Index-based insurance provider Descartes Underwriting triggers $120 million in new funding

Parisian insurtech Descartes Underwriting has raised $120 million in a Series B funding round. The company is specifically helping corporate customers mitigate their exposure to climate-related and emerging risks through a number of parametric insurance products. The new funding will be used to further develop its technology platform, expand new business verticals, and continue global expansion plans. Since 2019, Descartes Underwriting has raised a total of $122.8 million.

According to a 2019 report from the UN’s International Labour Organization, “80 million jobs would be at risk if rising temperature predictions materialize, with productivity impacted by unlivable working environments.” Couple that with a Nature report that noted, “the U.S. alone could lose $520 billion across 22 sectors due to global temperature rise,” and connecting the dots begins to become a much easier exercise.

Taking on one of the insurance industry’s traditional methods, catastrophe (CAT) risk modeling, Descartes Underwriting is leveraging new data sources and fusing them with a host of AI algorithms to provide what they refer to as a “product offering which covers the full spectrum of natural catastrophes and emerging risk exposures.”

Working in tandem with corporate brokers Descartes Underwriting and its team of 50 engineers and data scientists, offer over 200 corporate clients, many in the Fortune 500, fully tailored insurance solutions to provide adequate insurances in a rapidly changing environment, both physically and on the markets.

“The corporate insurance market is undergoing a momentous shift driven by a changing climate, the growing impact of natural catastrophes, and a rise in emerging risks,” explained co-founder and CEO Tanguy Touffut. “Our aim is to be the global leader in delivering truly revolutionary solutions to brokers, corporations, and public entities for these evolving exposures. With the support of our partners, we will continue to develop and deploy a new generation of insurance products that are entirely tech-driven, simpler, more transparent and quicker to pay in the event of a loss – adapted for the new risks corporations and governments increasingly face”.

Descartes Underwriting $120 million Series B round was led by Highland Europe and saw Eurazeo join existing investors BlackFin Capital Partners, Serena, and Cathay Innovation.

“With climate change and many other emerging risks including most recently the pandemic, corporates and public sector companies are increasingly experiencing the need to access comprehensive and transparent insurance that can cover them efficiently against critical external events. Since its inception three years ago, and thanks to its highly experienced team, Descartes has become a clear category leader in the parametric insurance market,” concluded Eurazeo’s Guillaume d’Audiffret.