In an effort to feature more insurtechs, Digital Insurance has modified the format of our Meet the insurtech series.
Alex Martin, CEO and co-founder of Clearspeed, shared responses about the company and the technology it's using. Responses have been lightly edited.
What's the origin story of the company?
Clearspeed was born from a deeply personal tragedy during my 20 years as a U.S. Marine and intelligence officer. After losing a close friend and soldier in a "green-on-blue" attack in Afghanistan—where vetted allied forces turned on coalition partners—I realized we desperately needed a way to build trust quickly and at scale in high-risk, multilingual environments. This profound loss fueled my vision to create technology that could efficiently clear trustworthy individuals while accurately identifying risks, and what we discovered is that the same vocal characteristics are universal to all humans—making our technology a tool to help protect troops in combat zones and assess risk in commercial environments like insurance.
When was it founded and/or when was the product launched?
We founded Clearspeed in 2016, with our first real-world validation coming through the U.S. Department of Defense's Special Operations Command, vetting Afghan commando recruits. The technology showed a near-perfect accuracy rate, and that validation gave us the confidence to expand into commercial markets like insurance and financial services.
Can you tell me about the founders/founding team?
I'm Alex Martin, CEO and co-founder. I spent 20 years focused on risk, trust and security worldwide. When I came back to the U.S., I worked with Stanford University and Professor Charles Holloway — who had been deeply involved in voice technology at SRI, where Siri was developed. He became an early mentor and is now on our board. That combination of military experience and academic innovation helped shape Clearspeed from day one.
Any meaning behind the company name?
Yes — it's pretty straightforward. The idea is to clear trustworthy individuals or transactions with unprecedented speed. That's exactly what our technology is designed to do, whether that's protecting troops in combat zones or accelerating legitimate insurance claims for customers who deserve immediate relief in their moments of need. I often say our primary focus is on "clearing the hay" in the haystack, not "finding the needle."
How many employees?
We are at more than 60 employees today.
Where is the company based?
We're headquartered in San Diego, California, but the technology is in use in 37 countries and supports more than 60 languages—serving global insurers like Zurich and others.
What pain points is the technology trying to solve?
There's always been a trade-off between speed and risk detection. If you move fast, you might miss risks; if you slow down, you frustrate your customers. Clearspeed removes that trade-off. Our voice analytics can flag risk in seconds, which lets insurers and other clients fast-track the genuine customers while focusing resources on the small percentage that may be higher risk. That means faster claims, better fraud detection and a much better customer experience. Clearspeed cuts claims handling time in half while increasing immediate payments to customers and delivers a return on investment by identifying potential fraud early in the process without creating friction for legitimate claimants.
What funding rounds has the company had?
We just closed our Series D round in June 2025, raising $60 million led by Align Private Capital, bringing our total funding to $110 million. We've been fortunate to have strong investors like IronGate, Bravo Victor, KBW Ventures and U.S. General David Petraeus backing us. This reflects growing recognition that our dual-use technology delivers outsized value in both commercial insurance and national security applications.
What's ahead?
We're doubling down on the markets where trust and speed matter most—insurance, banking, government and defense—while expanding globally to meet growing demand for secure, high-integrity screening. You'll notice that U.S. insurance execs are publicly championing the "why" of increasing trust at global conferences, in the media, and through studies. At Clearspeed, we bring the "how" - giving insurers the practical tools to actually build and measure trust at scale. We're excited to come together to achieve this.
