Fernstone

What Fernstone does

Fernstone is a commercial insurance brokerage that pairs a unified digital platform with dedicated human risk advisors to serve small and mid-sized businesses. The platform consolidates six operational modules into a single portal: COI management (instant certificate issuance), claims handling (filing and tracking with human follow-through), policy management (cross-carrier, multi-location organization), automated alerts (renewal and expiration notifications), secure access control (role-based permissions for teams), and billing and payments. Underlying the software is a white-glove service model in which every client is assigned a dedicated risk advisor who learns the customer's operations, monitors exposures, and proactively updates coverage as the business evolves.

The company's technology is built as a cloud-based brokerage portal that sits on top of a broad carrier panel spanning nine commercial insurers, including Tokio Marine, Amtrust, Markel, Liberty Mutual, The Hartford, CNA, Travelers, BHSI, and Kinsale. This carrier breadth enables quote-based pricing across specialty, middle-market, professional lines, workers compensation, and excess and surplus capacity. Fernstone pursues a vertical specialization strategy with documented depth in garage businesses (more than 50 accounts), daycare centers, and moving businesses, suggesting accumulating class-specific underwriting expertise.

Commercially, Fernstone operates a sales-led, consultative go-to-market with direct website quote requests, Facebook lead-generation ads, scheduled demos, and dedicated advisor relationships. Revenue is generated through standard insurance brokerage commissions earned from carriers on placed business, with monthly billing cadence on the client side. The company is privately held, was founded in 2025, is led by CEO Luke Button, and is based in San Francisco with a New York office at 169 Madison Ave; early-stage capital includes a $500,000 Y Combinator round in December 2025 and a subsequent TSVC financing event.

Name

Fernstone

Legal name

Fernstone Insurance Company

Website

https://fernstone.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2025

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Fernstone is a commercial insurance brokerage that combines a unified digital portal for COI, claims, and policy management with dedicated human risk advisors, serving small and mid-sized businesses in verticals such as moving, garage, and daycare.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Insurance Brokerage Commissions: Fernstone operates as an insurance brokerage, earning commissions from insurance carriers for placing business coverage. They work across multiple carriers (Tokio Marine, Amtrust, Markel, Liberty Mutual, The Hartford, CNA, Travelers, BHSI, Kinsale) to provide competitive pricing and broad coverage options to their clients.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Fernstone is a commercial insurance brokerage that places business coverage through multiple carriers (Tokio Marine, Amtrust, Markel, Liberty Mutual, The Hartford, CNA, Travelers, BHSI, Kinsale) and delivers it via a unified digital platform covering COI issuance, claims tracking, policy administration, automated alerts, access control, and billing. The platform is paired with dedicated human risk advisors who provide white-glove support, ongoing coverage monitoring, and renewal/expiration management for each client business.

Product overview

Fernstone is an insurance brokerage platform for businesses that combines a unified digital platform with dedicated human advisory services. The core offering centers on the Fernstone Insurance Platform, which provides interconnected modules including COI Management, Claims Handling, Policy Management, Automated Alerts, Secure Access Control, and Billing & Payments. This digital infrastructure is complemented by human-delivered services—Dedicated Risk Advisory and White-Glove Support—creating a hybrid model where technology handles administrative workflows while expert advisors provide personalized risk management guidance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Fernstone Insurance Platform Unified commercial insurance brokerage platform for businesses that consolidates certificate of insurance issuance and sharing, claims filing and tracking, multi-carrier policy administration, automated renewal and expiration alerts, role-based secure access control for teams, and premium billing and installment payments into a single digital portal. It is the core product Fernstone sells to U.S. commercial clients seeking to manage risk and coverage in one place.
• Dedicated Risk Advisory Services Human risk advisory service in which every Fernstone client is paired with a dedicated risk advisor who learns the client's operations, monitors exposures, updates policies as coverage needs change, and proactively keeps the business protected before issues arise.
• White-Glove Support Concierge-level service for handling certificates of insurance, renewals, and claims with speed and care, providing clients with a direct line to the same Fernstone team members for consistent, responsive service.

