Ex-UK minister Bim Afolami raises £4.9M for AI broker i23

Bim Afolami, the former UK economic secretary to the Treasury, has launched an AI insurance startup called i23, and it has reportedly raised £4.9M in seed funding. His co-founder, Anand Sambasivan, confirmed the venture.

Afolami held the Treasury post between 2023 and 2024 under then prime minister Rishi Sunak. Sambasivan is one of the co-founders of PrimaryBid, the UK fintech that gives retail investors access to public company capital raises.

"We are building an AI-native insurance broker. Sprinting fast and it feels so great," Sambasivan said. He added that the early-stage ecosystem for UK startups is vibrant and very different from ten years ago, saying London is "very much thriving".

Who is backing i23

Four Cities Capital jointly led the seed round. Outward VC, Seedcamp and Insiders Ventures also invested.

The founding team also includes Mike Coombes, previously chief operating officer at PrimaryBid, and Salman Valibeik, co-founder of the marketing startup Opriva. PrimaryBid was acquired by US fintech group SoFi last year.

A fragmented market

i23 is targeting insurance brokers. According to the report, it is developing an AI operating model that will take over the routine administrative work brokers do today.

Market data puts the UK insurance broker market at up to £22bn a year, but it is highly fragmented. That gives automation-focused newcomers a large pool of small firms whose back-office workload could be streamlined.

The company has not yet detailed a product launch timeline. For now, the round shows investors are still willing to back AI-led insurtech ideas in London, particularly from founders with fintech exits behind them.