Climate/Resilience/Sustainability
FEMA’s flood maps often miss dangerous flash flood risks, leaving homeowners unprepared
FEMA flood maps are essential tools for identifying flood risks, but they have significant coverage gaps, and politics can get in the way.
Deadly and destructive flash flooding in Texas and several other states in July 2025 is raising questions about the nation’s flood maps and their ability to ensure that communities and homeowners can prepare for rising risks.
The same region of Texas Hill Country where a flash flood on July 4 killed more than 130 people was hit again with downpours a week later, forcing searchers to temporarily pause their efforts to find missing victims. Other states including New Mexico, Oklahoma, Vermont and Iowa also saw flash flood damage in July.
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood maps are intended to be the nation’s primary tool for identifying flood risks. Originally developed in the 1970s to support the National Flood Insurance Program, these maps, known as Flood Insurance Rate Maps, or FIRMs, are used to determine where flood insurance is required for federally backed mortgages, to inform local building codes and land-use decisions, and to guide flood plain management strategies.
Financial Results
2024 second consecutive year of 'very strong' P&C results for large global reinsurers: Fitch
According to a new peer group credit analysis, sustained underwriting results and investment income made 2024 the second consecutive year of “very strong” property and casualty (P&C) financial performance in a prolonged favourable market.
The insurers in this peer group are some of the largest in the industry, including Hannover Re, Lloyd’s of London, Munich Re, PartnerRe, SCOR, and Swiss Re.
According to Fitch’s analysis, the average reported return on equity was very strong, at 14% in 2024, down from the 2023 cycle peak of 20%.
P&C reinsurance benefited from the continuation of favourable terms and conditions at renewals, and lower-than-budgeted large losses in 2024.
Announcements
Lemonade's 2025 Giveback Donates Over $2.1M to Nonprofits
Lemonade (NYSE: LMND), the digital insurance company powered by AI and social impact, today announced its 2025 Giveback, marking the ninth consecutive year of turning leftover premiums into life-changing support for communities around the world.
"Our customers don't just protect their property and pets-they're opening doors to clean water in dry African countries, rebuilding communities after disasters, and giving homeless youth the chance to dream bigger."
This year's Giveback donated $2,104,557 to 45 nonprofit organizations across the US and EU. With the 2025 donations, Lemonade has now contributed over $12 million to more than 100 nonprofit organizations since its founding. See the full impact report here.
Unlike traditional insurance models that profit from unclaimed premiums, Lemonade's Giveback program allocates leftover money to causes chosen by customers when they purchase insurance policies. This unique business model transforms insurance from a simple transaction into a powerful force for good—creating a community of insurers, customers, and nonprofit partners working together to solve real problems.
AI in Insurance
The AI Gold Rush Hits Insurance And Where Investors Are Doubling Down
Startups are rushing to build AI tools to automate workflows across finance, software engineering, and nearly every other field. One industry that often gets overlooked but is seeing its own AI revolution is the insurance industry. Notorious for manual workflows, 100+ page documents, and poor customer service, many VCs believe the industry is ripe for AI disruption.
AI systems can now analyze massive amounts of data and make decisions in real time for tasks like underwriting, claims processing, fraud detection, and customer support. This shift is enabling insurers to reduce costs, speed up service, and offer more personalized products, while redefining how risk is assessed and managed. As adoption grows, the industry is moving toward a future where human oversight guides AI, rather than executing every step manually.
The Market Opportunity: Numbers Tell the Story
Global VC investment in AI companies saw remarkable growth in 2024, as funding to AI-related companies exceeded $100 billion, an increase of over 80% from $55.6 billion in 2023, according to PitchBook data. Nearly 33% of all global venture funding was directed to AI companies, making artificial intelligence the leading investment theme in 2024, according to CB Insights data.
Within this broader AI funding boom, a specific battleground has emerged: the fight to automate the insurance industry’s most persistent productivity drain. The numbers tell a compelling story. The global artificial intelligence (AI) in insurance market size is projected to hit around USD 141.44 billion by 2034 from USD 8.13 billion in 2024 with a CAGR of 33.06%, per Precedence Research analysis.
Stitch Secures Funding to Launch Insurance-First Agentic Platform
Stitch Secures Funding from ManchesterStory and BrokerTech Fund to Launch Insurance-First Agentic AI Platform
Led by ManchesterStory, the round fuels Stitch’s mission to deliver auditable and explainable AI agents to automate insurance workflows that meet the regulatory demands of the insurance industry.
Portland, OR – [July 8, 2025] — Stitch, an AI platform purpose-built for the insurance industry, today announced it has closed a $3M Seed round led by ManchesterStory, a premier InsurTech-focused venture capital firm. ManchesterStory invested through its InsurTech-focused MS Discovery Fund II, and through BrokerTech Fund which together invest in innovative companies driving carrier and broker-centric innovation across the insurance value chain.
