Cara raises $8 million

Cara, an AI platform for insurance brokerages, announced $8 million in seed funding led by Kearny Jackson, with participation from Claire Hughes Johnson (Former COO, Stripe), Kevin Mahaffey (Founder, SNR), Sam Hodges (CEO, Vouch Insurance), and Colin Evans (Startups and Partnerships, OpenAI).

Cara is the evolution of Oyster Technologies, a startup that allowed merchants to embed insurance products. According to Oyster, its book of business was acquired by The McGowan Companies, and the company is now focused on AI solutions for the insurance industry.

Cara helps insurance agencies and brokerages by automating coverage comparisons, proposal and COI generation, ACORD and supplemental form fill, E&O review, and client requests via voice and email AI – a 24/7 AI workforce that integrates directly with existing agency management systems and customer relationship management. The platform is used by The McGowan Companies, Atlas Insurance Brokers, ISU Steadfast, Combined Agents of America, and FirstChoice.

“We built Cara because we lived this problem. As part of a trillion-dollar global insurance industry, agencies and brokerages are drowning in operational work when they should be out writing new business and building client relationships. Cara is growing at an incredible rate with massive opportunity ahead. Over 80 percent of our customers come from organic word-of-mouth growth, which speaks to how deeply it solves a critical scaling challenge for insurance brokerages.” – Vic Yeh, Co‑Founder & CEO of Cara.

“We backed this team because they didn’t just imagine the future, they operated it. Having built and scaled a brokerage with these tools, they’re now turning that playbook into a platform for the entire industry. This lived experience is the reason why thousands of brokers and agents trust Cara AI.” – Sunil Chhaya, Co‑Founder and General Partner at Kearny Jackson.