Sydney-based natural catastrophe modelling firm Reask has been named one of the 50 most promising insurtechs worldwide by New York’s CB Insights’ research team, which selected from a pool of over 2000 startups. 

Reask is a risk data firm that applies artificial intelligence (AI) to interpret and forecast global extreme weather conditions. In June, it raised $US6.55 million ($9.96 million) in investment funding. 

Insurtech heavyweight Cover Genius, which was founded in Sydney, was also on the list, which CB Insights says is a prestigious ranking of the most promising and innovative digital insurance startups.  

“This list celebrates innovators that are transforming the way people access, purchase and use insurance,” it said. 

“They were chosen based on datasets including R&D activity, business relationships, investor profiles, news sentiment analysis, competitive landscape, and team strength, and criteria such as tech novelty and market potential.” 

Reask says it provides high-resolution weather risk analytics and forecasting to calculate the severity and frequency of extreme weather. By applying AI across multiple sources of climate data, Reask delivers proprietary weather modeling algorithms that learn climate physics to offer dynamic forward-looking representations of atmospheric risk.  

“This approach provides critical insights and intelligence to insurers and asset managers, which need more accurate weather catastrophe forecasting but are limited to unreliable and inadequate methods based on static historical statistics,” Reask says. A key focus is tropical cyclones. 

Reask says early adopters include Axa and Swiss Re and a big four accounting firm. 

Also on the list was Silicon Valley-based Clara Analytics, a leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI) technology for personal injury claims optimisation which has announced an exclusive partnership with Opex Consultants to represent Clara in Australia and New Zealand.   

Insurtech Australia (IA) member Utrecht-based FRISS – which counts Allianz, Aon and Mapfre among its customers and helps insurers manage fraud using advanced technology – was also included, as was San Francisco-based Socotra which has offices in Sydney and London and a client list including Axa, Nationwide and IAG.