InsTech - insurance & innovation with Matthew Grant

What would happen if the next hurricane wasn’t just stronger but completely off the scale? Are we prepared for a Category 6 event, and would it even show up in our models?

In this panel discussion from InsTech’s July evening event The future of catastrophe risk: where science meets reality, supported by Inigo, Ruth Petrie leads a conversation on how insurers are responding to more extreme, uncertain and fast-changing catastrophe risks.

Featuring:

• Emma Watkins, Catastrophe Risk Leader
• Chris Weller, Head of Exposure Management, Inigo
• Tom Philp, CEO, Maximum Information

Together, they challenge the assumptions behind traditional catastrophe modelling, explore the limits of the Saffir-Simpson scale and ask whether imagination, not just data, will define the future of risk management.

In this conversation, the panel explores:

• Whether the industry should move beyond Cat 5 and how we define “extreme” risk
• Why flood, surge and rainfall are often more damaging than wind alone
• How climate change is altering where and how storms form — and what we can predict
• What insurers can (and can’t) do in the face of rapid intensification
• Why demand surge, rebuild costs and politics are now central to loss estimation
• What kind of event would truly “shake” the insurance market — and why

This is essential listening for exposure managers, underwriters, brokers and risk leaders looking to challenge conventional thinking and prepare for what’s next.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Identify where insurers remain unprepared for rapid intensification and other emerging storm behaviours.
• Produce a more complete view of catastrophe exposure by integrating hazard, vulnerability and socio-economic factors.
• Summarise the panel’s recommendations for improving risk communication, preparedness and resilience across the industry.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 375 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Matthew Grant sits down with Matthew Eagle, Head of Global Model Solutions and Advisory at Guy Carpenter, to explore how one of the industry's most respected voices sees the future of modelling, capital management and advisory in reinsurance.

With three decades of experience, Matthew reflects on what’s changed — and what hasn’t — in how reinsurers view risk. From the early days of catastrophe models to today’s generative AI agents and open modelling platforms, he shares how his team is helping insurers manage volatility, optimise capital and drive profitable growth.

In this episode, Matthew shares:

• Why flood, wildfire and severe convective storm are the perils to watch — and model — more closely
• How generative AI is already reshaping pricing, underwriting and actuarial workflows
• What insurers need to know about build vs buy when it comes to new analytics tools
• How Guy Carpenter is scaling open-source tech through Oasis and data standardisation
• What skills are now essential for new analysts entering the industry
• How AI agents are being used to replicate complex actuarial decisions in seconds
• Why “good enough” modelling still matters, and where precision can be a false economy
• The link between terrorism modelling and gaming engines — and what it signals for future innovation

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Richard Hartley or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Define the evolving skill sets required for analysts working in catastrophe risk and capital modelling.
• Identify the trade-offs in choosing between ‘build’ and ‘buy’ approaches when adopting new analytical technologies.
• Produce a framework for helping clients achieve profitable growth, manage volatility and optimise capital.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 374 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this episode, Matthew is joined once again by Richard Hartley to reflect on a major milestone in Cytora’s journey: its acquisition by US-based Applied Systems.

But as Richard makes clear, this isn’t the end of the road. It’s a platform for scale. Listeners will hear how Cytora evolved from tackling political risk to transforming how risk flows through commercial insurance. Richard shares practical lessons from scaling into the US, explains why they rebuilt their platform around large language models and outlines why being agnostic to input but opinionated on risk output is a game changer.

They also explore the cultural and technical alignment with Applied, the value of blending insurance expertise with external product thinking and what it really takes to make hard pivots, including knowing when to throw away what you’ve built.

In this episode, Richard shares:

• Why Cytora rebuilt its platform around large language models — and what they threw away to make it work
• How “decision-ready risk” became a guiding principle for digitising insurance workflows
• What it really takes to expand into the US and earn client credibility market by market
• Why the idea of industry-wide standardisation is flawed — and how to work around it
• How to lead through uncertainty, scale a team and make tough product decisions
• Why insurance needs both deep domain knowledge and external perspective to innovate
• The underrated role of resilience in entrepreneurship — and what ballet and rugby taught him about pushing through

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Richard Hartley or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how unstructured data enters the insurance value chain and the implications for underwriting workflows.
• Define the concept of “decision-ready risk” and its role in modernising commercial insurance operations.
• List the key factors that enabled Cytora’s successful expansion into the US market.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 373 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

Jonathan Spry, CEO and co-founder of Envelop Risk, joins Robin Merttens for a deep dive into how data science, AI and portfolio-level modelling are transforming cyber reinsurance. As one of the earliest voices in the industry championing machine learning and systemic risk analysis, Jonathan shares what he's learned over nine years of building Envelop into a leading hybrid underwriter operating across London and Bermuda.

