Richard Hartley is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cytora. Cytora transforms underwriting for commercial insurance using AI. Its platform helps insurers digitize risk intake and make faster, better underwriting decisions. Richard has led the company since 2013. Cytora is a trusted partner to the global insurance industry and is backed by leading venture capital firms. Richard Hartley delivers a TED-style talk at the 2026 InsurTech Spring Conference, titled “Agentic AI’s Impact on Risk, Capital and Frictional Cost.”
Richard has spent more than a decade building Cytora into a recognized name in commercial underwriting technology. His focus is on how AI can reduce friction across the insurance value chain. That includes how risk is submitted, evaluated, and priced. His work centers on making underwriting faster and more consistent at scale.
Before founding Cytora, Richard was a Product Manager at eBaoTech Corporation in Shanghai. eBaoTech is an insurance software company serving carriers globally. That early experience gave him a close view of core insurance systems and their limits.
Richard holds an MSc in Political Science from UCL. He also earned a BA in History from The University of Manchester.
