Portuguese insurtech FRANK raises 2.9M to expand AI platform for brokers: Latvian app BirdyChat rebrands as Balsio

Portuguese insurtech FRANK raised €2.9 million in a funding round led by Armilar and Start Ventures on Thursday to expand its AI-powered platform for insurance brokers and prepare for international growth. The company, founded by António Castro, Ricardo Vallejo and Alexandre Silva, targets the administrative burden in brokerage, where tasks like processing quotes or claims often span multiple insurer systems and consume 80% of brokers’ time, according to Castro, FRANK’s co-founder and CEO.
FRANK’s AI Operator automates these workflows by connecting to email, WhatsApp and insurer portals, identifying processes, flagging missing data and executing tasks such as logging into systems to retrieve quotes or claim updates. Since launching commercially less than a year ago, the platform serves over 350 agencies and 1,500 users in Portugal, handling 70,000 back-office tasks monthly and saving brokers an average of 10 hours per week, the company said. The new capital will primarily fund further AI development and training as FRANK eyes international markets in 2027 while consolidating its domestic position .
Meanwhile, Latvia-founded professional messaging app BirdyChat rebranded as Balsio on Sept. 16, sharpening its focus on small teams needing structured communication without the complexity of enterprise platforms. The app, now localized in Latvian and eight other European languages, targets agencies and client-facing teams that collaborate with external partners. Balsio offers thread-based organization, work-email registration to separate professional and private contacts, and was the first to use the Digital Markets Act’s WhatsApp interoperability framework, allowing users to message WhatsApp contacts without requiring them to install Balsio. The company launched across Europe in May after attracting a waiting list of over 50,000 users .
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