Kayna, the award-winning embedded insurance infrastructure platform, has closed a €1.5 million (US$1.7 million) seed funding round. Led by original pre-seed investor Delta Partners (Ireland) with ongoing support from MiddleGame Ventures (pan-European) and from Aperture (Switzerland), the company welcomes three new investors in this latest round with Leo Capital (Finland and Singapore), Enterprise Ireland and Digital Irish coming on board as the company moves ahead with major market development plans for the United Kingdom and United States.
Kayna helps business software companies add insurance to their platforms in a simple, seamless way. Vertical SaaS (VSaaS) platforms are built for specific types of small businesses, such as franchise networks, restaurants, construction firms and field service companies, to support the running of their day-to-day operations. Kayna provides the AI policy analysis tool that uncovers insurance gaps together with the orchestration technology that enables VSaaS platforms to access multiple insurance carriers and brokers, making it possible for small businesses to close their risk exposure, gain data-led quotes and fully tailored insurance cover directly through the platform they use every day.
The global vertical SaaS market consists of specialised software platforms built for specific industries and used by millions of businesses around the world. Embedded insurance is forecast to account for 16pc of the global insurance market, worth US$1.5 trillion[1], within a decade.
Paul Prendergast, CEO and co-founder of Kayna spoke of the development,
“All of the essential elements are now in place, allowing us to scale effectively in our key markets. We are immensely gratified with the ongoing commitment of our long-term investors backing us in this latest funding round and equally delighted to have secured new investors that add to the breadth of expertise with proven playbooks and dynamic international networks that we can tap into.
With our global brokerage partner, a growing VSaaS client base and skilled Kayna team on board in Ireland and the USA, we’re ready to grow and aim to enable US$1 billion in commercial insurance transactions across the next five years.”
Kayna was launched in 2021 by CEO Paul Prendergast and CTO Peter Bermingham who have scaled multiple insurtech businesses during their partnership of more than two decades. Kayna’s 2023 pre-seed funding round raised €1 million (USD$1.2 million).
Kayna marked significant milestones in its pre-seed phase from 2023 to date:
- Securing a partnership with multinational broker Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ: WTW).
- Launching live programs in the UK and USA, enabling embedded commercial insurance in multiple vertical sectors including cyber, equine and security (the latest of which launched in February 2026 with Belfry – a US-based platform, purpose-built for the physical security industry).
- Developing and launching an AI toolkit for insurance policy analysis.
- Establishing a corporate headquarters in Penrose Wharf in Cork’s Victorian Quarter.
- Completing its initial recruitment phase having announced a commitment to create 13 new roles over two years, making senior appointments to the leadership team and securing top talent for high-skill roles based both in Ireland and the USA.
Maurice Roche, General Partner at Delta Partners said, “Kayna has achieved each strategic goal to date and is now ready to scale. We’re proud of the solid, productive relationship we have built together supporting Kayna as it delivers new revenue streams for platforms, data-led insurance for small businesses and a step-change in insurance product distribution.”
Kanishk Walia, MiddleGame Ventures Partner added, “Kayna delivers the missing infrastructure and AI policy analysis that surfaces real insurance coverage gaps for small businesses. It successfully enables vertical SaaS platforms to turn day-to-day operational, commercial and financial data into automated, bindable, commercial insurance. We’re excited to back the team again as they scale this innovative low-code integration model across more verticals and push to fulfil their ambition in the UK and US markets.”
Image provided by Kanya
