Windward, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based maritime risk analytics startup for marine insurance, raised $16.5m in Series C funding.
The round, which brings the total raised to date to $38.9m, was led by XL Innovate with participation from Horizons Ventures, Aleph, and Salesforce Chairman & CEO Marc Benioff. As part of the fundraising, Tom Hutton, XL Innovate Managing Partner and former CEO of RMS, will become a board director.
The company intends to use the funds to strengthen its position within the marine insurance market, expediting the development and rollout of its suite of marine insurance products, hiring talent, and expanding its London office.
Led by Co-Founder and CEO Ami Daniel, Windward provides an analytics platform that allows organizations to understand maritime risk and therefore take actions to reduce it. Windward Insurance continuously monitors and analyzes what ships are doing, including: how they navigate; where they operate; when they operate; what they do in rough weather; and how they maneuver in ports. The company’s models use these vessel operating patterns and behavioral traits to predict the likelihood of a ship having an accident in the year ahead. The proprietary data and machine learning algorithms are integrated into insurers’ technical pricing models, leading to improvded underwriting decisions and profitability.
The other product, Windward Intelligence, helps intelligence, law enforcement and security agencies protect their national interests by revealing potential threats.
The company also has an office in London.
FinSMEs
04/07/2018