Insurance built by founders, for founders.
The company that looked at the business insurance industry - stubbornly paper-based, glacially slow, and almost aggressively confusing - and said: we can do this better. They were right.
Sam Hodges, CEO & Co-Founder
Sam Hodges had built and scaled startups before. He co-founded Funding Circle U.S., one of the world's largest small business lending platforms. Along the way, he encountered business insurance the way most founders do - with dread, confusion, and the sinking feeling that the broker on the other end had never met a venture-backed tech company in their life.
"Insurance is the thing startups need most and understand least. We wanted to change that."
He teamed up with Travis Hedge, who had spent years at Silicon Valley Bank's venture arm watching startups navigate this exact problem. Together, they founded Vouch in 2018: a technology-first insurance company that would treat startup founders like the sophisticated operators they are, not like confused small business owners who needed to fill out a 40-page paper form.
Vouch went through Y Combinator - and not just as a portfolio company. They graduated, built the product, and eventually became Y Combinator's exclusive insurance partner. The student became the supplier.
The pitch was direct: get covered in 10 minutes, pay prices that reflect your actual risk profile, and work with advisors who speak your language. No jargon. No paper. No waiting weeks for a quote that was wrong anyway.
It worked. Series B. Series C. A $550M valuation. 6,000+ companies insured. A 74+ NPS score - which, in the insurance industry, is the equivalent of getting a standing ovation at a tax audit.
Business insurance used to mean one-size-fits-nobody policies sold by generalists who couldn't tell a DAO from a department store. Vouch built coverage that actually fits the companies buying it.
Third-party injuries, property damage, and personal injury claims. The baseline every business needs - fast to bind, clear on terms.
Data breaches, ransomware, fraud, system outages. For tech companies, this is not optional. Vouch covers the breach and the aftermath.
Directors and Officers coverage protects leadership from personal liability. Venture investors typically require this before writing a check.
Errors and Omissions covers professional liability when your product fails to deliver. Because code has bugs. Fact of life.
Algorithmic bias. Hallucinations. Regulatory investigations. IP infringement in model training. First-of-its-kind coverage for an entirely new risk category.
Smart contract vulnerabilities, DAO exposures, and crypto-related risks. For builders in the decentralized world who still need real-world protection.
Copyright infringement, defamation claims, and content-related legal exposure. For anyone publishing at scale.
Equipment, hardware, physical assets. Even digital-first companies own things. This protects them.
Vouch wasn't built by insurance lifers who stumbled on a better distribution channel. It was built by operators who had personally felt the friction of business insurance and had the technical credibility to rebuild it.
Serial entrepreneur. Stanford MBA and MS. Previously co-founded Funding Circle U.S. - one of the world's largest SMB lending platforms. Before that, strategy consulting and investing across New York and Europe. Brown University, magna cum laude. The kind of founder who has done the work, failed the audits, and knows exactly where the system breaks.
Spent years at SVB Capital - Silicon Valley Bank's venture arm - watching hundreds of startups navigate insurance from the investor side. Before that, Nationwide Insurance. He arrived at Vouch with a clear-eyed view of what institutional investors need to see before they'll write a check, and built the product to match. Leads a team from SVB, NerdWallet, Zenefits, Travelers, Lyft, and Google.
Vouch didn't raise capital from people who didn't understand startups. Every round brought in investors who had watched the problem from the inside.
Y Combinator, Allegis Capital, Anthemis, 500 Startups
Y Combinator Continuity Fund, Ribbit Capital, Index Ventures
Redpoint Ventures
SVB Capital, Ribbit Capital, Redpoint Ventures - Valuation: $550M+
Ribbit Capital - on the back of strong 2023 performance
Further expansion capital
Vouch didn't build its distribution through cold calls and trade shows. It built it through integrations and partnerships with the platforms that startups already trust.
Exclusive insurance partner for YC portfolio companies. Alumni-turned-supplier: the full startup arc.
Embedded cyber insurance within Vanta's compliance platform. Coverage meets compliance in a single workflow.
Embedded insurance API for instant General Liability and Property quoting. Infrastructure for the infrastructure.
Partnership and investment for European startup coverage. The global founder problem requires a global answer.
Acquired Corix Insurance Services (Vouch's MGA) in 2025. Multi-year distribution agreement keeps Vouch independent as a broker.
Sam Hodges previously co-founded Funding Circle U.S. - proving that sometimes the second startup is the insurance company you wish you'd had the first time around.
Coverage in 10 minutes. Most insurance companies take longer to answer their phone than Vouch takes to bind a policy.
Vouch went through YC as a startup, then became YC's exclusive insurance partner. Alumni to supplier in one straight line.
Their AI Insurance product literally covers "hallucinations" - the kind where your AI invents facts and your company gets sued for it. Someone had to.
Travis Hedge came from SVB Capital's venture arm. He had seen hundreds of startups scramble for insurance before a funding close. He built the fix.
A 74+ NPS in insurance. For context: most insurers hover around 20-30. Vouch is in a different conversation entirely.
Vouch was built for companies that move fast and need insurance that can keep up. You have a seed round in process. Or you just closed a Series A and your new investors want D&O coverage on the term sheet. Or you're building on-top of an AI model and your legal team just flagged "what happens if it says something wrong at scale."
These are the scenarios where traditional insurance fails. The broker doesn't understand what a DAO is. The policy excludes software. The renewal process takes three months and involves faxing a document.
Vouch's platform handles early-stage startups (policies starting around $200/year) all the way through to venture-backed companies closing a $100M+ round and needing iron-clad D&O coverage as part of the deal.
"We purchased a policy in minutes, got a great price, and now have coverage that will grow with our company."
That's from a Vouch customer. In insurance reviews, that's as close to poetry as it gets.