InsurTech/M&A/Financeđź’°/Collaboration
CCC Intelligent Solutions Announces the Acquisition of EvolutionIQ, the Leading AI Guidance Platform for Disability and Injury Claims Management
Acquisition brings together two leading AI-powered platforms to revolutionize how claims are resolved for insurers and claimants
CCC Intelligent Solutions Inc. (“CCC”), a leading cloud platform provider powering the P&C insurance economy and a subsidiary of CCC Intelligent Solutions Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: CCCS) (“CCCS”), announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire EvolutionIQ, Inc. (“EvolutionIQ”), the leading platform for AI-powered guidance for disability and injury claims management.
The acquisition expands CCC’s market reach into strategic adjacencies and strengthens its industry leading AI-powered SaaS platform through the addition of transformative AI capabilities that will work to revolutionize how insurance claims are resolved.
CCC is an industry AI leader with more than 100 insurers and thousands of collision repairers leveraging its computer vision, natural language processing, and other AI solutions in processing tens of millions of auto claims and repairs. CCC also provides a comprehensive suite of SaaS solutions for managing auto casualty claims, with tens of billions of dollars in injury claims processed each year on the CCC platform.
EvolutionIQ has pioneered and operationalized the use of AI-powered claims guidance and intelligent summarization, including Next Best Action recommendations, to drive claims excellence within disability and workers’ compensation carriers. Its market-leading platform, which deciphers complexity and delivers actionable insights to claims professionals, uniquely combines industrial-AI with a proven and scalable SaaS business model. Since its founding in 2019, EvolutionIQ has been delivering a significant, measurable impact on claims performance to many of the largest insurers in the U.S., while helping insurers get hundreds of thousands of injured Americans back to work and their productive lives.
Telematics, Driving & Insurance
Telematics: How to protect employees and keep insurance sustainable | Zurich Insurance
Telematics can help dramatically improve fleet safety, addressing sustainability concerns, as well as improving resilience, risk management and claims handling according to Zurich Insurance’s Yvan Berthou, Andrew Fairclough, and Zurich Resilience Solutions’ Nick List.
Using existing in-vehicle or third-party technology solutions, such as OBD (on-board diagnostic) devices, mobile phone behavioural/safety applications or even driver and forward-facing cameras to monitor fleet risks is not new, but several factors are now strengthening the case for telematics, including improving driver safety, and the need to address sustainability risks and concerns.
Despite the growing prevalence of vehicle safety and advanced driver assistance systems, road-crash deaths remain stubbornly high in many major markets: Around 20,400 people were killed in road crashes in the EU last year, while US motor-vehicle deaths in 2022 were 30% higher than in 2013. Several factors are behind the figures, including changes in driver behaviour (such as speeding and distracted driving), the increase in miles driven post-pandemic, and the increase in larger/heavier vehicles (according to research from The Economist, in the last 10 years the heaviest 1% of vehicles in the US were associated with 41 deaths per 10,000 crashes, which is three times higher than the rate for median-weight cars.)
Along with higher costs of vehicle repair and values, the rebound in incident frequency has led to an increase in the cost of motor insurance, even threatening the affordability of cover for higher risk sectors like trucking in the US. According to industry statistics, US commercial auto premium rates have increased by close to 50% in the last decade.
Climate/Change/Sustainability/ESG
Cytora and Moody’s RMS Partner to Help Insurers Weather Climate and Natural Disaster Risk
Cytora, the leading digital risk processing platform, has partnered with global catastrophe risk modeling and solutions company Moody’s RMS.
The integration will enable P&C underwriters to gain unprecedented insights into climate and natural disaster risk. Moody’s RMS Location Intelligence API provides catastrophe peril insights in over 100 countries and will be integrated directly into Cytora’s risk processing platform. This will enable insurers to make much faster and more accurate assessments.
With insurance losses from natural catastrophes topping $100 billion for each of the last four years, the need for natural and manmade catastrophe and climate change risk insights has never been more important to the insurance industry. Cytora and Moody’s RMS partnership aims to empower underwriters with instant access to a host of critical model derived data points on climate and natural disaster risk.
By integrating Moody’s RMS data into Cytora’s platform, insurers will be able to operationalize data more broadly across their lines of business, (including for risk clearance, onboarding and triage) and more effectively through their multi-step workflows from submission to quote. This allows insurers to unify their risk data, digitize their core workflows and make better-informed decisions on risk and improve speed to market.
Research
Neptune Flood Releases Analysis of Primary Residential Flood Insurance
Neptune Flood has released an analysis of the U.S. residential flood insurance market by its Research Group, emphasizing the critical role private insurers can play in addressing the nation's growing flood coverage gap. With over 20 million U.S. homes at moderate to severe flood risk and only 3.8 million insured, the report highlights the pressing need for systemic reforms and a shift toward private market solutions.
Key Insights:
Coverage Gap: While private market participation has grown, 97% of residential structures remain uninsured, leaving millions of homeowners vulnerable to catastrophic flooding.
