‘Whether you’re big or small, the customer wants are the same – better cover, better price and better service,’ says chief operating officer
Larger brokers that fail to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) risk losing market share, according to Jake Wells, co-founder and chief operating officer at Aviva-backed, SME focused startup broker Meshed.
Speaking exclusively to Insurance Times after securing a £950,000 pre-seed funding round this month (August 2025), Wells said: “For smaller and regional brokers, we want to be a proof point. A case study they can point to and say ‘AI works and it lets us do more with leaner teams’.
“For the big brokers, yes, they should see us as competition. We’ve seen firsthand how hard it is for them to adapt. Some are running on 50 plus different systems. Good luck plugging AI agents into that.
“Whether you’re big or small, the customer wants are the same – they want better cover, better price and better service. Any broker not using the best technology available to deliver that is going to fall behind.”
Backing from Aviva
Meshed, which has operating sites in London and Glasgow, has positioned itself as AI native, seeking to automate quote generation, insurer chasing and policy administration. Wells said this approach was already producing tangible benefits for the broker’s clients.
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He explained: “Operational efficiency means we don’t need to take as much commission, so we can pass those savings directly back to customers. But there’s also a hidden problem in SME insurance. A lot of clients never get a proper market exercise – terms come back late or not at all and businesses just roll over with their current insurer.
“Our AI agents help us avoid that – we get to more of the market, faster. We’ve also seen SMEs with duplicate cover or overinsurance as they’ve grown. Removing that waste brings costs down straight away.”
Meshed’s proposition attracted backing from insurer Aviva, which invested in the business through its startup accelerator Founders Factory. It invested in Meshed alongside venture capital fund Haatch and angel investors. Wells said his firm’s partnership with Aviva was a sign of insurers taking AI adoption seriously.
He noted: “Some [insurers] are still hesitant, wondering if AI will be another ‘cloud’ moment for insurance – genuinely transformative – or another ‘blockchain’, all hype, little impact.
”But others are leaning in. Aviva is the clearest proof point. The UK’s biggest insurer has invested in us and we’re already exploring how to work more closely together. For [Aviva, AI is] not a buzzword – it’s a window into the future of distribution.”
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