InsurTech startup ZestyAI raises $15M to scale its AI-powered risk analytics platform

ZestyAI, an insurtech startup that helps property and casualty insurers assess risk using AI, just landed a $15 million credit facility from CIBC Innovation Banking. The new capital gives the company more financial headroom as it pushes for broader adoption of its risk models across the insurance sector.

Founded in 2017 by Attila Toth and Kumar Dhuvur, ZestyAI’s platform blends property data, AI, and climate science to give insurers a clearer picture of property-level risks. That information helps with pricing, inspections, and underwriting, especially for homes and businesses in disaster-prone areas. In 2024 alone, the company helped carriers offer coverage to more than 511,000 properties that were previously considered uninsurable.

ZestyAI Raises $15M from CIBC to Expand AI Risk Models Amid Soaring Insurtech Demand

ZestyAI has already delivered more than 31 million property risk assessments so far in 2024—more than double what it processed in all of 2023. That number is expected to pass 46 million next year.

“We’ve built ZestyAI with long-term discipline and a clear mission: to help insurers navigate changing risks with confidence,” said Attila Toth, the company’s founder and CEO. “As demand for trusted, property-level risk insights continues to grow, this capital infusion enables ZestyAI to further invest in supporting this rapid growth and become the industry standard for property risk analytics.”

CIBC sees the startup filling a big need in the market.

“ZestyAI is addressing a critical need in the insurance industry with its AI-powered approach to property and climate risk,” said Sean Thompson, Managing Director, California Market Manager at CIBC Innovation Banking. “We’re proud to support ZestyAI’s next phase of growth as it continues expanding its platform and deepening its impact across the insurance ecosystem.”

The company’s customer base has grown quickly, with 33 new and expanded partnerships over the past year, 26 of them entirely new. ZestyAI works with a range of insurance players, including admitted carriers, MGAs, the excess and surplus (E&S) market, FAIR Plans, and public-private programs. It also rolled out four new products during that time.

On the regulatory side, ZestyAI’s AI-driven models for wildfire, severe convective storms, and non-weather water damage have now been approved in more than 50 regulatory filings across the U.S., including recent wins in Texas, Colorado, Ohio, Georgia, Connecticut, Michigan, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.

California regulators recently reviewed the company’s wildfire model, Z-FIRE™, as part of the state’s rate application process. Starting January 2, 2025, insurers can file Z-FIRE for rate segmentation and underwriting without additional review under California’s PRID process.

The startup says its goal is simple: help insurers make better decisions, and help more people protect what they care about.