The investment will accelerate Stitch’s go-to-market efforts, deepen its insurance-specific AI capabilities, and expand adoption of its AI Studio platform among carriers, brokers, and managing general agents (MGAs).
“This funding validates that the insurance industry is ready to move from AI experimentation to meaningful production deployments,” said Santoash Rajaram, second-time InsurTech entrepreneur and founder of Stitch. “With Stitch, we’re giving insurers access to insurance-specific AI agents out of the box coupled with full control to build, deploy, and govern agents tailored to their operations without compromising compliance, explainability, or control.” MORE
Claims
New AI Vehicle Inspection Tool Arrives in U.S.
U.S. insurers and dealers now have access to advanced AI tools that detect hidden vehicle damage, already popular in Europe and Israel.
Insurance companies and dealerships in the U.S. now have access to an advanced AI-driven vehicle inspection platform that can detect hidden damage to vehicles – technology already gaining traction in Europe and Israel. For insurers, it offers a powerful tool to reduce fraudulent claims. For dealers, it can streamline appraisals and help secure more used inventory directly from consumers.
Click-Ins, founded in Israel with offices in Europe and Overland Park, KS, takes smartphone photos and, using photogrammetry, 3D modeling, and AI generates highly accurate vehicle damage reports.
Photogrammetry obtains reliable information about physical objects by recording, measuring and interpreting photographic images, then creating 3D models from 2D images.
Insurance Inroads
Click-Ins is currently used mainly by auction houses in the U.S., says Parsons. “We do thousands of inspections per day” for auctions."
It works directly with four insurance companies in Europe and with insurance companies in Israel.
InsurTech/M&A/Finance💰/Collaboration
ZestyAI Launches AI Agent to Cut Research Time for Competitive Intelligence by 95%
ZestyAI, the leader in AI-driven risk analytics for insurance, today announced the launch of ZORRO Discover™, a generative AI agent that delivers instant insights into regulatory filings and competitive market activity.
Regulatory research remains one of the costliest inefficiencies in insurance, with an estimated $2.5 billion spent annually on manual reviews. The process consumes millions of hours across fragmented workflows, as filings often stretch into the thousands of pages, slowing competitive analysis and strategic decision-making.
To solve this, ZestyAI built ZORRO Discover on a proprietary generative AI pipeline, leveraging large language models optimized for insurance-specific content, including filings, objections, responses, and regulations from all 50 states. Using agentic AI, the platform proactively navigates and synthesizes regulatory data, delivering a fast, intuitive experience tailored to the structure and language of insurance filings.
Early adopters of ZORRO Discover have found insurers can cut research time by an average of 95%, saving thousands of work hours and millions in costs.
"For too long, regulatory filings have buried critical intelligence under layers of complexity," said Kumar Dhuvur, Founder and Chief Product Officer of ZestyAI. "Through years of working closely with regulators, we've come to deeply understand these challenges. ZORRO Discover puts that intelligence at insurers' fingertips so they can act faster, stay compliant, and make smarter decisions in an increasingly competitive market."
People
Canal Insurance Company Announces New Chief Claims Officer
**Canal Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Canal Financial Group, is pleased to announce that Paul Stachura has joined the executive team as Vice President and Chief Claims Officer. **
Paul has extensive experience in commercial auto claims and litigation management, having held senior leadership roles with Chubb, Fireman's Fund, QBE North America, and most recently at State Auto.
He is a graduate of Michigan State University and holds the Casualty Claims Law Associate designation. Paul also previously served as Chairman of the Claims Committee for the American Insurance Association in Washington, D.C.
"Paul's arrival marks an exciting new chapter for Canal" said Paul Brocklebank, Chairman and CEO of Canal Financial Group. "We are confident that his leadership and technical expertise will elevate our claims organization and strengthen our enterprise."
About Canal Insurance Company: Rated A- by A.M. Best, Canal Insurance Company has specialized in providing insurance to commercial trucking and specialty transportation insured through selected professional agents for more than 85 years. Visit canalinsurance.com for other news and information..
CCC Appoints Tech Leader Barak Eilam to Board of Directors | CCC Intelligent Solutions
Experienced Executive Brings Deep Expertise in Enterprise Software and Scalable AI
(CCC) (NASDQ: CCCS), a leading cloud platform provider for the insurance and automotive industries, is pleased to announce the appointment of Barak Eilam to its Board of Directors. A seasoned technology executive and former CEO of NICE Ltd., Eilam brings more than two decades of experience in enterprise software, artificial intelligence (AI) and customer-engagement technologies.
Mr. Eilam adds proven capabilities as CCC continues to scale growth from its strategic investments in AI, the CCC IX Cloud™ and its connected ecosystem.
