Shepherd Powers Real-Time Insurance for AI Infrastructure

Shepherd, smarter underwriting powered by data and technology, led by Justin Levine, Mo Mahallawy, and the team, has raised a $42M Series B, led by Intact Private Capital, the venture arm of one of the world's largest commercial insurers, with continued participation from Spark Capital, Costanoa Ventures, and more, bringing the total funding to $67M.

While much of the AI boom focuses on compute, models, and software, a critical challenge lies in insuring the physical infrastructure, data centers, energy assets, and construction projects that enable it. As the AI race shifts to large-scale buildouts, insurance has emerged as a key bottleneck at the construction layer.

Commercial insurance, particularly in construction, has long been built for a slower world, reliant on manual processes, outdated data, and prolonged back-and-forth between brokers and carriers. As construction activity accelerates, driven by large-scale AI infrastructure projects, these inefficiencies have become critical bottlenecks.

Rather than a lack of capacity, the challenge lies in speed, process, and data. Shepherd was built to address this gap, modernizing how construction risks are evaluated and insured.

In the past 24 months, Shepherd has issued over 1,500 policies, covering more than $400 billion in insured value across 600+ contractors and asset owners, including key players in AI infrastructure.

The platform delivers pricing indications within minutes by using AI to structure unorganized submission data and integrate real-time inputs from tools like Procore, Autodesk, DroneDeploy, and OpenSpace. This enables dynamic, data-driven underwriting based on live project conditions, resulting in faster, more precise, and less friction-filled insurance decisions.

The significance of this Series B lies in its lead investor. Intact, one of the world’s largest commercial insurers, brings deep industry expertise and a clear understanding of what works in insurtech. Its decision to invest and partner as a long-term capacity provider signals strong confidence in Shepherd’s approach, reflecting a broader shift toward data-driven, modern underwriting in commercial insurance.

The capital will support new product expansion, including renewable energy casualty, broader Builder’s Risk and Workers’ Compensation coverage, and upcoming property offerings, enabling more comprehensive solutions for brokers and clients.

It will also drive team and capacity growth, improving response times, risk coverage, and broker relationships. At the core is an autonomous underwriting roadmap, where AI handles intake, analysis, and pricing, allowing underwriters to focus on strategy and exceptions, moving toward fully agentic, end-to-end underwriting workflows.

Shepherd is entering a pivotal phase as AI infrastructure, data centers, and renewable energy drive the next major construction cycle, while insurance operating models remain largely unchanged. With its platform, data, capital, and team in place, the company is positioned to modernize how these industries are insured.

The focus ahead includes expanding products, capacity, and underwriting capabilities to better serve brokers, while advancing AI-driven solutions that directly impact real-world infrastructure and economic activity.