Scout InsurTech Interview with Sonant AI

Sonant AI is an insurance AI support staff company. They seek to free up agents from repetitive calls that don’t need a license, repurpose support staff to producers and unlock growth and streamlined operations. Chris Luiz sat with Co-Founder and CEO, Francisco Lopes, to learn more about how Sonant AI is impacting the industry.

Who are your clients?

We focus on insurance distributors. We started with AI receptionists for agencies and are now rolling out to larger organizations such as carriers and brokers.

What does your product do?

Our product automates routine phone calls that don’t require an insurance license and the workflows surrounding those calls using voice AI that sounds like a human. For example, when someone calls an agency to get a certificate of insurance, we take that request, process it and only involve an agent when necessary. In the future, we aim to fulfill that request directly by accessing the right systems, generating the certificate and delivering it to the customer.

How much capital have you raised?

We are a private company. While we have raised capital, we cannot disclose specifics yet, as we plan to make a formal announcement in the future.

Was the company born from within or outside the industry?

The company was born outside the insurance industry. Initially, we didn’t have insurance expertise, but during the process of building this company, I took the P&C licensed agent exam to gain firsthand knowledge.

What growth metrics have you accomplished over the last 12 months?

Over the last 12 months, we have deployed tens of agents and built a team of six top-notch engineers.

Within your domain, what is the current challenge the industry is facing?

The key challenge is the misallocation of time and resources. For independent agencies, staff wastes valuable time handling non-revenue generating calls that take producing time away. Also, the staff doesn't follow a consistent and accurate way to handle the phones and quote intakes. For carriers, staffing and training workers for call centers is also a persistent challenge.

How does Sonant AI take a unique approach to providing value?

We have developed the best receptionist for P&C insurance agencies with best-in-class conversational AI. Our voice AI handles interruptions naturally, provides real-time responses (within 700 milliseconds for 98 percent of utterances) and is hyper-focused on the insurance domain, particularly the agency channel. We also integrate seamlessly with existing systems, including major agency management systems, and will soon announce an exclusive partnership.

What inspired the team to start this company?

Our team consists of two immigrant co-founders who initially came to the U.S. to study at Stanford. Personally, I struggled to navigate insurance as a customer on two separate occasions. Initially, we built a voice product for sales, and one of our angel investors, a former carrier CEO, suggested we explore the insurance space. After working with an agency and seeing early success, we became excited about solving inefficiencies in the industry. This inspiration led me to take the insurance agent exam in California. Previously, I also scaled a marketing agency to over $5M in sales in under three years, which fueled my passion for optimizing people-based businesses and tackling bottlenecks.

Can you share any goal(s) for the next 12 months?

Our primary goal is to become the market leader in this new category within the P&C agency market. We plan to launch our first carrier pilots, enhance agents’ capabilities to take actions beyond voice (e.g., accessing portals and agency management systems) and deepen integrations with major systems of record.

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