Partnering with nettle: The Future of Risk Assessment for Commercial Insurers

In our latest investment spotlight, we explore how nettle is transforming commercial insurance risk assessment while preserving crucial industry knowledge.

In simple terms, insurance is an agreement whereby you pay a company and they pay your costs if you have an accident, damage or loss. And in equally simplified terms, the job of the insurer is to evaluate and price risks, collect and invest money and investigate claims under these agreements for payout. Pretty much anything can be insured, but depending on the object, the nature of the risk assessment takes different forms. Enter the risk engineer.

In commercial insurance, highly experienced professionals with extensive industry knowledge work alongside underwriters – those responsible for evaluating and pricing risk based on data – to investigate the risk picture.

The commercial insurance industry is currently navigating a shifting landscape. Macroeconomic uncertainty, growing climate risk, and persistent supply chain disruptions create external challenges. Internally, the industry faces an aging workforce, heightened competition for talent, and mounting pressure to deliver profitable growth without relying solely on premium increases.

This is where nettle comes in. Their AI platform transforms the risk assessment workflow by streamlining on-site inspections and reporting, thereby enhancing underwriting decisions and maximising efficiency in what can be assessed remotely as well as on site. nettle is set out to make the commercial insurance market more efficient and, in the process, empower insurers towards better client relationships.

A Founding Duo Built for This Challenge

From our first meeting with Jack and Katya, we knew nettle was different. They weren’t just building another AI tool; they were were addressing a critical industry pain point with a transformative solution. This innovation could break through the risk assessment bottleneck while helping insurers achieve dual objectives: increasing profitable commercial underwriting capacity and preserving invaluable industry knowledge – particularly crucial in the face of an impending talent shortage.

Jack and Katya are a founding duo with the right passion and right expertise at the right time. Jack’s experience leading AI product teams for McKinsey’s insurance practice and at QuantumBlack gave him a front-row seat to the challenges insurers face. Meanwhile, Katya’s background building advanced AI systems at QuantumBlack brings the technical firepower needed to tackle this complex problem.

We’re not the only ones seeing nettle’s potential. Their early partnerships with some of the world’s leading insurers validate both the need and the solution. A proof of concept with a major insurer has already demonstrated dramatic improvements in efficiency and significant reductions in backlogs. With £1.45M in pre-seed funding already secured, they’re building momentum fast. The team is growing, the platform is evolving, and the results are speaking for themselves.

Market Opportunity

The global commercial property and casualty (P&C) insurance market towers at £712B, yet it is comparatively untouched by modern technology. Leading insurers have started implementing analytics solutions across the value chain, however, risk assessment remains largely manual. This creates a unique opportunity for nettle to empower today’s risk engineers with an innovative AI solution that reshapes how industrial risk is understood.

What makes this market particularly exciting is that we believe the conditions are right for change: the technology is now ready for the customer and the customer is ready for the technology. For an industry, which some might refer to as risk averse, where the pressure to find profitable growth beyond increased premiums and the competition for talent are becoming evident, willingness to invest in technology can be decisive for future competitiveness. nettle isn’t pushing against closed doors; they’re walking through doors that are already open.

Why nettle, why now

The convergence of several factors makes this the ideal moment for nettle:

1. Shifting market landscape with macroeconomic uncertainty, climate risk and supply chain disruptions
2. Pressure to find profitable growth beyond premium increases with risk assessment being an underwriting bottleneck
3. Workforce challenge creating urgency for knowledge preservation and automation
4. AI has matured to the point where it can deliver real, measurable value

Our excitement for nettle goes beyond market potential and technological innovation. We’re partnering with a team addressing a critical industry need with a solution that works.

They’re building a platform that complements human expertise rather than trying to replace it, empowering risk engineers to do more of the meaningful work they’re highly skilled at. We at Project A couldn’t be more excited to join Jack and Katya on this journey to realise their vision of transforming the insurance industry one risk assessment at a time.