The financing was led by venture capital firm Markd, with participation from sponsors including 2ndF, Iridium Bloom LLC, 101 Weston Labs, IIANC, and other industry-specific partners. This funding round is a significant step forward for Cake as it aims to reshape Insurance M&A, democratize access, and expand its services to agents at all levels.
Launched in 2021, Cake’s platform facilitates connections between independent agents looking to sell entire businesses or partial accounts and those seeking to expand their operations.
Adam Bowe, Co-Founder, and CEO, highlights the platform’s importance, especially given the aging demographic among the industry’s principal agents and the substantial number of sub-$1.25M ARR agency books managed by older producers. Bowe emphasizes the need to provide easy access to liquidity from these assets to drive growth opportunities for all independent insurance agents.
The successful pre-seed funding round underscores Cake’s commitment to transforming the Insurance M&A landscape and empowering agents across the industry.
“As we witness a shift away from private equity dominance, our platform makes it progressively simpler for agents to adapt to the changing insurance landscape. We offer a unique opportunity for agents to buy and sell their books of business, or even fractional sales with slices of their books, with each other,” said Bowe.
“Our focus on innovative technology, connectivity, and independent agents makes us exceptional.”
Parker Beauchamp, Managing Partner at Markd, notes: “I sure wish this tool had been available to me during my time in distribution. What an opportunity for those trying to scale or exit parts of or their entire agencies fast and effectively. There is a tremendous amount of scale for those seeking it before they reach typical private equity scenarios by buying and selling books or slices of agency businesses.”
He added: “Adam and John built a solution that eases the process of liquidating assets and fostering independent insurance agents’ strategic growth — an endeavour worth investing in. Whether on the brink of acquiring one’s first book of business, ready to retire by selling, or aiming to grow an existing agency, Cake could be a go-to platform.”
