Simply Business, a digital insurance marketplace for small businesses, has launched a business insurance app inside ChatGPT for US users, alongside a UK version, as insurers and intermediaries test conversational AI as a new distribution channel.
The tool connects ChatGPT to Simply Business’s pricing engine. Small business owners can obtain a guide price by entering data points before being directed to the Simply Business site to complete a full quote and purchase journey. The app sits in ChatGPT’s App Directory and can appear as a recommendation when users ask about business risk or insurance.
The launch forms part of Simply Business’s broader strategy to use AI to streamline the insurance-buying process for entrepreneurs. In October 2025, the company rolled out a hyper-personalized, AI-powered advisor in the US aimed at making cover selection faster and clearer by tailoring recommendations to a small firm’s profile and risk characteristics.
Founded in the UK in 2005 as an online broker, Simply Business now operates as a digital marketplace for small business insurance in both the UK and US, serving more than one million customers and placing cover for hundreds of trades through a panel of carriers. The ChatGPT app is intended to act as a front door into that marketplace rather than a stand-alone binding platform.
The timing reflects a broader shift in how small businesses are using technology. Recent surveys in the US and UK indicate that a growing share of small and mid-sized firms now use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT for tasks ranging from marketing and customer communications to planning and basic financial analysis.
In many cases, these tools are being used daily and on free or low-cost tiers, making them a natural place for early-stage insurance research rather than a destination customers must deliberately seek out.
Small business owners are already using platforms like ChatGPT to research, plan and make decisions. By safely bringing insurance pricing into that environment, we’re removing one more barrier between them and the coverage they need. We designed the app with the safeguards that customers have come to expect – this kind of rapid, responsible innovation is precisely what our global technology platform is built for," said Dana Edwards, group CTO.
Simply Business is part of a small but expanding cohort of insurance players building into the ChatGPT App Directory. Other early movers include digital intermediaries and carriers experimenting with quote-and-bind journeys for personal and commercial lines.
The directory offers a potential new top-of-funnel, particularly in SME segments where customers are comfortable buying cover online and are highly price- and convenience-sensitive. It also raises questions about how far core processes – from underwriting to documentation and payments – should be exposed within a third-party conversational platform, and how data sharing and consent are managed.
Simply Business’s integration keeps ChatGPT firmly at the top of the funnel, using it as a discovery and pricing tool rather than a full-service platform.
