Sixfold, a provider of artificial intelligence solutions for the insurance industry, has announced the launch of AI Underwriter, a new technology platform designed to assist insurance companies with underwriting analysis, risk assessment and decision support throughout the submission process.
This follows Sixfold’s announcement of $30 million in Series B funding earlier this year, which the company said will help accelerate the development of AI Underwriter.
Sixfold describes the platform as an underwriting agent that retains knowledge from previously submitted information, broker interactions and underwriting decisions, while continuously learning each insurer’s unique approach to risk selection.
According to Sixfold, AI Underwriter was developed through three years of collaboration with major insurers and combines extensive underwriting expertise with carrier-specific intelligence. The platform is designed to understand an insurer’s underwriting preferences, portfolio strategies and internal guidelines and will become increasingly relevant to the organization over time, the company said.
Sixfold explains that upon receipt of a submission, the AI underwriter collects and standardizes relevant information, identifies missing data, assesses preference alignment and portfolio suitability, and applies insights gained from previous underwriting activity.
The platform then makes a recommendation, explains its assessment and suggests next steps for the underwriter. Sixfold said the technology is designed to provide context beyond individual risk by taking into account factors such as broker relationships, portfolio composition and current business goals.
Alex Schmelkin, Founder and CEO of Sixfold, commented: “What do good underwriters actually need the moment they receive a submission? They don’t need a digital version of the application, they don’t need to move broker files from their inbox to another system, and they don’t need a dashboard with last week’s latest data. Instead, our users tell us what they need is to understand the risk in the full context of current books, brokers and guidance, with clear next steps. Make decisions right there, in the moment. That’s what AI underwriters do.”
Sixfold provides technology to insurance companies operating in the property and casualty and life and health markets. The company reports that since its inception in 2023, its systems have processed more than 1.5 million submissions across more than 50 business areas across North America, South America, the UK, Europe and Australia. Sixfold said its customer base, which includes organizations such as Skyward Specialty, Zurich, Generali GC&C, Guardian, AXIS and New York Life, has total written premiums of approximately $270 billion.
The company says customers using its technology have achieved significant operational improvements, including a 50% to 97% reduction in processing times, an increase in hit rates of at least 15%, and an increase in total written premiums per underwriter of up to 30%. Sixfold believes these efficiencies help improve underwriting performance while allowing the team to manage larger volumes.
According to Sixfold, early versions of its technology focus primarily on collecting, enriching and analyzing submitted data to identify information relevant to underwriting decisions. AI underwriters extend this capability by taking a more active role in the workflow, incorporating broader business considerations and supporting decision-making throughout the underwriting process.
Sixfold stressed that human underwriters will continue to provide oversight, exercise professional judgment and be accountable for governance and end results. The platform can generate quote-ready and binding-ready documents if an insurance company chooses to implement straight-through processing, the company added.
At the heart of the AI underwriting center is what Sixfold calls its underwriting brain. The company describes it as a core intelligence layer built using underwriting standards, recognized professional frameworks, underwriting reasoning methodologies and a curated knowledge base spanning multiple industries and business categories. Sixfold said this foundation enables insurers to derive immediate value from the platform while ensuring future learning is specific to each insurer.
Sixfold said each insurance company’s implementation of AI Underwriter operates independently. The platform learns from insurers’ underwriting intentions, portfolio characteristics, guidelines and decisions and provides feedback within the insurer’s own environment. According to the company, information from one insurer is not used to train another, allowing each insurer to develop its own institutional knowledge over time.
Ahead of its official launch, Sixfold is working with a select group of insurers to use AI underwriters for real-time submissions. The company reports that early experience with Skyward Specialty shows that the platform completes the majority of the underwriting analysis required for submission reviews, allowing underwriters to focus on higher-value decision-making activities while maintaining consistency across the portfolio.
Melissa Butt, Vice President of Real Estate E&S Brokerage at Skyward Specialty said: “AI Underwriters not only summarize your concerns but also provide you with perspective and a clear path forward. It’s a powerful companion for junior underwriters, allowing them to understand the perspective of more experienced underwriters and accelerate their development. Even senior underwriters who are skeptical of new technology will see this tool as an added layer of intelligence. Additionally, being able to fully examine underwriters’ capabilities without even leaving the tool is a huge benefit to the entire team. “
John Burkhart, president of U.S. Property & Casualty at Skyward Specialty, added: “Agility and responsiveness are critical to us, and we need partners that can scale with our business while driving efficiencies that allow our underwriters to focus on what they do best. Together with Sixfold, we are building what we think the future of underwriting will look like. By integrating Sixfold’s AI Underwriter Incorporated into our bionic underwriting approach, we provide our underwriters with richer context, enhancing their decision-making capabilities while keeping human expertise firmly at the center of the process.”
Sixfold reports that adoption among underwriting teams has exceeded 90% of expected users. The company attributes this to the platform’s integration with existing underwriting systems and the flexibility it provides insurers in determining the level of autonomy allocated to the technology.
Matthew Richardson, head of global operations and IT at Generali GC&C, noted: “Sixfold helps us deliver risk quotes in minutes instead of days or even weeks. Our underwriters’ jobs are made better. What sets Sixfold apart is how they build the product with underwriters and mold it to how the work actually works. That’s why we believe they are building the future of underwriting.”
Jane Tran, co-founder and chief operating officer of Sixfold, added: “We recently asked 500 Multiple underwriters and executives asked what they wanted underwriters to have more time to do. The answers were the same: complex risks, unusual risks, cases that require real expertise and creativity. The best underwriting teams in five years will be the ones where underwriters bring expertise to the job they can only do. The underwriters will be stuck in a position where they already know the broker, the books, and the guidance, and can negotiate from there. “
Sixfold also highlighted the role of governance, compliance and regulatory engagement in supporting the deployment of AI in insurance operations.
The company said its responsible AI framework includes governance controls, regulatory collaboration and risk management measures designed to support implementation across multiple geographies and regulatory environments. Property and casualty insurance companies can now use artificial intelligence underwriters.
