Maven Capital Partners ("Maven"), one of the UK's most active investors in growing businesses, has completed a six figure investment in London Insurtech business, McKenzie Intelligence Services ("MIS"). The business provides insurers with geospatial data and analysis to accelerate industry response to catastrophic events, driving disaster relief and economic recovery.

Maven's funding will help the business grow its UK market share and increase penetration into the US and European markets. The investment will also enable MIS to further develop its technology platform launching new product features which provide clients with unique insights for future risk selection.

MIS's core product offering, the Global Events Observer ("GEO"), is a proprietary platform that uses real-time information, machine learning and expert analysis to provide clients with detailed and actionable intelligence to enable data-driven decision making following catastrophic events such wildfires and hurricanes. This allows underwriters to access detailed post-event assessments within 24 hours following an incident.

Economic losses from natural disasters are on the rise, driven by the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events and natural disasters. Insurers are investing significantly in catastrophe models and systems to help them better understand and manage their exposures and tailor their prices more closely to such risks. GEO's ability to provide actionable intelligence can assist insurers, reinsurers and loss adjusters in making more informed and efficient decisions in the assessment of sites and the allocation of resources.

Dean Cox, Investment Director at Maven, said; "The geospatial analytics and catastrophe insurance markets are forecast to continue double digit growth per annum over the next 5 to 10 years, driven in large part by the global severe weather events that are happening more often. Consequently, insurers are having to take more steps to defend against the rising tide of natural catastrophe losses and turning to technology solutions to anticipate the level of claims can more accurately and significantly reduce claim handling costs. MIS have built a strong pipeline of over 100 opportunities both in Europe and the USA, and we believe it has the potential to become a global market leader in a sector that is having to quickly adapt its approach to risk management.

We are looking forward to working with Forbes and the wider team on this exciting growth phase for the business."

Forbes McKenzie, Founder and CEO at MIS, added: "We are thrilled to be joining Maven's impressive track record of investments. As catastrophic events across the globe are becoming increasingly common and more severe, insurers are pressured to act more rapidly and effectively than ever before. This investment is an opportunity to reaffirm our mission of delivering accelerated and reliable intelligence for insurers to confidently make decisions in these critical times. Maven's support and belief in our purpose will allow us to further develop GEO to better meet the requirements of a constantly developing industry. Through growing our unique team of geospatial and insurance specialists, we look forward to fortifying our presence in the UK and expanding to international opportunities across Europe and the US."  

Principals and key advisors to the transaction:

Legal: Addleshaw Goddard LLP

Management: Confidas

Insurance: Locktons

Technical: Price Roberts

Financial: DTE Group

VCT Opinions: Philp Hare

Broker: Transworld Business Advisors

Lawyers for MIS: MBM Commercial