Private Market Potential: Neptune's Data Science Group conducted a detailed analysis of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), revealing that 90-95% of
NFIP policies meet the risk criteria for private insurers. For 30-40% of NFIP policyholders, private insurers already offer equal coverage at lower premiums, representing 40-45% of the NFIP's premium base. Once NFIP subsidies are fully phased out under Risk Rating 2.0 (RR2.0), the private market will offer more affordable coverage for ~55% of current NFIP policyholders, equating to ~50% of its premium base.
- Economic Strain: Adjusted for inflation, the NFIP has paid $129 billion (in 2024 dollars) in claims since 1978, with $112 billion of that being for residential buildings.
The program currently carries a $20.5 billion debt burden, with policyholders paying nearly $2 million daily in interest to the U.S. Treasury, while no principal repayment has been made since 2014. Expanding private market participation can alleviate taxpayer reliance and enhance financial sustainability.
New Swiss Re study: Waymo is safer than even the most advanced human-driven vehicles
Today, we’re sharing our new cutting-edge research with Swiss Re, one of the world’s leading reinsurers, analyzing liability claims related to collisions from 25.3 million fully autonomous miles driven by Waymo.
The study uses auto liability claims aggregate statistics as a proxy for at-fault collisions and expands on our previous research. It demonstrates that as we've scaled operations across Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, the Waymo Driver significantly outperforms both the overall driving population and the latest generation of human-driven vehicles equipped with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
The study compared Waymo’s liability claims to human driver baselines, which are based on Swiss Re’s data from over 500,000 claims and over 200 billion miles of exposure. It found that the Waymo Driver demonstrated better safety performance when compared to human-driven vehicles, with an 88% reduction in property damage claims and 92% reduction in bodily injury claims. In real numbers, across 25.3 million miles, the Waymo Driver was involved in just nine property damage claims and two bodily injury claims. Both bodily injury claims are still open and described in the paper. For the same distance, human drivers would be expected to have 78 property damage and 26 bodily injury claims. Notably, the Waymo Driver's safety advantages hold true even when compared to newer vehicles (2018-2021 models) equipped with modern safety technology.
This includes advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) such as automated emergency braking, forward collision warning, lane keeping assistance, and blind spot warning. When compared to this group, the Waymo Driver showed an 86% reduction in property damage claims and 90% reduction in bodily injury claims.
Commercial Property Insurance Shows Signs of Improvement, Stable Growth, Says New Triple-I Brief - CORRECTIONS
First paragraph, second sentence of the Commercial Property Insurance Trends for 2025 and Beyond section should read: However, according to the latest market report from AON, for the first time since 2017 (27 consecutive quarters), commercial property insurance rates broke their upward trend – going from +3.4% in Q1 2024 to -0.94% in Q2 2024 (instead of However, according to the latest market report from AON, for the first time since 2017 (27 consecutive quarters), commercial property insurance rates broke their upward trend – going from +34% in Q1 2024 to -0.94% in Q2 2024.).
The updated release reads:
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY INSURANCE SHOWS SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT, STABLE GROWTH, SAYS NEW TRIPLE-I BRIEF
Despite challenges posed by external factors, such as climate risk and inflation, the U.S. commercial property insurance segment shows signs of turning a corner in terms of rates and remaining on track for stable growth, according to the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I), an affiliate of The Institutes. FULL UPDATED ARTICLE
2025 PREDICTIONS
Amwins Access Looks Ahead with Release of 2025 State of the Market Report
Amwins Access, a leader in small business insurance solutions and personal lines coverage, has released its 2025 State of the Market report, providing an in-depth analysis of emerging trends and market conditions across key segments, helping brokers and clients stay ahead in a dynamic insurance landscape while capitalizing on evolving conditions.
"As we approach 2025, the market shows encouraging signs of stabilization in certain sectors though challenges remain, bringing a mixture of promise and complexity," said Troy Santora, executive vice president and E&S leader of Amwins Access. "From stabilizing rates in certain markets to challenges in high-risk segments, our report highlights where brokers can lean into opportunities and where precision will be crucial. This isn't just about forecasting trends – it's about arming brokers with actionable strategies to thrive."
Key Insights
Stability on the Horizon: After years of volatility, the small business property market shows signs of stability, with new capacity entering previously constrained areas. Brokers can expect increased options for coastal risks and a more competitive landscape overall.
Personal Lines Evolving: Private flood insurance is redefining coverage, integrating technology for precision risk assessment, and offering policy features that go beyond traditional options. With flood risks growing, the need to educate consumers remains paramount.
Navigating Complexity: Rising loss costs in casualty lines are driving carriers to refine their risk appetites. Meanwhile, the growing demand for high-net-worth products underscores the importance of personalized, relationship-driven approaches to risk management.