Quantifiable outcome

• Response time under 24 hours for customer inquiries

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Tokio MarinecoreOthersTokio Marine is a partner insurance carrier providing global capacity for Fernstone's commercial insurance offerings. Fernstone works with Tokio Marine to bring broad coverage options to their business clients.
• AmtrustcoreOthersAmtrust is a partner insurance carrier specializing in workers compensation coverage. Fernstone leverages Amtrust's specialty expertise for commercial insurance clients.
• MarkelcoreOthersMarkel provides specialty insurance coverage through Fernstone's brokerage platform, serving clients with complex or niche insurance requirements.
• Liberty MutualcoreOthersLiberty Mutual offers broad appetite commercial insurance coverage through Fernstone's network, enabling coverage for a wide range of business types.
• The HartfordcoreOthersThe Hartford is a middle market focused insurance carrier partner providing coverage options for Fernstone's commercial insurance clients.
• CNAcoreOthersCNA provides professional lines insurance coverage through Fernstone, serving clients with professional liability and related coverage needs.
• TravelerscoreOthersTravelers is a national carrier partner providing commercial insurance coverage through Fernstone's brokerage platform for businesses across the United States.
• BHSIsupportingOthersBHSI (Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance) provides commercial insurance capacity for Fernstone's business clients requiring specialty coverage.
• KinsalesupportingOthersKinsale is an excess and surplus lines insurer partner providing coverage options for complex or hard-to-place risks through Fernstone's platform.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Embroker: Embroker is a digital commercial insurance brokerage offering tailored coverage across professional, cyber, and specialty lines. It competes with Fernstone for the same digitally enabled business buyers seeking faster, broker-led insurance.
• Next Insurance: Next Insurance is a digital-first commercial insurance carrier and brokerage serving SMBs with online quoting across multiple lines. It directly competes with Fernstone on the same SMB target customer and modern, self-service purchasing experience.
• Founder Shield: Founder Shield is a specialty commercial insurance brokerage built for venture-backed startups and high-growth SMBs. It mirrors Fernstone's vertical specialization ethos and consultative, advisor-driven approach.
• Simply Business: Simply Business is an online commercial insurance brokerage that aggregates quotes from multiple carriers for small businesses. Its multi-carrier online comparison model closely parallels Fernstone's price-discovery value proposition for SMBs.
• Vouch Insurance: Vouch is a digital commercial insurance provider focused on startups and SMBs with online policy issuance and dedicated risk advisors. Its hybrid tech-plus-advisor model and SMB target customer are closely comparable to Fernstone.
• Thimble: Thimble offers on-demand, short-term commercial insurance to small businesses with fully digital purchasing. It targets the same SMB/moving-fast segment Fernstone describes and competes on self-service convenience.

Broad incumbents

• CoverWallet (an Aon company): CoverWallet is a digital commercial insurance brokerage now part of Aon, offering online quoting and policy management to SMBs. Backed by a global broker, it competes with Fernstone on platform-driven SMB distribution while bringing significantly more scale.
• Aon: Aon is a global professional services firm offering commercial insurance brokerage, risk management, and advisory. It competes with Fernstone for mid-market and enterprise commercial insurance placements and brings much broader resources.
• Hiscox: Hiscox is a specialty insurer and digital distributor serving SMBs and professionals across the U.S. and U.K. It is a broader incumbent offering overlapping commercial lines that Fernstone brokers, including professional and small business coverage.
• Marsh: Marsh is one of the largest global commercial insurance brokers, providing risk advisory and placement across virtually every commercial line. It represents the incumbent scale benchmark Fernstone must compete against for larger commercial accounts.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/FernstoneInsure
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fernstone

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fernstone