Insurance and risk data firm Weather Analytics said it has further expanded its offerings beyond weather information by acquiring Athenium Inc., a Waltham, Massachusetts-based claims and underwriting assessment software company.
Washington, D.C.-based Weather Analytics said it is also investing more than $25 million to build new decision-support software for insurers, enabled by artificial intelligence and computer-vision capabilities.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
The combined entity will operate as Athenium Analytics.
Bill Pardue, who co-founder Weather Analytics, is chairman and chief executive officer of the merged companies.
Carriers deserve intelligent solutions to get more informed insights, and these solutions will come from additional specialized products for risk selection and pricing,” Pardue said. “Insurers also want the choice of a single risk selection and pricing provider who can marry those capabilities with third-party content and operational insights. Merged with Athenium, we now are in a great position to make that happen for customers.
Athenium software currently helps carriers assess performance of both claims and underwriting, according to Joe Kislo, CEO and president of Athenium. He said adding Weather Analytics’ data-science expertise will further boost operational savings and insights for clients in a broad set of business lines – property, workers’ compensation, automotive, and general and professional liability.
Dr. Ellen Cousins, chief scientist for the combined companies, noted that Weather Analytics already has expanded solutions beyond weather by analyzing previously “under-modeled risks – from commercial auto losses, to food security, to the spread of infectious diseases.”
Cousins said the $25 million investment will fund models to assist insurers in assessing risks of inland flooding, earthquakes, and wildfires.
These new programs will include mobile applications for crop insurance, tools for small businesses, and models to assess risk in workers’ compensation for diverse business classifications, according to Cousins.
Also clients using Athenium tools will be able to validate and model weather-related damage claims by using Weather Analytics reporting capabilities.
In March last year, Weather Analytics, reported that Tokio Marine HCC and W. R. Berkley Corp. together had funded a $17 million Series B financing round. With the new capital, Weather Analytics’ total funding exceeded $30 million.