AI Update: AI and Insurance - Predictions for 2025 | Zelle LLP - JDSupra
As set forth in the prior articles in the AI Update column of the Lonestar Lowdown, the insurance industry has adopted and implemented Artificial Intelligence in numerous ways.*
As this trend continues, Insurance Newsnet has the following predictions regarding how AI will impact insurers in 2025:
Insurers' key to success in 2025 is operational effectiveness. Pricing will no longer be a differentiator in 2025. To increase margins while keeping costs down, insurers will focus on bolstering productivity while offering customization for better client service across their claims and underwriting departments.
The insurance industry will lean on robust upskilling platforms to counteract the increasingly aging workforce.
Companies will intensify efforts to close the skills gap. Initiatives will leverage artificial intelligence and digital tools to provide adaptive training and operational resources tailored to modern needs. Successful players will combine these technologies with flexible work arrangements to align with shifting employee expectations. This dual approach will drive competitiveness by balancing workforce transformation with effective talent retention strategies.
AI will disrupt the traditional insurance outsourcing model by automating routine tasks that were typically offshored, cutting outsourcing jobs in half in the next three years. Intelligent workflow agents will dramatically change work design. Dynamically distributing work based on real-time capacity, expertise and improved process orchestration will reduce outsourcing costs. AI systems will manage document processing, data entry and basic customer service - traditionally handled by business process outsourcing providers - by shifting the focus from outsourcing to specialized services such as AI model training and complex technical support.
AI training will occur in the U.S., not at offshore locations.
Best practices for insurance-pro success in 2025
At the start of 2024, I projected the year would be one of the most challenging we had seen as insurers.
Going into 2025, we are in a much better place.
From calmer seas in the reinsurance market, including better terms and conditions, to more universal adoption of insurance-to-value measures across the industry and rate increases to better align with risk, the insurance market appears to be in a fairly good place.
How long that continues to be the case? Who knows.
I see 2025 through a positive lens, but as always, I remain cautiously optimistic, fully aware that we will continue to navigate more damaging and more costly natural catastrophes, increasing commercial auto claims, social inflation and legal system abuse, among other things.
Positive momentum
Let’s start with those positive headwinds.
John Smith (jsmith@plmins.com) is president and chief executive officer at Pennsylvania Lumbermens Mutual Insurance Company (PLM). With more than 40 years in the insurance industry, he has been a part of PLM since 1998.
News
Insurtech Root now covers 77% of US
Insurtech Root now covers 77% of US
Insurtech firm Root Inc. has added Minnesota to its list of covered states, pushing its auto insurance reach to 77% of the US population, according to a report by AM Best.
This expansion brings the company's operations to 35 states, reflecting its continued growth in the competitive insurance market.
Root distributes its policies both directly and through independent agents. Its model requires eligible customers to use a mobile app that tracks driving behavior during a multi-week “test drive,” which determines their premiums.
The announcement comes on the heels of a significant financial milestone for the company.
Root reported a net income of $22.8 million in the third quarter of 2024, a reversal from the $45.8 million net loss posted in the same period last year, according to AM Best.
In the same period, Root saw a 57% increase in its policies in force, to 407,313. Gross written premium, meanwhile, rose 48% to $332 million. During the period, the company generated $23 million in net income and operating income of $34 million.
Commentary/Opinion
Broken Trust, Insurance Industry Included | Insurance Thought Leadership
The public reaction to the assassination of UnitedHealthcare's CEO shows that the insurance industry faces a profound problem.
Aftermath of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson Assassination
The shocking number of sympathetic voices in support of the accused murderer of Brian Thompson appearing in social media and several insurance publications are the latest manifestation of this corrosive loss of trust. Consumer activist Sen. Elizabeth Warren even stated that the killing served as a “warning” of sorts that “you can only push people so far and then they take matters into their own hands.” Other opportunists are jumping on the bandwagon and fanning the flames even before we know the reasons why the alleged killer acted and if it was truly motivated by insurance outrage.
COMPLETE ARTICLE AS PUBLISHED ON iNSURANCE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
by Alan Demers & Stephen Applebaum
Events
ClimateTech Connect April 15-16, 2025
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center / Washington, DC
ClimateTech Connect is the premier global conference and tradeshow for leaders advancing innovation in climate adaptation, resilience, and profitable sustainability through technology.
ClimateTech Connect brings together thought leaders, innovators, policymakers, and leading industry experts to explore the intersection of climate resilience strategies and technology. We are expecting 1500 attendees from the following industry sectors:
â—Ź Insurance and Financial Services
â—Ź Corporates
â—Ź Investors
â—Ź Government
â—Ź Start-ups and Scale-Ups
Join us for two days of inspiring keynotes, panel discussions, workshops, an electrifying expo hall + demo stage, and networking as we delve into the latest advancements and solutions in climate resilience. Together, we will shape a more sustainable future.
InsurTech Consulting and our 'Connected’ newsletter are proud media partners of ClimateTech Connect with a special 20% discount for our subscribers”. Use code:Connected20, register HERE