ZestyAI, a provider of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven risk analytics for the property and casualty insurance sector, has acquired a $15m credit facility from CIBC Innovation Banking.
This financial arrangement aims to bolster ZestyAI’s strategic growth by enhancing its financial flexibility and strengthening its balance sheet.
The company plans to significantly scale its climate and property risk models, projecting over 31 million property risk assessments in 2024, more than doubling its output from the previous year. It expects to surpass 50 million assessments by 2025.
The funding is intended to support the growing demand for property-level risk insights.
ZestyAI founder and CEO Attila Toth said: “We’ve built ZestyAI with long-term discipline and a clear mission: to help insurers navigate changing risks with confidence.
“As demand for trusted, property-level risk insights continues to grow, this capital infusion enables ZestyAI to further invest in supporting this rapid growth and become the industry standard for property risk analytics.”
Over the past year, ZestyAI is said to have recorded 33 new and expanded partnerships, including agreements with 26 new clients and the launch of four new products. This growth aligns with increasing regulatory approvals for its models addressing wildfire, severe convective storms, and non-weather water damage risks, said the firm.
ZestyAI’s wildfire model, Z-FIRE, was recently reviewed by the California Department of Insurance (CDI) as part of the rate application process. It received authorisation to be filed for rate segmentation and underwriting without further review under the Pre-Application Required Information Determination (PRID) process starting 2 January 2025.
The company’s platform integrates property data, climate science, and AI to offer precise risk insights that assist insurers in underwriting and pricing while optimising inspections and expanding coverage. In 2024, ZestyAI enabled carriers to extend coverage to over 511,000 properties previously considered uninsurable.
CIBC Innovation Banking California market manager said: “ZestyAI is addressing a critical need in the insurance industry with its AI-powered approach to property and climate risk.
“We’re proud to support ZestyAI’s next phase of growth as it continues expanding its platform and deepening its impact across the insurance ecosystem.”
