Series A upcover closes A$19M round at A$45M valuation Scale ~60,000 Australian businesses insured Speed Get a quote from as few as two questions Panel Around 40 insurers on one platform Market 95% of AU commercial insurance still bought offline Conversion 1 in 3 quote requestors become customers Founded Sydney, 2019 - team across ten countries Series A upcover closes A$19M round at A$45M valuation Scale ~60,000 Australian businesses insured Speed Get a quote from as few as two questions Panel Around 40 insurers on one platform Market 95% of AU commercial insurance still bought offline Conversion 1 in 3 quote requestors become customers Founded Sydney, 2019 - team across ten countries
Insurtech · Sydney, Australia

upcover.

Business insurance that moves at the speed of the businesses it covers - instant, digital, and built to embed.

Founded
2019
Businesses
~60,000
Series A
A$19M
Insurers
~40
upcover logo
UPCOVER — the logomark of a Sydney insurtech placing cover for tens of thousands of small businesses.
The Company

Insurance, minus the paperwork

In Australia, buying commercial insurance has long meant convoluted questionnaires, opaque terms and quotes that arrive days later. upcover, founded in Sydney in 2019 by Skye Theodorou, Anish Sinha and Sajjad Naveed, was built on a contrarian premise: most of that friction is optional. Its digital platform can generate a business insurance quote from as few as two questions, issue cover, and hand back a certificate of currency in seconds.

The company began by helping gig workers and food-delivery drivers untangle complex insurance schemes, then grew into a broader broker serving startups, scaleups, trades, allied-health professionals and other small businesses. Today it works with around 40 insurers and covers roughly 60,000 Australian businesses. In February 2025 it raised a A$19 million Series A at a A$45 million valuation.

What sets upcover apart is not a single product but an approach: treat insurance as data, make it programmatically accessible, and let both businesses and other brands tap into it. That idea - the embedded insurance API - lets a marketplace, SaaS tool or platform offer B2B cover inside its own checkout.

0
Businesses insured
0
Insurers on panel
A$19M
Series A raised
2
Questions to a quote
“The insurance industry has long been plagued by convoluted questionnaires, overcomplicated terms, and lengthy quote timeframes - and upcover is changing all of this.” Skye Theodorou · Co-founder & CEO
The Problem & The Difference

A market stuck offline

Where commercial insurance breaks down

  • Over 95% of Australian commercial insurance is still negotiated offline.
  • Four large companies control roughly 80% of the market.
  • Small businesses face long forms and days-long quote waits.
  • Proof of insurance and premium payment add more delay.

How upcover answers it

  • Quotes generated from as few as two questions.
  • Instant certificates of currency to win contracts fast.
  • One-click financing to pay premiums in instalments.
  • A single insurance API brands can embed at checkout.

Digital adoption gap — share of insurance bought online (approx.)

Home & motor insurance~60%+
Commercial insurance (AU)~5%
The gap between personal and commercial lines is the opportunity upcover is chasing. Figures are approximate, drawn from company statements.
Products & Services

What you can do with upcover

Platform

Digital broking

Compare, buy and manage commercial cover online, with quotes from as few as two questions and instant certificates of currency.

Cover

Business insurance

Public liability, professional indemnity, cyber & privacy liability, management liability, personal accident, tools of trade and industry-specific cover.

API

Embedded insurance

A single insurance API and white-label journeys so brands, marketplaces and SaaS platforms can sell B2B cover inside their own products.

Payments

One-click financing

Premium funding that lets businesses pay for cover in instalments with a single click at the point of purchase.

Segments

Built for many trades

Tailored journeys for tech startups, trades, allied health, beauty, fitness, consultants, accountants, real estate and more.

Compliance

Instant proof of cover

Downloadable certificates of currency issued immediately so businesses can meet contract and compliance requirements.

Business Model & Market

A broker that behaves like software

upcover earns commission on the policies it places across its panel of around 40 insurers, and layers on revenue from its embedded/white-label insurance APIs and from premium financing on cover sold through the platform. Rather than replacing insurers, it sits between them and the business - or between them and another brand - as digital distribution infrastructure.

That positioning matters in a market where the four largest players hold about 80% of commercial insurance and most transactions still happen offline. By converting roughly one in three quote requestors into customers, and by doubling revenue while halving costs in the year before its Series A, upcover has argued that automation can out-perform the traditional broking model on both speed and price.

“By making insurance policies programmatically accessible, we've opened up the ecosystem, so developers and brands can embed an insurance checkout.” Anish Sinha · Co-founder
Funding

Backing the pivot to digital

Seed · 2022
A$4.7M
A$2.7M equity + A$2M debt
Antler Australia, Betterlabs and industry angels including former Zurich and QBE executives.
Series A · Feb 2025
A$19M
A$11M equity + A$8M debt · A$45M valuation
Led by RealVC with Antler Elevate, Betterlabs, Gandel Invest, Marshall Investments and angels including Brian Hartzer.
Timeline

From gig cover to Series A

2019

Founded in Sydney

Skye Theodorou, Anish Sinha and Sajjad Naveed start upcover to simplify insurance for gig workers.

2021

API-based platform launches

upcover rolls out its digital broking platform and embedded insurance API for small businesses.

2022

A$4.7M seed round

Raises equity and debt with backing from Antler, Betterlabs and industry angels.

2024

Scaling toward 60,000 customers

Grows its business base while doubling revenue and halving costs.

2025

A$19M Series A

Closes equity and debt at a A$45M valuation and launches new digital insurance products.

Leadership

Who runs it

Skye Theodorou co-founded upcover and serves as CEO. A UTS graduate in business and law, she trained as a lawyer and spent time at Zurich Insurance and in the NSW Government before building upcover - experience that shaped the company's read on where commercial insurance fails customers. Co-founder Anish Sinha leads the technology behind the platform's APIs, and Sajjad Naveed rounds out the founding team. The roughly 52-person company operates remotely across about ten countries.

FAQ

Common questions

What does upcover do?

upcover is a digital insurance broker that helps Australian small businesses, startups and scaleups get instant quotes, buy commercial cover and download certificates of currency online - and lets other brands embed business insurance via API.

Who founded upcover and when?

It was founded in 2019 in Sydney by Skye Theodorou (CEO), Anish Sinha and Sajjad Naveed.

What insurance products does it offer?

Public and products liability, professional indemnity, cyber and privacy liability, management liability, personal accident, tools of trade and industry-specific covers for trades, allied health, beauty, fitness, tech and professional services.

How much has upcover raised?

A A$4.7M seed round in 2022 and a A$19M Series A in February 2025 (A$11M equity plus A$8M debt) at a A$45M valuation.

How is it different from a traditional broker?

It is digital-first: quotes can come from as few as two questions, certificates are instant, premiums can be financed in one click, and its API lets brands embed cover - versus the offline process that still handles 95% of Australian commercial insurance.