Dublin-based embedded insurance start-up Kayna has raised €1.5 million (US$1.7 million) in a seed funding round led by Delta Partners, as the company looks to deepen its footprint in the United Kingdom and United States.
Existing investors MiddleGame Ventures and Switzerland-based Aperture participated in the round alongside new backers Leo Capital, Enterprise Ireland, and Digital Irish. Delta Partners, which also led Kayna's pre-seed investment, is based in Ireland.
The fresh capital will be used to scale a platform that enables vertical software-as-a-service (VSaaS) providers – tools built for specific industries such as franchise networks, restaurants, and construction – to embed insurance directly into their products.
Small businesses using those platforms can access tailored commercial coverage without going through a traditional broker.
Central to the offering is an artificial intelligence policy analysis tool that ingests operational and financial data from a VSaaS platform's user base and checks it against active policies to flag coverage gaps. The system triggers alerts when protection levels need updating, automates form-filling, and delivers indicative quotes.
Kayna has not publicly disclosed the models or methodology underpinning the tool, though the platform also includes orchestration technology that connects VSaaS providers to multiple carriers and brokers.
The seed funding follows a €1 million (US$1.2 million) pre-seed round in 2023. Since then, Kayna has partnered with multinational WTW and launched live programmes in the UK and US across sectors including cyber, equine, and security.
Its most recent programme, launched in February with US-based physical security platform Belfry, offers pay-as-you-go pricing designed to cut audit risk for security operators.
Paul Prendergast (pictured above, left), Kayna's chief executive and co-founder, said all essential elements were now in place to scale effectively. With a global brokerage partner and a growing VSaaS client base, the company aims to enable US$1 billion in commercial insurance transactions over the next five years.
Kayna enters a market that is expanding rapidly but remains dominated by larger, better-capitalised rivals focused on different segments. Research from Precedence Research valued the US embedded insurance market at US$48.81 billion in 2025, while data published by Mordor Intelligence showed the UK leading Europe with a 17.3% share of the continent's embedded insurance market the same year.
The most prominent players, however, lean heavily towards consumer-facing distribution. Cover Genius, which focuses on sectors such as travel and retail, closed a US$80 million Series E round in May 2024 in a deal announced at the time.
Singapore-based Bolttech, valued at US$2.1 billion, has raised a cumulative US$640 million, per Tracxn data. Neither targets commercial SME coverage through vertical SaaS platforms, which is Kayna's core focus.
Maurice Roche, general partner at Delta Partners, said Kayna had achieved each strategic goal to date and was ready to scale. Kanishk Walia, partner at MiddleGame Ventures, described the platform as enabling vertical SaaS providers to "turn operational, commercial and financial data into automated, bindable, commercial insurance".
Kayna was founded in 2021 by Prendergast and chief technology officer Peter Bermingham (pictured above, right), who have worked together for more than two decades.
