Descartes Underwriting opening in Singapore and Sydney to target Asia-Pacific

PARIS-BASED insurtech company Descartes Underwriting will be opening in Singapore and Sydney, Australia in August to expand its parametric insurance against climate risks to markets throughout the Asia-Pacific.

Founded in 2018 by a team of insurance veterans and climate scientists, Descartes believes its parametric (or index based) solutions - a type of insurance that covers the probability of a predefined event happening instead of indemnifying actual loss incurred - are uniquely designed to supplement gaps left by traditional insurance, providing cost-effective and fully transparent products that guarantee liquidity via swift and direct payout.

Robert Drysdale, who joins as head of South-east Asia and oversees the Singapore office, says: "As a region, Asia-Pacific is more exposed to natural catastrophes and extreme weather events than others."

The former divisional director at Howden Specialty cites record-breaking super typhoons Goni and Amphan in 2020, major hail events and bushfires in Australia, and tragic floodings in China and India.

"...the rising incidence of severe weather throughout the region is compounded by climate change and is resulting in increased year-after-year losses," he says. Mr Drysdale brings 14 years' experience of broking complex risks into the London and Asia-Pacific markets. He worked at Willis from 2012 to 2019.

Ben Qin will join later this month as head of North-East Asia and Australia, overseeing the Sydney office. The former head of analytics and data solutions for the Pacific at Marsh, reckons that with only 12 per cent of the US$102 billion natural catastrophes driven economic losses reportedly insured in 2020, "this is a good time to bring Descartes' parametric value-proposition to Asia-Pacific".

A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU

Friday, 8.30 am

Asean Business

Business insights centering on South-east Asia's fast-growing economies.

Sign Up

Descartes is structured as a managing general agent backed by a panel of tier-one risk carriers and can provide US$200 million in capacity per policy. It will collaborate with brokers to protect their corporate and public sector clients against the full spectrum of natural catastrophe and extreme weather exposures.

Last year, Descartes raised US$18.5 million in Series A funding to support its global expansion to the US and Asia, including Singapore.

The round was co-led by venture capital firms Serena and Cathay Innovation, which joined existing investor BlackFin Capital Partners. The startup previously raised US$2.5 million in seed funding from BlackFin.