forms and workflows.

FRANK's AI Operator is designed to handle these operational tasks.

The system can connect to services such as email and WhatsApp, read documents, determine the appropriate procedure, identify missing information, log into relevant insurer portals and enter the required information.

It can then provide results such as commercial quotes or claim statuses.

Brokers can review the work performed by the AI Operator at any point.

The platform is specifically designed for insurance distribution and connects with the enterprise resource planning systems used by brokerages.

From paperwork to insurance advice

FRANK's co-founder and CEO António Castro says brokers can spend around 80% of their time on back-office work rather than working directly with clients.

The company's goal is to reduce this administrative workload so brokers can spend more time on risk advice and client relationships.

The platform handles tasks such as processing quotes, following up on claims and updating client information.

According to FRANK, its AI Operator understands insurance terminology and the workflows used by brokers, including concepts such as claims and premiums across different carriers.

Early traction with brokerages

FRANK has grown to more than 350 agencies and brokerages and more than 1,500 users, according to the company.

The startup says its customers save an average of around 10 administrative hours per week per broker.

Its AI system currently performs around 70,000 back-office tasks each month.

The company has achieved this traction less than a year after entering the market.

FRANK's team has also expanded rapidly from 10 to 20 members. According to the company, its employees have experience at organisations including Lovys, JPMorgan, McKinsey, SAP, Accenture, FiveAI, Indie Campers and Bolt.

Building specifically for insurance distribution

FRANK is positioning itself differently from AI tools that primarily answer questions about insurance documents and policy coverage.

Its AI Operator is focused on executing operational tasks across the systems used by insurance brokers.

That includes reading incoming information, identifying the required workflow, completing actions in insurer portals and returning the relevant outcome to the broker.

This focus on execution is central to FRANK's product strategy.

Insurance faces an AI shift

FRANK's funding comes as AI adoption is creating changes across the insurance industry.

The company is targeting administrative processes that can involve repetitive data entry, document handling and interactions with multiple insurer systems.

FRANK's investors believe that AI-native insurance operations could increasingly handle quotes, claims and paperwork.

The startup's approach is to allow established brokerages to adopt similar workflows without rebuilding their operations from scratch.

From Lovys to FRANK

FRANK was co-founded by António Castro, Ricardo Vallejo and Alexandre Silva.

Castro previously served as chief financial officer at Lovys, a Paris-based online insurer.

His experience in insurance technology helped shape FRANK's focus on using AI to support insurance brokers rather than replacing the distribution model itself.

The company is now preparing for its next stage of growth.

Expansion beyond Portugal

The latest €2.9 million funding will be allocated across customer acquisition, research and development and international expansion.

Portugal is FRANK's initial market, but the company plans to expand internationally after strengthening its position locally.

Castro has indicated that the company is targeting international markets in 2027 while being cautious about expanding too quickly.

The startup wants to establish itself in Portugal before committing significant go-to-market resources to markets such as the US.

With more than 350 brokerages already using its platform and 70,000 back-office tasks processed each month, FRANK is now using its new capital to develop its AI Operator and prepare for international growth.