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Fernstone

Full-stack AI insurance brokerage for critical industries.

Fernstone is a a full-stack AI insurance brokerage for critical indusries. We are competing directly with the 40,000 commercial insurance brokers in the US that earn $80B in revenue each year. Today, construction and industrials companies use Fernstone to obtain coverage for complex risks. Luke and James met at Traba (industrial staffing startup backed by Founders Fund). There, they created and led the enterprise function, growing it from 0 to 25% of company revenue, while closing customers like JB Hunt and Kimberly Clark. Bryant, James’ friend since high school, was a Software Engineer at Google and SentiLink; he studied Math & CS at Vanderbilt.
Active Founders
Luke Button
Luke Button
Co-Founder
Building Fernstone. Prev. led a growth team at Traba (Series A, backed by Founders Fund), Head of Growth at Antimetal, cofounder at Contrast (acquired).
James Chen
James Chen
Co-founder
Building Fernstone. Previously created and led the Enterprise function at Traba (Series A), growing it to 25% of company revenue. Ex BCG and UChicago. Former debate champion, ranked #1 in the USA out of 10,000 teams.
Bryant Le
Bryant Le
Co-Founder
Building Fernstone. Former Engineering @ Google and SentiLink (Craft-backed Series A). Previously acquired and operated an Australian raffle company with a friend, 2x’d profits by building new tech tooling.
Company Launches
Fernstone: AI-powered insurance brokerage for businesses
See original launch post

The Problem:

Every business buys insurance at some point.

But, the process of finding coverage remains frustratingly analog. Insurance brokers call, email, and even fax carriers for quotes. That back and forth is both manual and slow.

One customer told us he waited 6 weeks for his broker to find him construction insurance. In that time, he lost a major deal.

The Solution:

https://youtu.be/34X7QjVKpZ8?si=8bzilqt7uaReGO-m

We are building the fastest and most effective insurance brokerage in the world. We combine AI with licensed brokers-in-the-loop to review and bind coverage.

Our AI agent automates the manual back and forth, tracking email threads, and instantly following up.

We find insurance for complex risk faster, and instantly issue documents like COIs.

Our Team:

We experienced this problem while working at Traba (Series A warehouse staffing startup). There, our insurance brokers rarely picked up the phone when we needed coverage for injured workers.

Luke and James met at Traba when they started on the same day. Luke led a growth team, closing some of Traba’s largest customers like JB Hunt. He was previously Head of Growth at Antimetal and co-founder of Contrast (acquired).

James created Traba’s enterprise function and grew it to 25% of company revenue. He was previously BCG, UChicago, and a former debate champion ranked #1 in the US.

Bryant, James’ friend since high school, was a software engineer at Sentilink (Series B) and Google. He previously acquired and operated a raffling company with a friend, and 2x’d profits by building new tech tooling.

Our Ask:

We’ve launched and are working with our first customers. If your business needs insurance, reach out to info@fernstone.com

All 3 of us are licensed insurance brokers and can get you a quote.

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YC Photos
Fernstone
Founded:2025
Batch:Fall 2025
Team Size:3
Status:
Active
Location:San Francisco
Primary Partner:David Lieb