Irys, an innovative company focused on overhauling insurance infrastructure, has successfully raised $12.5 million in seed funding. The round was led by Markd and included contributions from Deepwork Capital, Florida Opportunity Fund, Ansay & Associates, HICO Ventures, and JMG Capital. This financial boost aims to enhance engineering capabilities, accelerate implementation processes, and expand distribution partnerships throughout the United States and Canada.
The investment reflects a renewed confidence among investors in the insurance technology sector, coming shortly after Markd itself raised $500 million to support transformative insurtech ventures. According to Margeaux Giles, CEO of Irys, the insurance industry has been hindered by outdated systems and ineffective platforms that undermine agent-client trust. She stated, “The industry’s been trapped in contracts, broken platforms, and empty promises. Irys is how we fix that.”
Irys distinguishes itself by offering an AI-native, integration-agnostic operating system designed to replace legacy systems. This platform unifies financial, operational, sales, and client data in real time, facilitating seamless communication across various tools and AIs. The technology enables automation that enhances service capacity and profitability without the need for additional staffing.
“We’ve seen what simple automation can do,” Giles noted. “If basic AI can double a service representative’s book from $200,000 to $500,000 — imagine what agentic AI can do for an organization that can actually implement it.” Currently, Irys supports several leading brokerages and managing general agents (MGAs) that collectively generate nearly $1 billion in active written premium. The company is also developing cohorts to pilot its innovative, no-data-migration approach to implementation.
The funding comes as the insurtech investment landscape experiences a rebound, with global funding reportedly rising by 28% in the last quarter, according to Gallagher Re. There is a growing trend towards platforms that promise significant infrastructure improvements. As Parker Beauchamp, Managing Partner at Markd, remarked, “The market has confirmed—insurance leaders are done stacking third-party tools just to work around outdated systems. Irys isn’t just a new AMS, it’s the whole backbone.”
With its decentralized backend, open APIs, and agentic AI capabilities, Irys is positioning itself as a central hub for the next generation of insurance enterprises. Giles emphasized the urgency for the insurance sector to keep pace with technological advancements, stating, “OpenAI and Google are rewriting what’s possible every six weeks. Insurance can’t afford to be a generation behind. Irys is the bridge between their innovation and our industry.”
The new funding will enable Irys to expand both its engineering and customer success teams, enhance distribution relationships, and introduce new AI-driven modules for accounting, analytics, and submission management in early 2026.
Founded in Tampa, Florida, Irys aims to revolutionize insurance software by replacing outdated systems with scalable, intelligent technology that meets the demands of contemporary business practices. The company’s vision is to equip agencies, MGAs, and carriers with tools that automate workflows, unify data, and facilitate modernization without disruption.
