The investment positions QuickFacts for a successful launch in Quebec and the US market, following its recent expansion across the Canadian Western provinces.
The financing round was led by Sandpiper Ventures, a fund focused on women building ground-breaking technology companies. The investor group also includes Killick Capital, a private investment firm based in St. John’s and headed by Mark Dobbin; Paul Hill, Canadian technology executive and angel investor; InsurTech NY, A NYC based fund investing in new products, distribution solutions, and technologies to evolve the insurance industry; Neil Mitchell, former Managing Director at Marsh Canada; Phil Gibson, previous Managing Director for Aviva, and senior executive at Allstate and Travelers US; Don Jacobi, the previous owner of Jacobi Brien Insurance; East Valley Ventures and other angel investors.
Co-founded by Christy Barsalou (President & CEO) and Jeff Barsalou (CRO) in late 2020, QuickFacts offers a platform that consolidates insurance carrier information into a user-friendly, searchable database. Their software facilitates side-by-side underwriting comparisons and streamlines brokerage workflows, reducing underwriting calls by up to 50% and saving users up to 2 hours per day. In 2024 alone, brokers using QuickFacts have collectively saved an estimated 228,306 hours to be repurposed towards growing the business and better servicing customers.
QuickFacts has experienced rapid growth, tripling its number of active users in just over a year to reach 100 brokerage clients and 2,500 users. This growth has enabled QuickFacts to forge larger partnerships within the brokerage industry.
“We’re extremely proud to see the success and positive feedback QuickFacts has received over the past year,” states Jeff Barsalou, CRO. “Securing this funding is crucial for our growth trajectory, reflecting our investors’ confidence in our ability to empower brokers with reliable underwriting information and process technology.”
“Sandpiper Ventures is pleased to lead an oversubscribed funding round and re-invest in a woman-led company we continue to believe in. QuickFacts is rapidly transforming the insurance industry: Christy, Jeff and team have built a transformative AI-enabled platform with the ability to streamline underwriting and reduce inefficiencies for brokers. They have developed a strong and growing customer base across Canada and now into the U.S. We are excited to support the QuickFacts team as they continue to enhance capabilities and further expand their reach,” comments Rhiannon Davies, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Sandpiper Ventures.
With 19 current employees, this raise will give QuickFacts the capacity to grow its team, with plans to hire four additional staff this year. These team additions will help QuickFacts complete its Canadian expansion, break into the U.S. market, facilitate the addition of new Commercial and Agricultural product lines and explore possibilities with its vendor and carrier partners. The QuickFacts team is particularly enthused about the opportunity and progress in their data and artificial intelligence developments.
“US brokerages are experiencing similar pain points to Canadian brokerages, but on a much larger scale due to the sheer size of the market and state differences,” commented Christy Barsalou, President and CEO. “That’s why technology is imperative for brokers to keep pace with rapid carrier information changes, ensuring they deliver accurate, up-to-date advice to clients, ultimately enhancing efficiency and service quality.”
Insurance carrier information is changing at a rapid pace. In the first half of 2024 alone, there were 250 underwriting rule changes for Ontario personal insurance carrier markets. With these frequent changes, technology is required for insurance brokers to stay competitive in the market. A recent study by Mordor Intelligence shows the Insurtech market size will quadruple to over $32B over the next five years, a testament to the need for technology and the recent push by insurance companies to adopt it.
“We are proud to support a startup that can make the lives of insurance brokers easier,” said David Gritz, Managing Director of InsurTech NY. “Having the right systems in place with QuickFacts can make the transition to the next generation smoother. With the average age of a broker significantly above the median worker in the US and pressure for agency owners to sell or retire, the need in the market is expanding exponentially.”
Main image: QuickFacts Co-Founders Christy (right) and Jeff (left) Barsalou began the company three and a half years ago out of their home office in Halifax, NS. They have grown it into a national software technology player for the Canadian insurance market.
