Guidewire adds Kayna to InsurTech Vanguards embedded insurance network
Guidewire brought Cork-based Kayna into InsurTech Vanguards, sharpening its push to move embedded insurance closer to carrier core systems and nontraditional channels.
Guidewire has added Cork-based embedded insurance platform Kayna to InsurTech Vanguards, a move that underscores how core platform vendors are trying to pull distribution innovation closer to the policy administration stack. Kayna was selected as one of five finalists at InsurPitch Dublin 2026 and won its place in the programme after being picked by a panel of industry experts.
The pairing matters because Kayna is not pitching embedded insurance as a standalone distribution trick. The company sits between vertical SaaS providers, brokers, MGAs and carriers, using data already held inside business software to surface coverage at the point of need. For P&C carriers, that means a shot at connecting quote-bind-issue workflows to channels they usually struggle to reach, without building yet another layer of custom integration. Guidewire chief evangelist Laura Drabik said Kayna’s embedded approach opens a powerful new distribution channel because SMEs remain a significantly underserved segment for P&C carriers.
Guidewire launched Insurtech Vanguards in October 2021 to connect insurers with promising insurtechs and help customers find them without doing the scouting work themselves. By 2022, Guidewire said 25 startups were members. In April 2024, it expanded pitch days to Sydney, Dublin and ITC Vegas, with finalists chosen through online voting by industry participants, Guidewire and PwC. The company has said the programme typically includes about 40 to 50 companies at a time, and that 23 Vanguards have graduated into PartnerConnect.
Kayna arrives with momentum of its own. The company says it was founded in 2021 by chief executive Paul Prendergast and chief technology officer Peter Bermingham, who have worked together for more than two decades. On March 11, 2026, Kayna raised €1.5 million in seed funding led by Delta Partners, with support from MiddleGame Ventures and Aperture, and new backing from Leo Capital, Enterprise Ireland and Digital Irish. Kayna says it aims to enable US$1 billion in commercial insurance transactions over the next five years and believes embedded insurance could reach 16% of global insurance market value within a decade, or about US$1.5 trillion.
The company says its programmes have already been deployed in cyber, equine and physical security, alongside a partnership with Willis Towers Watson and rollouts in the US and UK. Paul Prendergast said embedded insurance inside operational software is where the market is moving. That is exactly the bet Guidewire is making with Vanguards: not just finding the next insurtech, but shaping where carrier distribution will happen next.
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