In his own words, this episode is about building smarter ways to understand, underwrite and capitalise on emerging risk — with cyber as just the starting point.

What you'll learn:

• Why Jonathan and his team focused on cyber risk and portfolio-level underwriting from day one
• The rationale behind favouring systemic insights over individual vulnerabilities
• How causal inference provides a leap forward in predicting tail events
• Why AI liability is already creating new market opportunities
• The need for creative, multi-source data strategies beyond traditional claims
• Why Envelop steers clear of SaaS and keeps underwriters embedded in the modelling process
• How algorithmic underwriting fits into the next chapter of insurance innovation
• Candid thoughts on the AI hype cycle — and what matters more than the buzz

Jonathan also talks through Envelop's shift from MGA to reinsurer, how to think long-term in a volatile market and what kind of partnerships are needed to unlock new forms of risk.

Book recommendation from Jonathan: The Book of Why by Judea Pearl and Dana Mackenzie.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. You can also contact Jonathan Spry on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Identify the structural and economic drivers pushing insurers toward algorithmic and portfolio underwriting.
• Produce a strategy for aligning capital, analytics and data science in cyber reinsurance underwriting.
• Summarise how Envelop Risk evolved from an MGA to a hybrid reinsurer and the rationale behind its capital partnerships.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 372 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

What happens when a major US insurance tech player sets its sights on Europe? This week, Robin Merttens speaks with Chris Quirk, VP and General Manager at Insurity, to unpack the drivers behind the company’s international expansion and what it signals for the wider market.

Chris brings a unique cross-market perspective, working with carriers, MGAs and brokers on both sides of the Atlantic. He shares how Insurity is navigating the challenges of scaling legacy systems into modern, cloud-native platforms and why interoperability and open ecosystems are now critical in a post-consolidation world.

Key themes include:

• Why the US market is looking to London and Europe for growth
• The role of private equity and M&A in shaping cross-border expansion
• Common pitfalls when exporting US tech to the UK and how to avoid them
• How Insurity is balancing tried-and-tested functionality with modern scalability
• The growing importance of structured data in preparing for agentic AI
• Strategic partnerships with Viper, Coherent and OIP InsurTech
• What a truly “distributed” insurance ecosystem could look like in the near future

Chris also offers insight into where Insurity is investing over the next 12 months and why the industry may be underestimating just how much technology has matured.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. You can also contact Christopher Quirk on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Explain the role of structured data and cloud-native systems in enabling AI adoption in insurance workflows.
• Define the concept of an “open ecosystem” in insurance technology and its advantages over closed platform models.
• Identify key industry partnerships that support seamless data exchange and workflow integration across markets.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 371 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this special edition of the InsTech podcast, Robin introduces listeners to new colleague Chris Eberly, Insurance Practice Lead at Datos Insights, following Datos’ recent acquisition of InsTech. Chris brings more than 30 years of carrier experience and a unique practitioner’s perspective on the forces shaping insurance today.

Together they explore what this new chapter means for InsTech members, the wider insurance ecosystem, and why Datos’ blend of advisory, research and community makes a timely fit. Along the way, Chris shares why operational efficiency is top of the agenda, how underinsurance is being tackled, and why AI is no longer just hype but a genuine driver of transformation.

This conversation is part industry briefing, part fireside chat. Listeners will come away with a clearer view of the challenges and opportunities ahead — from regulatory pressure to CIO priorities — and hear how InsTech and Datos plan to deliver value together.

Robin also uncovers Chris’s surprising background outside insurance, including his lifelong passion for the carillon (a rare bell-tower instrument) and what raising six children and seventeen grandchildren has taught him about navigating complexity.

Key themes discussed include:

• What Datos Insights does and how it complements InsTech’s mission
• Why carriers are focusing on risk operations and decision speed
• The scale of underinsurance and how data and property insights can help
• What’s really happening with AI adoption inside carriers
• The evolving role and pressure of the CIO
• Why combining advisory, research and community is so powerful
• Chris’s personal story: carillons, family and a passion for making insurance better

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. You can also contact Chris Eberly on LinkedIn to start a conversation!

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Measure the significance of operational efficiency (“risk ops”) in improving underwriting performance and decision speed.
• Specify the ways AI is being applied pragmatically in insurance operations, beyond the hype.
• Explain why CIOs face increasing pressure to balance legacy systems with rapid technology adoption.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 370 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

What will the specialty insurance market look like a decade from now? Will we still be talking about legacy systems and manual processes, or will the model itself have changed?

In this panel discussion from InsTech’s Outpace. Outprice. Outperform event, Robin Merttens leads a conversation with four senior experts on the future of the market and the forces that could reshape it.