“We are excited to welcome Barak to our Board as an independent director,” said Githesh Ramamurthy, Chairman and CEO of CCC. “His experience scaling and driving customer-centric innovation will be a terrific addition to our ability to serve clients and help fuel our next phase of growth.”
During his decade-long tenure as CEO of NICE, the company became an undisputed leader in AI-powered customer experiences, serving more than 25,000 organizations in more than 150 countries. Mr. Eilam led NICE through a period of accelerated growth, achieving nearly a threefold increase in revenue and a sevenfold rise in market capitalization.
Embedded Insurance
Open and Embedded Insurance Observatory's Newsletter| Substack
[Ed. Note: Excellent and highly recommended monthly newsletter for all students of and participants in the embedded insurance movement. It is comprehensive and concise - a rare combination]
Hi, At the Open and Embedded Insurance Observatory, we conduct ongoing market research and intelligence on open and embedded Insurance. As a valuable member of our network we are delighted to share with you our monthly selection of key facts, insights, and news that we believe are meaningful and relevant.
This newsletter covers all the insights and pertinent features from June 01- June 30, 2025.
We hope you find these resources beneficial for your business
Yuri Poletto, Founder of the Open & Embedded Insurance Observatory
Today
Flash Flooding from Storm Swamps N.Y.C. Subways and Delays Flights: Live Updates - The New York Times
Two people died in New Jersey after their car was swept away. Public transit was largely running normally on Tuesday morning, hours after water flooded subway stations and damaged highways.
Here’s the latest.
The torrential rains that inundated the New York City area left at least two people dead, officials said Tuesday, as road closures and transit disruptions lingered across the region. More than 2 inches of rain fell on Central Park in the span of a single hour on Monday night, the second-wettest hour ever recorded in the city.
A state of emergency was in effect in New Jersey, where Gov. Phil Murphy said flooding in the suburb of Plainfield swept away a vehicle on Monday night, killing two people inside. The sprawling storms swelled waterways up and down the Eastern Seaboard, and forecasters warned that flooding was still possible from Washington, D.C., to the Carolinas.
New York City’s public transit system was largely up and running after the storms sent water cascading into subway stations and bubbling up through sewer drains on Monday night, inundating tracks and trains and leaving some commuters temporarily stranded. The flooding underscored an issue that some transit and environmental advocates have warned about for years: the inability of the region’s infrastructure to handle increasingly extreme weather.
Here’s what to know:
The commute: The flooding forced the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to suspend service on some lines Monday night, but by early Tuesday the agency said there were no weather-related closures of bus, ferry or subway services. NJ Transit said several bus lines and at least one train line had delays or detours. Metro-North Railroad warned of “residual delays.” Amtrak canceled several trains and warned passengers that more delays and disruptions were possible. Read more ›
Storms head south: Clearer skies were expected in the New York City area on Tuesday, with some showers possible later. The most significant effects from the storm system were expected farther south. Heavy rain was possible in areas from Delaware to South Carolina through Wednesday morning, according to the Weather Prediction Center, part of the National Weather Service. Flood watches were in effect for most of Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., through Tuesday evening.
Flooded subways: Videos showed floodwaters gushing onto subway platforms in New York and even into some cars. The storm evoked memories of similar transit disruptions in recent years, including the intense rain that shut down half of New York’s subway system in September 2023. The M.T.A. has said its infrastructure is not built to handle increasingly extreme weather, especially flash floods.
Canada
Advocates call for more transparency in home insurance rates amid rise in extreme weather | CBC News
Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario says home insurance rates are not within their authority
Rain and flooding on July 16, 2024 took out roads, transit and power around Toronto. With extreme weather expected to become more common, one advocacy group is pushing for more home insurance rate transparency.
As home insurance costs rise sharply amid increasing extreme weather events, one advocacy group is calling for more transparency from Ontario's financial services regulator into the increasing rates.
Investors for Paris Compliance says the rising frequency of floods and wildfires due to climate change is pushing rates toward unaffordable levels, and the province's home insurance sector needs to be investigated.
"There's been open-ended rate hikes, while at the same time there's been shrinking coverage due to the escalating costs of climate change," said Kiera Taylor, senior policy analyst at Investors for Paris Compliance.
"There's a lot of ripple effects, which really contribute to an affordability crisis and just more general instability in our financial system," she said.
Is Canada prepared for floods like the one that happened in Texas?
Data shows, in 2024, insured losses from severe weather across the country exceeded $9 billion, said Brett Weltman, spokesperson for the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). That figure is nearly three times higher than insured losses recorded in 2023, and more than 12 times the annual average of losses between 2001 and 2010, he said.
"Year over year, severe weather losses are rising at an alarming, exponential rate," he said in an email to CBC Toronto.