Featuring:

• Paul Carroll, Editor-in-Chief, Insurance Thought Leadership
• Toby Kovacs, Account Director, Google Cloud
• Andy Yeoman, CEO and Co-founder, Concirrus
• Tracie Thompson, Global Head of Strategic Clients, Cytora

Together, they examine how emerging technologies, shifting client expectations and economic realities are pushing the market to rethink long-held assumptions about distribution, underwriting and talent.

In this conversation, the panel explores:

• Whether brokers, underwriters and annual renewals will still have a role
• How capital and distribution are bypassing traditional intermediaries
• Why outsourcing is being redefined in the age of AI
• The impact of legacy behaviours, not just legacy systems
• How new models of work and regulation are influencing transformation
• Whether the protection gap is closing — or widening

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens on LinkedIn. 

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Describe how AI and automation are reshaping the boundaries of outsourcing in specialty insurance.
• List the key areas of the insurance value chain likely to undergo transformation in the next 10 years.
• Measure the potential impact of continuous underwriting and data-driven models on policy efficiency and pricing accuracy.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 369 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

In this milestone edition of Partners Chat, Robin and Matthew sit down for their first episode since InsTech's transition to new ownership. With nearly 11 years of leadership behind them, they reflect candidly on founding and growing the business, navigating a sales process and what lies ahead under Datos Insights.

Listeners will get rare insights into what it actually takes to sell a company: what they learned, what caught them off guard and how it’s changed their understanding of fundraising and Private Equity partnerships. This episode offers honest takeaways for any founders or leaders thinking ahead to their own exit.

Robin and Matthew also tackle one of the most polarising trends in insurance tech today: Agentic AI. Is it a game-changer or just another label? They unpack how it's being adopted (quietly or loudly) across insurers, and why some businesses are embracing it at full throttle while others remain unconvinced.

They also share what they’ve seen in the climate and catastrophe modelling space, where collaboration, innovation and data openness continue to drive real value and how this might foreshadow the future of AI in insurance.

Key themes discussed include:

• Life after founding: reflections on stepping back and what comes next
• Lessons from selling a company and choosing the right buyer
• Demystifying Private Equity: stereotypes vs reality
• The bifurcation of AI adoption in insurance
• The rise of Agentic AI and the risk of “AI washing”
• How the climate modelling community sets a precedent for AI maturity
• Why demos are finally worth seeing again and how events are evolving

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Robin Merttens or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Measure the potential impact of agentic AI adoption on underwriting efficiency and competitive advantage.
• Explain the strategic benefits of new ownership for expanding into US markets and enhancing research and advisory capabilities.
• Define “AI washing” and how it parallels other historical tech hype cycles in insurance.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 365 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.

If you want a masterclass in how to build a business, sell it well and stay hungry for the next idea, listen to Bob Frady.

In this episode, Matthew Grant catches up with Bob, CEO and Co-founder of PropertyLens and former CEO and founder of Hazard Hub, to hear what he’s learned across three startups, why he’s building again post-exit and how he’s turning deep domain expertise into tools that actually help people.

From fire hydrants to flood risk, Bob has spent years translating messy, hyperlocal data into decisions insurers and now homebuyers can use. But this conversation goes far beyond data: it's about strategy, equity, product‑market fit and the value of knowing when to walk away from the wrong deal.

In this episode Bob shares:

• Why Hazard Hub’s founding thesis was wrong, and what he got right instead
• How PropertyLens is helping US homebuyers make more informed decisions before they buy
• What UK listeners may not realise about US property disclosures, and why risk is so often hidden
• How Bob and his co-founder rebuilt their data stack from scratch and landed early B2B traction
• Why he still believes in the London Market and how UK insurers are often faster adopters
• What it really takes to scale a direct-to-consumer model in property intelligence
• Why bootstrapping helped him retain value at exit and how other founders can avoid over-dilution
• The four startup lessons he shares with anyone thinking of launching their own venture

This one’s for founders, data practitioners and anyone who enjoys a candid, experience-rich look at what it takes to build a business that lasts.

If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a review on whichever platform you use or contact Bob Frady or Matthew Grant on LinkedIn.

Sign up to the InsTech newsletter for a fresh view on the world every Wednesday morning.

Continuing Professional Development

This InsTech Podcast Episode is accredited by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). By listening, you can claim up to 0.5 hours towards your CPD scheme.

By the end of this podcast, you should be able to meet the following Learning Objectives:

• Define the challenges of scaling a startup with limited capital and how bootstrapping influences long-term outcomes.
• List the key differences between US and UK property risk disclosure practices.
• Explain why Hazard Hub’s original thesis did not hold and how that insight shaped the foundation of PropertyLens.

If your organisation is a member of InsTech and you would like to receive a quarterly summary of the CPD hours you have earned, visit the Episode 367 page of the InsTech website or email cpd@instech.co to let us know you have listened to this podcast.

To help us measure the impact of the learning, we would be grateful if you would take a minute to complete a quick feedback survey.